The Black Maria Film Festival returns again this summer on Saturday evening, August 8^th, at 7:00PM, to the Hoboken Historical Museum.

The gala evening includes a wine tasting at the museum courtesy of Cork Wine & Spirits, 1450 Washington Street in Hoboken, light refreshments, and a screening of top selections from the Black Maria’s award-winning short films including animation, documentary and narrative. 

   The program will be presented in-person by Festival director Jane Steuerwald. Filmmaker Catalina Santamaria, whose film “Umbrella House” is being featured, will also be present for the Q & A.

“Umbrella House” reveals the stories of a squatter community - most of them immigrants - that took over abandoned buildings in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, reconstructed them and made them into homes. They gave new life and vitality to the area, and now the Lower East Side is one of the most attractive neighborhoods in New York City. Gentrification, however, has forced out most of the local people including many of the squatters who helped to transform the neighborhood.

Tickets are $10 in advance; $12 at the door.  

Click below to reserve your seat now!

Register Now! The Black Maria was founded in 1981 as a tribute to Thomas Edison’s development of the motion picture at his laboratory, dubbed the “black maria” film studio, the first in the world, in West Orange, NJ.

The Black Maria Film Festival has been awarded the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Citation for Excellence for eight consecutive years.