The 41st Bi-Annual Festival will be taking place on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between September 9-October 16. The Festival will be a hybrid one as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. Each ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person screenings. The in-person screenings will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 7PM on their show date. Tickets: $15=Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$100. To buy tickets for individual programs click on the photos below and click on the pre-order buttons

Schedule

Friday, September 9, 2022

7:00pm: The Sun Rises in the East

The Sun Rises in the East – Tayo Giwa (Brooklyn, New York, USA)

The Sun Rises in The East chronicles the birth, rise and legacy of The East, a pan-African cultural organization founded in 1969 by teens and young adults in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Led by educator and activist Jitu Weusi, The East embodied Black self-determination, building more than a dozen institutions, including its own African-centered school, food co-op, newsmagazine, publisher, record label, restaurant, clothing shop and bookstore. The organization hosted world-famous jazz musicians and poets at its highly sought-after performance venue, and it served as an epicenter for political contemporaries such as the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords and the Congress of Afrikan People, as well as comrades across Africa and the Caribbean. In effect, The East built an independent Black nation in the heart of Central Brooklyn. The Sun Rises in The East is the first feature-length documentary to explore this inspiring story. The film also examines challenges that led to the organization’s eventual dissolution, including its gender politics, financial struggles and government surveillance. Featuring interviews with leaders of The East, historians and people who grew up in the organization as children, The Sun Rises in The East delivers an exhilarating and compelling vision, showing just how much is possible. 2022; 58 min.

Sunday, September 11, 2022

A Crack In The Mountain - Alastair Evans (Tokyo, Japan)

Deep in the jungle of Central Vietnam, lies a magnificent underground kingdom.Hang Son Doong which translates as “mountain river cave”, is the largest cave passage in the world and a place of spectacular beauty. With more people having climbed Everest than visited Son Doong, its pristine charm has remained undisturbed for millions of years. In 2014, Son Doong’s future was thrown into doubt when plans were announced to build a cable car into the cave. With many arguing that this would destroy its delicate eco-system and the local community divided over the benefits this development would bring, the film follows those caught up in the unfolding events. Beautifully shot and scored, A Crack In The Mountain is a powerful exposé about how both good and bad intentions can ultimately lead to one of the world’s greatest natural wonders being trampled for money. As well as inspire those who care about our natural heritage to fight to protect it. In English and Vietnamese, subtitled. 2022; 100 min.

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Little Satchmo – John Alexander (Clearwater, Florida)

To the world, Louis Armstrong is iconic — a symbol of musical genius, unparalleled success, and unassailable character. To Sharon, he was simply Dad. Armstrong’s wholesome, non-threatening image preserved his singular career as a black performer with unfettered access to a white man's world. Yet he was more than a caricature; he had desires, he had longings, and in private, he held tightly to the things he loved. Perhaps closest to his heart was a child whom he hid from the world: a daughter sworn to a life of secrecy until now. 2021; 61 min.

Friday, September 23, 2022

Soldier Island, Howl & Cabeco - Online for 24 Hours and In Person

7:00pm: Soldier Island – Charly Santagado (Metuchen, New Jersey, USA)

Soldier Island is a feature length screen dance loosely based on the best-selling murder mystery novel And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. In the novel, ten characters from various, seemingly unrelated walks of life are invited by an unknown host to spend a weekend at a mysterious mansion on Soldier Island. Within a few hours of arrival, the guests start to be killed off one by one. The death of the guests follow the trajectory of a rhyme that’s framed and hung in each bedroom of the house. 2022; 65 min.

Sunday, September 25, 2022

Commodity Trading: Dies Irae – M. Woods (Evanston, Illinois)

A void in time-space is open as bitter spirits circle one another searching for the Numb Spiral. The double of reality knocks the USA off the map in this crazy experimental feature film. 2022; 86 min.

Joey Skaggs: Metamorphosis, Cockroach Miracle Cure – Judy Drosd (New York, New York)

Since the 60s, artist Joey Skaggs has pioneered the use of the mass media to make social political commentary. In 1981, Entomologist Dr. Josef Gregor (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs), along with his cult-like clinical volunteers, unveiled his revolutionary Cockroach Vitamin Pill developed to cure all ailments known to man including the common cold, acne, anemia, and menstrual cramps. It also made people invulnerable to nuclear radiation and could save humanity from self-annihilation. This short documentary is the sixth in the ongoing short film series of oral histories, "Joey Skaggs: Satire and Art Activism, 1960s to the Present and Beyond". 2022; 27 min.

