NEWS: Black Maria on the Move

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. It was a purpose built structure that had a hinged roof and rotated on a circular wooden track, allowing the studio to follow the sun and illuminate the stage within. A technological marvel for its day, the Black Maria is an artifact from the dawn of moving pictures, a medium which revolutionized human expression. Acrobats, strong men, vaudeville performers, actors and dancers (such as Annabelle Whitford whose artful Serpentine and Butterfly dances challenged late Victorian mores) and a spectrum of characters from all walks of life (including the great cowgirl sharpshooter, Annie Oakley) were invited to the Black Maria to be filmed.

Today the works exhibited by the Black Maria Film and Video 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) but with an emphasis on cutting edge sensibility. The Festival Tour exhibits the winning works in various thematic and artistic configurations tailored to diverse audiences at venues which are conducive to the genuine appreciation of the work.

Black Maria Film Festival Schedule

3/13/06 7:30 p.m. University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo.

3/14/06 7:00 p.m. Bennington College, Bennington, Vt.

3/15/06 7:30 p.m. Passaic Community College, Paterson, N.J.

3/16/06 2:00 p.m. Berrie Center at Ramapo, Mahwah, N.J.

3/9/05 7:00 p.m. Out North Arts Center, Anchorage, Alaska

3/18/06 2:00 p.m. Madison Chamber of Commerce, Madison, N.J.

3/20/06 7:00 p.m. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I.

3/21/06 7:30 p.m. Monmouth University, West Long Branch, N.J.

3/22/06 8:00 p.m. Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.

3/23/06 7:00 p.m. University of Southern California, Los Angeles

3/23/06 7:00 p.m. County Theater, Doylestown, Penn.

3/24/06 7:00 p.m. Lascaux Micro Theater, Buckhannon, W.Va.

3/27/06 8:00 p.m. American University of Rome, Rome, Italy

3/28/06 7:30 p.m. Berks Filmmakers, Albright College, Reading, Pa.

3/30/06 7:00 p.m. Ambler Theater, Ambler, Pa.

3/31/06 7:00 p.m. Lascaux Micro Theater, Buckhannon, W.Va.

3/31/06 8:00 p.m. Millenium Film Workshop, New York, N.Y.

4/4/06 7:00 p.m. South Orang Public Library, South Orange, N.J.

4/05/06 7:00 p.m. Virginia Film Festival, Charolettesville, Va.

4/6/06 1:30 p.m. College Of Staten Island, Staten Island, N.Y.

4/8/06 1:30 p.m. Rutgers University, Camden, N.J.

4/12/06 7:00 p.m. Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass.

4/13/06 8:00 p.m. Boston Museum of Fine Arts/Balagan Series, Boston, Mass.

4/13/06 6:00 p.m Donnell Media Arts Center, New York, N.Y.

4/17/06 3:00 p.m. Ithaca College, Ithaca, N.Y.

4/87/06 7:15 p.m. Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

4/19/06 7:00 p.m. University of Illinois, Chicago, Ill.

4/20/06 6:00 p.m. Donnell Media Arts Center, New York, N.Y.

4/21/06 7:00 p.m. Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, Ala.

4/22/06 2:00 p.m. Capri Theater, Montgomery, Ala.

4/22/06 12:00 p.m. Poconos Cinema/Unitarian Fellowship, Stroudsburg, Pa.

4/27/06 6:00 p.m. Baton Rouge Community College, Baton Rouge, La.

4/28/06 7:00 p.m. Puffin Cultural Forum, Teaneck, N.J.

4/29/06 7:00 p.m. Puffin Cultural Forum, Teaneck, N.J.

5/4/06 11:00 a.m. Arts Access Prog, Matheny Med. & Ed. Center, Peapack, N.J.

5/506 10:00 a.m. A. Harry Moore School, Jersey City, N.J.

5/6/06 8:00 p.m. Ridgeview Community Church, West Orange, N.J.

5/13/06 TBD Maryland Film Festival, Baltimore, Md.

5/13/06 TBD Summit Unitarians, Summit, N.J.

5/16/05 6:30 p.m. Crandal Public Library, Glen Falls, N.J.

5/18/06 8:00 p.m. Hirshhorn Museum Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

5/19/06 8:00 p.m. Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.

5/20/06 8:00 p.m. 1st Unitarian Universalist Church of Essex, Orange, N.J.

6/3/06 TBD Edison National Historic Site, West Orange, N.J.

6/24/06 TBD Long Beach Island Foundation for Arts, Loveladies, N.J.