By Jan Aguilos —
The 31st Annual Black Maria Film & Video Festival opens on Friday, February 3 at 7:30 pm in the Margaret Williams Theater. It showcases short films from around the country as well as the work of NJCU students.
John Columbus, the founder and Director of the Black Maria Film and Video Festival, said that after Jersey City, the festival then makes the rounds in 22 states coast, to coast in about 60 colleges, museums, and other centers of culture.
Some past locations that the festival has traveled to after the openings at NJCU were the National Gallery of Art, Princeton University, Monmouth University, the Des Moines Center for the Arts, the University of Colorado, among others.
“The mission of the film festival is to support the art of non-commercial film making,” said Columbus.
Columbus estimates that there are 400 submissions every year for the festival, which get whittled down to usually around 70 short films. The process takes four months and it involves the picks of a three-person jury as well as the Director.
Columbus, who named the festival after Thomas Edison’s famed first movie studio, has been enthusiastic in his support of short films from the beginning of the festival.
“I believe in the short format and was always committed to the notion that shorts were as legitimate and worthwhile as feature length films,” said Columbus, who also noted that short films were more egalitarian in that they don’t require as much time and resources on feature length films.
What many NJCU students may not know is that the Black Maria Film & Video Festival is headquartered in Fries Hall, where the Media Arts Department is located.
Helping John Columbus is full-time staff member Kerrie Young, a 2009 NJCU grad hailing from the Media Arts Department.
Her multiple responsibilities include coordinating the 60 programs in the 22 states across the country, curetting film programs, and administrative duties.
“While John is on the road touring with the festival,” said Young, “I essentially hold down the fort at our NJCU home office.”
Young first interned for the festival when she was a freshman at NJCU and considers her experiences there as helpful in learning about films.
“Working at the Black Maria has broadened my knowledge of the business aspect of the film industry, film history, film genres, and film techniques,” added Young.
Her first film was “Lee Hagan: Connecting Generations,” which she did in association with Dr. Antoinette Ellis-Williams of the Lee Hagan Africana Center and Women’s and Gender Studies department.
When John Columbus was asked how he hopes the audience will receive the opening screening on Friday February 3 at 7:30 pm in the Margaret Williams Theater, he said: “Audience members will see work that they would never see otherwise in the kind of synergistic, diverse, culturally enriching, fun and illuminating programs we provide.”
Felix Rodriguez, a 22 year old senior and Media Arts major, submitted his film “Cinco/Cero/Cinco” for the festival. He has also attended the openings at the Margaret Williams Theater in the past and has enjoyed the short films shown.
“I think they are world class films,” said Rodriguez, who looks forward to graduating in May.
Rodriguez, who owns a production company called Lifting the Veil Production and is in the U.S. Army Reserves, is a veteran of film screenings.
“It’s a stepping stone to greater things,” added the young filmmaker.