Friday, September 30, 2022

Joey Skaggs: Metamorphosis, Cockroach Miracle Cure – Judy Drosd (New York, New York)

Since the 60s, artist Joey Skaggs has pioneered the use of the mass media to make social political commentary. In 1981, Entomologist Dr. Josef Gregor (a.k.a. Joey Skaggs), along with his cult-like clinical volunteers, unveiled his revolutionary Cockroach Vitamin Pill developed to cure all ailments known to man including the common cold, acne, anemia, and menstrual cramps. It also made people invulnerable to nuclear radiation and could save humanity from self-annihilation. This short documentary is the sixth in the ongoing short film series of oral histories, "Joey Skaggs: Satire and Art Activism, 1960s to the Present... and Beyond". 2022; 27 min.

Sunday, October 2, 2022

Sign the Show: Deaf Culture, Access & Entertainment – Cat Brewer (Las Vegas, Nevada, USA)

Sign the Show: Deaf Culture, Access & Entertainment brings together entertainers, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HOH) community, and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters to discuss accessibility at live performances in a humorous, heartfelt, and insightful way. 2021; 96 min.

Saturday, October 8, 2022

Rebuilt from Broken Glass – Larry Hanover (Voorhees, New Jersey)

At age 12, Fred Behrend’s life was ripped apart. He was living 65 miles from home with the family of Cantor Max Baum so he could attend a secular Jewish school after the Nazis banned Jews from public school. In November 1938, he witnessed the horrors of Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), seeing synagogue after synagogue torched in the city of Cologne. Fred did not know that back home, his father, like 30,000 other Jewish males, had been arrested for transport to a concentration camp. All Fred knew was that his idyllic time with the Baum family and his friend Henry was over. His mother frantically sent a car to pick him up. Fred’s family lost most of its material possessions. But they escaped to Cuba and, eventually, America. Fred would turn the tables in 1946 as an American GI. He was part of a little-known denazification initiative called the Intellectual Diversion program at a Virginia military base. Selected for his ability to speak German and his counterintelligence training, Fred was taught by elite professors to give crash courses to German POWs about American-style democracy. In his later years, Fred began to speak to schoolchildren about his Holocaust past. In 2018, he was speaking to students at a Jewish day school on the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht about that fateful day and his friend Henry Baum. The head of the school left the room for 10 minutes and returned later holding a cellphone. He handed it to Fred. On the line was Henry Baum. Soon they would meet—in one more powerful victory over Hitler and the Nazis. 2022; 40 min.

Sunday, October 9, 2022

Vertigo – Haruo Inoue (Shinjuku, Japan)

Gozo Yoshimasu, a pioneer of Japanese contemporary poetry, pursued the vision of his ally, the late Jonas Mekas in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The time is the end of January 2020, just before the coronavirus strikes NYC, and the trip is just in time. This film depicts the dramatic birth of a poem that could be called a requiem on the first anniversary of the death of Mekas, who was considered a giant of experimental cinema. “Why are your poems and films so shaky?” Someone asked this question to Jonas Mekas, the poet deemed the godfather of American avant-garde cinema. Mekas replied “My life is shaky.” In English and Japanese, subtitled. 2022; 118 min.

Saturday, October 15, 2022

The Mental State – James Camali (Brooklyn, New York)

In the heart of rural K    entucky, a high school senior and his family struggle to cope with the true identity and intentions of a dangerous town shooter. The film follows Andy Cady, an artistic loner, as he covertly follows the directives of a local, Navy SEAL veteran, Dylan. Dylan convinces Andy to believe destructive conspiracies. Andy's impoverished, single mother, Angela, worries about Andy's health and safety when Andy's recent erratic behavior and beliefs causes him to emotionally harm a fellow student. Angela tries to find resources she needs to keep Andy out of trouble until the film crescendos with a tragedy at the local high school. 2022; 105 min.

Sunday, October 16, 2022

Bendix: Sight Unseen - Anthony Scalia – (Lodi, New Jersey)

Surrounded by highway traffic sits the unassuming Bendix Diner, owned and operated by John Diakakis. As the blind, single father of three young children who also work at the diner, John attempts to address and overcome his obstacles in order to provide a better life for his family. 2021; 26 min.

Date: September 9, 2022  - October 16, 2022

Location: Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ

Tickets

$15=Per Program

Festival All Access Pass=$100.

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