The Thomas Edison Film Festival, in collaboration with the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, will present a selection of short films from the Festival’s 2023 touring collection on Thursday, March 23 at 7:00 p.m. in the James Stewart Film Theater at 185 Nassau Street on the Princeton campus. The screening, hosted by Festival Director Jane Steuerwald, will include seven award-winning narrative, animated, and documentary films by an international roster of filmmakers, including Elliot Bloom, Christian Elliot, Elle Ginter, Alexandra Gordon-Gibson, Raine LeMay, Eugen Merher, Pablo Millan, Morgan Miller, and Michael Pedraza. The event is free and open to the public with no tickets or advance registration required. The Film Theater is an accessible venue.
The Thomas Edison Film Festival is an international juried competition celebrating all genres and independent filmmakers across the globe. For more than 40 years, the festival has been advancing the unique creativity and power of the short film by celebrating stories that shine a light on issues and struggles within contemporary society. The festival was founded in 1981 as Black Maria Film Festival and originally named for Thomas Edison’s West Orange, New Jersey, film studio dubbed the “Black Maria” because of its resemblance to the black-box police paddy wagons of the same name. Renamed in 2021, the festival’s relationship to Thomas Edison’s invention of the motion camera and the kinetoscope and his experimentation with the short film is at the core of the festival.
The Thomas Edison Media Arts Consortium also showcases the New Jersey Young Filmmakers Festival and the Global Insights Collection, an archive of films focusing on the environment, LGBTQ+ subjects, people with disabilities, international issues, race and class, and films with themes of social justice.
The festival received 585 submissions for the 2023 season from every continent except Antarctica. Following an extensive pre-screening process by experts in the field of film curation, media studies and production, the highly regarded festival jurors Margaret Parsons, curator emerita of film, National Gallery of Art, and Henry Baker, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and former director of Synapse Video Center, chose 117 films for the 2023 collection and awarded the top prizes.
In February the Festival and Lewis Center presented the premiere screening the 2023 collection.
The seven new films being screened on March 23 are:
City of Ghosts, a narrative film by collaborators Christian Elliot of Kent, United Kingdom, and Elle Ginter of Los Angeles, tells the heroic true story of Rosen and Uri, who travel from their home countries of Bulgaria and Ukraine in search of a better life. On the journey they meet and become friends, only to shoulder each other’s burdens as they later realize that they have been hijacked into a life of modern-day slavery of hard labor in Greece. To stay alive, they must remain compliant until Uri learns of Ukraine’s invasion and pleads with Rosen to attempt escape. Their worldviews collide, interrupting the friendship they’ve built in slavery.
Dancing in the Shadows, an animated film by Elliot Bloom and Alexandra Gordon-Gibson from Amsterdam, tells the story of a lonesome and deflated figure aimlessly roaming the metropolis at night. The figure gradually realizes that its shadow has come to life, moving freely from its owner. The shadow soon discovers new ways to move and dance. The protagonist is first apprehensive about the shadow’s newfound rhythm of movement, but as they chase their shadow through the streets, they are soon mesmerized, and figure and shadow unite through dance.
Viper, a narrative film by Raine LeMay of Vancouver, Canada, is the story of Joe, a young jazz musician living in Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley in the 1950’s. Joe practically lives at the neighborhood’s local jazz club with his band mates Ray, Danny, and Arnold. When they learn that the club is being torn down for a new overpass, the group must decide if they will abandon the joint or stand up for the place that they call home.
A still from ETC., an animated short film by Pablo Millan, a filmmaker from Spain. Photo courtesy Pablo Millan
ETC., an animated film by Pablo Millan of A Coruña, Spain, depicts a man caught in a rut due to a dominating presence. He moves from moment to moment against his own will because something pushes him into a stressful and uncomfortable routine. Time and space are manipulated to dominate him, thus making him a victim of an empty and insignificant life.
Fog is a documentary film by Michael Pedraza of Los Angeles. In a city known for innovation and solving some of the world’s most difficult challenges, San Francisco is faced with a crisis: how to address the worsening homeless situation. As thousands of residents flee San Francisco to other parts of the United States, hundreds of homeless arrive in search of a city known for taking in the downtrodden and outcast. Moved to act, a local doctor begins a journey to chronicle the stories of homeless individuals in his community.
The Boy Who Couldn’t Feel Pain, a narrative film by Eugen Merher of Berlin, Germany, is set in Grants, New Mexico, and tells the story of small-town legend, Chester, a street fighter who can’t feel any pain. When Annie, a bowling alley employee who just moved into town challenges him to a fight, things begin to change.
There’s a Bison on the Prairie, an animated film by Morgan Miller of New York City, is about existence and sentience. Satirical in tone, the film chronicles evolution, and the development of the carnivore.
Venues interested in scheduling a screening should contact Festival Director Jane Steuerwald at Jane@TEFilmFestival.org. The festival offers programming options ranging from a custom-curated program to an online film presentation by the Festival director, including a Q&A and dialog with the audience.
In addition to the support provided for the 2023 season by the Lewis Center for the Arts, the Thomas Edison Film Festival receives support from New Jersey State Council on the Arts; the Charles Edison Fund – Edison Innovation Foundation; the Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs and Tourism; the Hoboken Historical Museum; Big Sky Edit; Sonic Union; NJ Arts & Culture Renewal Fund; Puffin Foundation; WithumSmith+Brown; Lowenstein Sandler, LLP; the NBA; Monster Remotes; Syracuse University; Fairleigh Dickinson University; Digital Film, East Brunswick Magnet School; Adobe Systems, Inc.; and Microsoft through TechSoup.org.
All visitors are expected to be either fully vaccinated, have recently received and be prepared to show proof of a negative COVID test (via PCR within 72 hours or via rapid antigen within 8 hours of the scheduled visit), or agree to wear a face covering when indoors and around others.
Visit the Thomas Edison Film Festival website to learn more about the Festival and Thomas A. Edison Media Arts Consortium. To learn more about the Lewis Center for the Arts, the premiere screening, and the more than 100 public performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, concerts and lectures presented each year, most of them free, visit the Lewis Center website.
