Best of the 2026 New Jersey International Film Festival Part 1

Best of the 2026 New Jersey International Film Festival Part 1

Godzilla's Day Off - Myra Sito Velasquez (New York, New York)
Even monsters need to chillax! 2025; 3 min.

Director Myra Sito Velasquez
Screenwriter Myra Sito Velasquez
Producer Myra Sito Velasquez
Filmmaker Myra Sito Velasquez
Animator Jaime Sunwoo, Shayna Strype
Sound Design Quentin Chiappetta

35 Days - Heidi Kumao (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
35 Days is an experimental, stop motion animation about what happens when a coalition of strangers answers the call to locate a missing cat during the pandemic lockdown of 2020. Created frame-by-frame using fabric cutouts and thread. 2025; 7 min.

Director Heidi Kumao
Screenwriter Heidi Kumao
Producer Heidi Kumao
Filmmaker Heidi Kumao
Animator Heidi Kumao

Dustsceawung - Mateus Luna (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
A frustrated and heartbroken writer discovers that his robot vacuum shredded his rejected book into his own poetry, dedicated to the house's Alexa. Fascinated, the man feeds the new author with the classics, but claims the work as his own, sparking a surreal clash between authorship, love, and cleaning. In Portuguese, subtitled. 2025; 21 min.

Director Mateus Lana
Screenwriter Mateus Lana
Producer Anna Lu Machado, Mariana Heleno
Filmmaker Mateus Lana
Cast Enrique Diaz, Ana Frango Elétrico, Clarissa Pinheiro
Cinematographer Dudu Mafra
Editor Felipe Bibian, Gabirel Medeiros

Sonia and Lisa on Mushrooms - Vincent Turturro (New York, New York)
Besties Sonia and Lisa get together on Sonia's weekly day off as a single mom. In a valiant attempt to help her friend "be more present", Lisa extols the prevailing virtues of microdosing. When micro inadvertently goes macro, Sonia and Lisa must rely on the bond of their lifelong friendship to brave a trip more intense than they bargained for. 2025; 43 min.

Director Vincent Turturro
Screenwriter Vincent Turturro
Producer Clara Peterson, Alena Turturro
Filmmaker Vincent Turturro
Cast Taylor Lhamon, Lauren Pike, Tammi Cubilette
Cinematographer Nicholas Pietroniro
Editor Jerome Raim