KEARNY —
The Black Maria Film Festival, travels to Kearny this Saturday at noon at the Kearny Public Library, 318 Kearny Ave., as part of The Black Maria Film Festival’s Hudson County Movie Tour. The tour features a cycle of unique film presentations throughout Hudson County through 2017. The tour has been made possible through the support of the Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs and Tourism. Every program is free and open to the general public.
Programs hosted by the participating Hudson County libraries will help to strengthen the connection between the arts and the public by including filmmakers who will be on hand to discuss their work at special screening events.
The Kearny program features a collection of the Black Maria’s award-winning short films including animation, narrative, dance and documentary. The show will be presented by Clint Higgins, of the Black Maria Festival, and will include a special Q & A with Jay Weichun whose documentary short, “A Place of Spirit,” will be featured.
Weichun’s work focuses on documentary and experimental video. A resident of Staten Island, he often investigates the dynamics of community and the inevitable process of change. He received his MFA in media arts from Hunter College.
“A Place of Spirit” was awarded a Jury’s Choice Award for the Black Maria Film Festival’s 2014 tour.
The Black Maria Film Festival was founded in 1981 as a tribute to Thomas Edison’s development of the motion picture at his laboratory, dubbed the “Black Maria” film studio, the first in the world, in West Orange. The Festival attracts and showcases the work of independent filmmakers internationally.
In 2015, the Black Maria Festival was awarded the New Jersey State Council on the Arts “Citation of Excellence” for the eighth consecutive year. The Festival is a project of the Thomas A. Edison Media Arts Consortium, an independent non-profit organization in residence at New Jersey City University’s Department of Media Arts.
For more information, contact Kearny Library Director Josh Humphrey at 201-998-2666 or Jane Steuerwald, Black Maria Film Festival executive director at jane@blackmariafilmfestival.org or 201-200-2043. Also, find more information at www.blackmariafilmfestival.org.
