Film festival at SCCC

Newton — Sussex County Community College will host the annual Black Maria Film and Video Festival tour on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 10:50 a.m. in the Student Center Theater and on Friday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. Since 1981, the festival, an international juried competition and award tour, has been fulfilling its mission to advocate, exhibit and reward works from independent film and video makers. The festival is known for its national public exhibition program, which features a variety of bold contemporary works drawn on the annual collection of 50 award winning films and videos. The festival’s roots are in New Jersey, where just over 100 years ago the inventor Thomas Edison developed motion picture technology at his West Orange lab facilities. One of these laboratories was the Black Maria, the world’s first motion picture studio. Today the works exhibited by the festival explore the human condition as well as the creative potential of the medium. They offer a mosaic of artistically conceived film and video forms — documentary, experimental, animation and narrative. Black Maria is recognized by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an Academy Award qualifying festival for short films (documentary, animation, and live action) and was awarded the New Jersey Governor’s Award for Excellence in 2002 and the New Jersey State Council of the Arts Certificate of Excellence in 2003. Admission for the program on Feb. 19 is $3.50 and the Feb. 20 program is $5.50. Students are free to both programs with a valid SCCC ID. For tickets, call 973-300-2232 or 973-300-3171, or visit www.sussex.edu.