The Museum is pleased to host a series of screenings of Black Maria Film Festival award-winning films, presented by Festival director Jane Steuerwald.  On Wednesday, June 5, at 7 pm,  we are pleased to present with a screening of selected shorts, on the month’s theme, LGBTQ Pride. The program features narrative, animation, and award-winning documentaries from the Festival’s Global Insights Collection.

For each program, doors open at 6:30 pm, the film screens at 7 pm, followed by Q&A. Light refreshments will be served. A suggested donation of $5 will be collected at the door. Admission is free for students and teachers. 

On June 5, we will show the following films:

Black Hat – Narrative (2019) – 14 min., by Sarah Smith and Phillip Guttman, of Los Angeles, CA. At first blush, Shmuel is a pious Hasidic man leading a fairly simple life.  By day, he prays dutifully at the local synagogue and manages a busy dry cleaner.  When his wife and daughters leave town for a few days, Shmuel steps out of his simple life by day and into a more complex world by night.  When he misplaces his black hat along the way, Shmuel’s two lives interconnect in a way he never expects.

Mom’s Clothes – Animation (2019), by Jordan Wong, of San Francisco, CA, a 6-minute meditation on being in and out of the closet.  A once-docile child grows out of his mother’s patterned clothes.  Now he can navigate between different forms of intimacy and gender – queer and colorful.

Families Are Forever – Documentary (2014), 21 min., by Caitlin Ryan and Vivian Kleiman, of San Francisco, CA. Tom and Wendy were devout Mormon parents living in a conservative community. They attend church every Sunday, obediently serving in their ward, raising five children and knocking on doors to promote support for California’s Proposition 8. Then one day, Wendy read 13-year-old Jordon’s diary and discovered he was gay. What happened next changed their lives forever. Their story will surprise you, give you hope and move you with the possibility of change.

Lady Eva – Documentary (2018), 11 min. by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, of Honolulu, HI. In the Kingdom of Tonga, the last remaining monarchy in the Pacific, traditional culture clashes with modern religious zealotry.  On the eve of the biggest day in her life, a young transgender beauty contestant is given an ultimatum by her Mormon family. They tell her, “If you choose to participate in that pageant, you can pack your bags and get out of this house.” Fiercely determined, Lady Eva takes off on a journey to become her true self – with a little inspiration from Tina Turner along the way.

Little Potato – Documentary (2018), 14 min. by Wes Hurley and Nathan Miller, of Seattle, WA, is an autobiographical film about a boy growing up gay in the Soviet Union, with his mother Elena, and their adventurous escape to America.  Struggling to survive in the USSR during the turbulent years of Perestroika, Elena and her son escape into a world of pirated American movies. But soon the movies are not enough, homophobia is rampant in the Soviet Union, and Elena decides to become a mail-order bride and discover America for herself and her son. Saving its most unexpected twist till the end, this is an inspiring and timely story of two immigrants taking on the American Dream.

Now in its 38th consecutive year, the Black Maria Film Festival focuses on diverse short films – narrative, experimental, animation, and documentary – including those, which address issues and struggles within contemporary society such as the environment, public health, race and class, family, sustainability, and more.

The Black Maria Film Festival’s Hudson County Movie Tour is made possible through the generous support of The Hudson County Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs & Tourism, Gina Hulings, Director/Administrator.

The Thomas Edison Media Arts Consortium – Black Maria Film Festival has generous support from the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, NJ State Council on the Arts, the Charles Edison Fund, the Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs and Tourism, the Hoboken Historical Museum, WithumSmith+Brown, and Lowenstein Sandler LLP. For further information, visit www.blackmariafilmfestival.org.