In 1893, Thomas Edison put the finishing touches on the world’s first motion picture studio. The boxy, black structure reminded workers of police paddy wagons – which were called Black Marias – so they nicknamed the studio accordingly. Located next to Edison’s famous laboratory in West Orange, the studio produced hundreds of short films.
These early films were the first short motion pictures ever made and ranged in length from a few seconds to two minutes. In 1903, Edison moved his film production company to New York – where he built a better, glass-enclosed studio – and dismantled the Black Maria.
Over a hundred years later, Edison’s legacy and his history-making short films are still remembered. A replica of the Black Maria studio now stands at the Edison Historical Site, but another, more “living” tribute takes place every year in Jersey City.
Since 1981, the Black Maria Film & Video Festival has kept the spirit of Edison and his short movies alive by screening some of the best new short films from across the country.
Inspiration strikes
The idea for the festival came from John Columbus, who grew up near the Edison Historical Site and drew inspiration from the famous inventor while visiting the site as a child.
“It had a big impact on me,” says Columbus, who earned his graduate degree in film in 1975, from Columbia University.
In 1981, Columbus launched the festival, which has called the Media Arts Department at New Jersey City University its home since the early 1990s.
“It’s been a wonderful collaboration … and it’s given us a place to call home,” Columbus says. “It really made sense for us to be there. It’s the energy of the department and being there with the young people. It’s a real symbiotic relationship.”
In keeping with Edison’s contributions to the short-film form, the Black Maria festival only accepts films under 90 minutes in length.
“Shorts have been underappreciated,” Columbus says. “It’s just like poems versus novels. There’s a whole new world out there, but it’s just being discovered. Not everything has to be monumental. If they’re visually oriented, you can do a lot in a short film. It’s not a novel, but so what?”
Submissions to the festival are accepted during the fall, with this year’s deadline set for Nov. 20. Some 700 to 800 entries are received each year, from which the festival staff selects the 150 best. After that, a jury of film professionals picks 50 to 60 finalists (58 were chosen last year). Prizes totaling around $20,000 are given to the first-place and second-place winners.
Columbus is firmly against lumping films into specific genres, and the festival shuns categorizing any film it receives.
“It’s an open competition. We want work that’s got energy and drive, and something special to say,” he says. “We’re against ‘categories’ … There’s hybrid forms, you know? This is art – not everything is pigeonholed. How about being a little more freeform? Let go, live dangerously!”
This year’s festival will premiere the first weekend of February at NJCU’s Margaret Williams Theatre. The next day, it will show at the Newark Museum during the day and at the Jersey City Museum in the evening. It will be shown at the Hoboken Historical Museum on the following Monday, and then it hits the road for a nationwide tour over the next five months.
“We’re manic,” Columbus laughs. “No other film festival travels as widely as we do.” Some 70 shows, including one in Rome, Italy, are scheduled for 2007. A screening of some highlights from the festival’s past 25 years is also in discussion with the Museum of Modern Art in New York for this fall.
A Mecca for movies
Filmmakers from all over the United States and the world have submitted their shorts to the festival. Gregg Biermann of Hackensack first heard about the Black Maria in the late 1980s when he was a student at The San Francisco Art Institute. His short film The Hills Are Alive screened in last year’s festival.
“The festival is one of the key places to see innovative film and video in New Jersey and in the world,” Biermann says. “I try to catch the festival every year at least at one venue on their tour. What really impresses me about the Black Maria Film Festival is the great range of works with different styles and sensibilities that they seek to include in their programming. They don’t get caught up in one particular aesthetic or with one particular clique of artists – so regardless of what kind of film you are interested in, you can not help but find some things to get excited about in their programs.”
The Black Maria is recognized by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an Academy Award-qualifying festival for short films. It was awarded the New Jersey Governor’s Award for Excellence in 2002 and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Certificate of Excellence in 2003.
Over the years, the festival has debuted the early work of several filmmakers who went on to create more well-known motion pictures, including Robert Rodriguez, whose 1991, eight-minute short Bedhead was first screened at the Black Maria festival. His more recent films include Spy Kids, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Sin City.
Doing their own thing
Despite these honors and achievements and its extensive travel schedule, the Black Maria tends to get less attention than its more famous counterparts and their well-known spokespersons. But Columbus seems to have no problem with this.
“We’re just not commercial – we’re not Sundance with Robert Redford, and we’re not TriBeCa with Robert DeNiro,” Columbus says. “And you know what, I’m glad we’re not. We just keep plugging away, doing our thing.”
All types of films find their way to the Black Maria – shorts about feminism, lost love, gay culture and comedy, to name a few.
“The Black Maria Film Festival is one of the most prestigious and well-respected film festivals in the United States,” says Jersey City filmmaker Louis Libitz, whose nine-minute short Giorno Di Festivita screened in last year’s festival. “When I was in undergraduate school at New Jersey City University finishing my B.A. in Media Arts, I always used to go to the premiere of the [festival]. It was great to see the work that people had produced around the country and the globe, that which is technically crafted, engaging and sometimes challenges conventions.
“I would definitely recommend this festival to anyone who is a fan of and loves the moving image,” Libitz adds.
Thanks to a newly vibrant and expanding arts community within Jersey City, John Columbus (whose father was born in Jersey City) is confident that his film festival will help the area make its mark on the creative community in general.
“I’d like to think we’re part of it [the Jersey City arts community],” Columbus says.
“We’ve been around the block a few times … We’ve done a couple of shows at the Jersey City Museum. We also contribute something to the college because we’re of national significance. We’re part of the engine that’s bringing Hudson County into the forefront. We’re making our contribution.”
The Black Maria Film & Video Festival premieres during the first weekend of February at New Jersey City University’s Margaret Williams Theatre, 2039 Kennedy Blvd. in Jersey City. For more information, contact the festival office at (201) 200-2043, or visit its Web site at www.blackmariafilmfestival.org.