45th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival - Shorts Program

Shorts Program

Ars Animalis for Troubled Times - Anne Ciecko (Amherset, Massachusetts)
The observed animal kingdom reveals artful resourcefulness, inspiring human curiosity--and even hope--amidst tumult and crises. 2025; 4 min. (In-person only)

Director Anne Ciecko
Screenwriter Anne Ciecko
Producer Anne Ciecko
Filmmaker Anne Ciecko
Cast Anne Ciecko
Cinematographer Anne Ciecko
Editor Anne Ciecko
Composer Anne Ciecko
Music Anne Ciecko

Spheres - Martin Gerigk (Germany)
Spheres is an homage to life, a poetic essay that drifts through a series of expanding spheres, each revealing a different layer of our shared reality, from the microscopic to the mythical. The film is an exploration of how the smallest vibrations of existence echo outward into the vast architecture of being and cosmos, a breathing meditation designed to remind us of the wonders of our incomprehensibly beautiful world. Spheres invites viewers to look closely, to listen deeply, and to remember that every sphere - no matter how small or vast - is part of one continuous unfolding. The film is an invitation to see life not as a ladder but as a constellation of spheres: interdependent, fragile, and astonishing. 2026; 6 min.

Director Martin Gerigk
Screenwriter Martin Gerigk
Cinematographer Martin Gerigk
Animator Martin Gerigk
Composer Martin Gerigk
Music Martin Gerigk

my own box - Filip Jacobson (Belgium)
Circus Film. Story of Alice Rende who tells her story through her work. 2026; 10 min.

Director Filip Jacobson
Screenwriter Filip Jacobson
Producer Circus Film
Filmmaker Filip Jacobson
Cast Alice Rende
Editor Angelika Herta
Music Saara Zorowski, Thomas Baudriller

Under The Skin - Andrea Otto Longhi (Genova, Italy)
A woman lives alone in an elegant, cold house. Rehearsals for a monologue about violence reawaken buried memories and situations, leading her to rediscover a part of herself. 2025; 11 min.

Director Andrea Otto Longhi
Screenwriter Andrea Otto Longhi
Producer Andrea Otto Longhi, Jonathan Whittaker
Filmmaker Andrea Otto Longhi
Cast Ilaria Arnone

Sunspark - Danny Bourque (Seattle, Washington)
While scavenging for spare parts, a lonely robot discovers someone who desperately needs his help. 2026; 11 min.

Director Danny Bourque
Screenwriter Danny Bourque
Producer Danny Bourque
Cast Danny Bourque
Editor Danny Bourque
Animator Danny Bourque

Listen to the wind eight hundred times - Cherlyn Hsing-Hsin Liu (Valencia, California)
In the summer of 2025, I had the opportunity to work with an antique hand-cranked movie projector from 1909. This experience led me to reflect on the evolution of film as an artistic medium and inspired me to experiment with hand-painting on film for the first time. The impermanence of life is reflected in the fragility of the medium itself and the instability of machine operation. Although only 35 millimeters wide, it stretches for hundreds of feet, unfolding like a small-scale yet lengthy scroll painting. As an 800-watt light shines through the painted material and I turn the gears by hand, history unfolds and flows before my eyes. Time has not reversed; it has simply found a crack in which a boat may sail, and the wind may sing. The title is borrowed from an old Chinese anecdote. Having heard the wind pass by countless times, one has finally come to realize the landscape of life, the Dao of life. 2026; 15 min.

Director Cherlyn Hsing-Hsin Liu
Filmmaker Cherly Hsing-Hsin Liu
Editor Cherlyn Hsing-Hsin Liu
Sound Design Cherlyn Hsing-Hsin Liu
Music Michael Pisaro-Liu

The unlimited world - Lukas Berger (Portugal)
Tranquil, unspoiled landscapes. The sound of the sea mingling with the whistling sound of the wind influenced by the great waves of the Atlantic. Red mountains, a stork circling above a fallen tree. A feeling of dreaminess, a palpable infinity that manages without many people. Aesthetic compositions in motion. In German, subtitled. 2026; 15 min.

Director Lukas Berger
Producer Mário Gajo
Filmmaker Lukas Berger
Cast Jonathan Schimmer