Best of the 2026 New Jersey International Film Festival Part 2

Best of the 2026 New Jersey International Film Festival Part 2

Salt Marsh - Tom Bell (Yarmouth, Maine)
With a haunting, original score by Lee Ranaldo, Salt Marsh explores art, climate, and solitude through the reflections of Maine artist Mitchell Rasor. The 15-minute documentary is a poetic portrait of an artist and place. 2025; 15 min.

Director Tom Bell
Filmmaker Tom Bell
Cast Mitchell Rasor
Composer Lee Ranaldo
Music Lee Ranaldo

Meet Me in Silence - Lucy Mathews Heegaard (Minnetonka, Minnesota)
A year-long experiment sitting in complete silence and darkness with strangers leads to an intimate contemplation on connection to self and others through silence. Could the surreal, human-engineered silence of an anechoic chamber be a pathway to healing and awareness? 2025; 14 min.

Director Lucy Mathews Heegaard
Screenwriter Lucy Mathews Heegaard
Producer Lucy Mathews Heegaard
Filmmaker Lucy Mathews Heegaard

Chemical Meadows - Nate Dorr (Brooklyn, New York) Chemical Meadows is an experimental documentary linking water chemistry and photochemistry in the post-industrial wilds of the New Jersey Meadowlands. A paradoxical estuary wilderness three miles from Manhattan and more than half its size, marred by landfills and chemical corporations yet a recovering haven for wildlife, the Meadowlands are an unexpected breach in the dense development of the mid-Atlantic. This is the story of its waters: a film created by washing 16mm footage in corroding drainage ditches and suspect holding ponds to reveal hidden contaminants, soundtracked largely with underwater hydrophone recordings. 2025; 21 min.

Director Nate Dorr
Filmmaker Nate Dorr

Greenfield - Rob Herring (Whitefish, Montana)
Greenfield is an intimate look into the mind and mission of Robin Greenfield -- one of the world's most radical environmentalists. Known for his bold eco-experiments, including wearing a month's worth of trash through Times Square, living a full year on only homegrown and foraged food, and giving up every possession, Robin challenges what it means to live in harmony with the Earth. As he walks barefoot from Canada to Mexico with nothing to his name, his radical simplicity invites us to question what we truly need to be free, fulfilled, and human. 2025; 34 min.

Director Rob Herring
Screenwriter Rob Herring
Producer Shawheen Keyani, Rob Herring, Ryan Wirick
Executive Producer Sarah Yeager, Nick Polizzi, Rob Herring
Filmmaker Rob Herring
Cast Robin Greenfield