Anthology Film Archives Celebrates Black Maria Film Festival’s 35th Anniversary, Presents Retrospective Series on Work from Black Maria’s Past 15 Years

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Jersey City, NJ – (April 18, 2018) The Black Maria Film Festival’s 35th Anniversary Retrospective Series will be celebrated by Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan at Anthology’s Maya Deren Theater, Thursday, April 28 through Sunday, May 1. The series will focus on work from the past 15 years of Black Maria Film Festival programming.  The Black Maria Film Festival is based at New Jersey City University and premiers on the NJCU campus each year.  Jane Steuerwald, NJCU professor of media arts, is Festival director.

Margaret Parsons, Head of Film Programs at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, will be honored for her contributions to the preservation and promotion of independent film with the Festival’s Edison Luminary Award on opening night, Thursday April 28 at 8:00 p.m., Program 1.

Program 2 will be presented on Friday, April 29 at 8:00 p.m., then Programs 3 and 4 screen back-to-back on Saturday, April 30 at 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.  The series closes with Program 5 on Sunday, May 1 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available at the box office on the day of each show for $11. Anthology Film Archives is located at 32 Second Avenue at 2nd Street, New York, NY.

The Black Maria Film Festival was named after the American birthplace of the motion picture, Thomas Edison's West Orange, NJ, laboratory, a revolving photographic studio dubbed the “Black Maria” because it resembled a police paddy wagon. Over the last 35 years, this alternative festival has embraced the diversity and passion of the cinematic short form, and has often provided many directors with their earliest exhibition opportunities. Black Maria is an important one-of-a-kind distribution outlet for short films, traveling each year to audiences across the US and abroad. Each program is introduced by Jane Steuerwald, Festival Director, with filmmakers present at each screening.

The Black Maria Film Festival has generous support from NJCU, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Hudson County Office of Cultural Affairs and Tourism, Adobe Systems, Inc. and Microsoft through TechSoup.org.

For further information contact Jane Steuerwald, Black Maria Film Festival Executive Director, jane@blackmariafilmfestival.org, 201-200-2043, www.blackmariafilmfestival.org, or contact Anthology Film Archives at anthologyfilmarchives.org, 212-505-5181.  For further information about NJCU visit http://www.njcu.edu/about.