(RED BANK – FEBRUARY 28) Official selections have been announced for this year’s Festival de cineastas innovadores del Count Basie Center, the annual competition celebrating New Jersey’s emerging crop of young filmmakers.

The onsite Breakthrough Filmmaker Fest event takes place on Saturday, March 22 on the Count Basie Center campus, 99 Monmouth Street in Red Bank. Both official selections and honorable mention titles will be shown, along with workshops, a Q&A with industry experts and a networking opportunity for this year’s selected filmmakers. Admission to the event is free with advance registration at this link.

An official run-of-show schedule for festival day itself can be found aquí.

This year’s official selections, in alphabetical order:

Escuela secundaria:

• A Very Hallmark Christmas (Directed by Ryan Matteo and Max O’Reilly, Communications High School)
• Circulo (Directed by Marlee Marte, East Brunswick Magnet School – School of the Arts)
• Cisneros (Directed by Traysten L. Korpi, East Brunswick Magnet School – School of the Arts)
• Depraved (Dirigida por Josias Ortiz, East Brunswick Magnet School – Escuela de Artes)
• Drum Drum Drum (Directed by Katelyn Sandvik, Communications High School)
• Eat It (Directed by Sophie Burden, Holmdel High School)
• Elder’s Crossing (Directed by Ethan Castro and Mike Puma, Middletown High School South)
• Grief (Directed by James Ketley, Alex Miller, Middletown High School South)
• Into the Spotlight (Directed by Desiree Osborne, Donald M. Payne Sr. School of Technology)
• Just Like Heaven (Dirigida por Andre Paras, Howell High School)
• Locura de media noche (Directed by Bea Wernerbach, Middletown High School South)
• Piggy Bank (Directed by Julianne Chen, Fort Lee High School)
• Solitary (Directed by Michael Puma and Ethan Castro, Middletown High School South)
• The Iron Ladle (Directed by Benjamin Cohen, East Brunswick Magnet School – School of the Arts)
• The Making of “The Better Man” (Directed by Ray Violett, Howell High School)
• The Start (Directed by Charlotte Mathias and Juliana Harary, Communications High School)
• The Weight of Goodbye (Directed by Kimberly Higgs, Donald M. Payne Sr. School of Technology)
• The Wiccan (Directed by Jayden De Jesus, East Brunswick Magnet School – School of the Arts)
• Unsealed (Directed by Erika Ordonez, Donald M. Payne Sr. School of Technology)
• Vampire (Directed by Caroline Sheridan, Park Ridge High School)
• You’re Gonna Pay for That (Dirigida por Michael DeMar y Caroline Sheridan, Park Ridge High School)
• You’re Gonna Win Some Money! (Directed by Michael Puma and Ethan Castro, Middletown High School South)

Menciones honoríficas: 30 Days Without You (Directed by Celeste Cruz and Giya Khurana; Monroe Township High School) • Alcroft Enterprises (Directed by Lucas Milan Aristimuno; Montclair High School) • Arrived (Directed by Andi Arroyo, Mina Bixby and Kayla Farine; Cape May Technical High School) • Hasta que la muerte nos separe (Directed by Ashley Ringel; Hillsborough High School)

Selecciones universitarias:

• American Ghosts (Directed by Vaughn Battista, Rutgers University)
• Breaking Pointe (Directed by Shannon Miller, Independent Artist)
• Followers (Directed by Sophia Consalvo, School Of Visual Arts)
• Frank (Directed by Kurt Fleischer, Ringling College of Art and Design)
• Funny Seeing You Here (Directed by Justin Marinelli, School of Visual Arts)
• Good Enough (Directed by Sabrina Zoe Geffner, School of Visual Arts)
• Inspiration (Directed by Ryan Bemben, Hofstra University)
• Loverboy (Directed by Colin Christopher Hankenson, Montclair State University)
• Niña Linda (Directed by Ashley Morales, Rider University)
• Rotten Unseen (Directed by Jacob Kelly, Montclair State University)
• Rubber Ducking (Directed by Lance Albert Drake, Syndicate Film School/ Brookdale Community College)
• Takeout (Directed by Justin Marinelli, School of Visual Arts)
• Terms of Reference (Directed by Sophia Consalvo, School of Visual Arts)
• The Fall Guy’s Fight (Dirigida por George Parker, Universidad Estatal de Montclair)

The 2025 festival marks the Basie Center’s ninth annual emerging filmmaker competition, which has attracted creators from all 21 Garden State counties, as well ‘Jersey-based filmmakers attending schools around the globe. In this time, the state has become a hotbed for the film industry; new tax incentives have planted countless productions on state soil – from A Complete Unknown, the Oscar-nominated Bob Dylan biopic filmed partially at the Count Basie Center itself, to Steven Spielberg’s celebrated take on West Side Story – while several studios have announced plans to amplify their presence in the state. Netflix, the streaming giant, is in the early stages of building a massive lot of studios and production facilities just minutes from the Basie Center campus.

The Basie Center’s original emerging filmmaker competitions were just that – singular competitions – but Breakthrough has emerged as an annual, year-round initiative featuring regular online workshops with industry experts, mini-competitions and other events. For more information, stay tuned to www.thebasie.org/filmfest