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Thirty years on, the New Jersey Film Festival is doing what it does best: bringing vital, entertaining independent films of every genre to the heart of New Brunswick.
“I’m really happy that we’re still doing this,” said festival curator and executive director Al Nigrin. “It’s changed since our inception, but it’s really doing what I always wanted it to do. Instead of showing second runs of arthouse movies, this way we really get a chance to premiere films that don’t have the same kind of marketing backing as the other movies we used to have.”
Check out our photo gallery of films screening at the festival!
Presented by the Rutgers Film Co-op/New Jersey Media Arts Center and the Rutgers University Program in Cinema Studies, the fall 2011 installment of the festival runs Friday (Sept. 9) through Oct. 27, with screenings held at Voorhees Hall on Hamilton Street and the Ruth Adams Building on George Street.
According to Nigrin, the independent film landscape has changed drastically during the NJFF’s three decades.
“I was a film guy from the very beginning, but I now see with computer technology and the lower cost of digital cameras, everybody can make a film,” Nigrin explained. “Now, that doesn’t mean that they can make good films, but at the same time, it means that there’s a glut of films out there that have no outlet.”
According to Nigrin, the festival receives thousands of entries each year, a dramatic increase from its early days.
“When I first started making films and doing this in the early ’80s, I could count on my two hands how many independent filmmakers there were,” he said. “Now, you need an abacus to kind of figure out how many are out there.”
Among the filmmakers bringing their work to New Brunswick this fall will be Matthew Lawrence of Bradley Beach, whose documentary short “Enter the Beard” has been making the festival rounds around the world for the past year.
A comical and insightful look at the 2009 World Beard and Mustache Championships in Anchorage, Alaska, “Enter the Beard” screens at 7 p.m. Sept. 16 in Voorhees Hall. The film has proved popular with festival crowds, according to Lawrence.
“We have that kind of kitsch factor where as soon as you see in the programs we have some crazy picture of a dude with a beard, that’s obviously going to attract people and people will go with their friends,” he said. “And it’s a comedy, so we kind of have that in our favor, because comedies always generally are more audience-friendly, so the response has been absolutely great. Even my mom likes it, which is really cool.”
Discussing Lawrence and his film, Nigrin said, “What I like about him is he has a really good eye, and his films are very original. Despite the fact that there’s a formulaic side to this film, just the fact that it’s about a beard competition, now who the hell thought that would even exist? I think the fact that you pull that out and you can lead an audience through the whole thing from start to finish using this fellow, Charles Parker Newton, who’s in the film as one of the subjects, was really well done.”
Lawrence, who met Newton while both were working for legendary independent film studio Troma, contemplated the current growth in the appeal of beards.
“It comes in waves, I guess. I don’t know, maybe it’s Zach Galifianakis, maybe it’s Iron and Wine or whoever that guy is, I don’t know where it comes from, I don’t know why it’s hip now. … I’m not sure what the appeal is now but yeah, it definitely is hip,” he said. “Walking around Asbury Park or even Brooklyn, you definitely see the ‘dudes with no beards’ to ‘dudes with beards’ ratio is definitely (changing), we’re gaining on them.”
New Jersey Film Festival Fall 2011, running Sept. 9 through Oct. 27, with screenings held at Voorhees Hall on Hamilton Street and the Ruth Adams Building on George Street, New Brunswick. Tickets are $8 to $10. For more information, visit http://www.njfilmfest.com.
