Illuminations: Short Films of Discovery is the latest work from Marylou and Jerome Bongiorno, the Emmy-nominated, award winning, husband and wife, social justice filmmakers from Newark. The Bongiornos this week preview four of their short fiction films at Cinema505 in Montclair.
The four short fiction films ANGUISH, HEARING VOICES, GLASS WORKS and MOTHERLAND were all inspired by French poet Arthur Rimbaud’s acclaimed Illuminations.
The Bongiornos came into the WBGO studios, while poet and NJIT Senior University Lecturer Dr. Jonathan Curley joined host Doug Doyle via the phone.
The stories depict the fragile relationship between: actors struggling with love and ambition, the ghosts of General Giuseppe Garibaldi and inventor Antonio Meucci debating “Why do we fight?”, glass artisans grappling with trauma, and an adoptee and a Benedictine nun unraveling a dangerous past and present plans to return to Ghana.
The films feature actors who are alumni of NYU Tisch Grad Acting, Yale School of Drama, and The Juilliard School.
Cinema505 on Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair, NJ will screen the four short fiction films in sequence on Thursday, August 9th and Friday August 10th at 7:30 pm. Friday's screening will be followed by special commentary fromy poet and educator Jon Curley.
For more information, you can go to montclairfilm.org/events/filmmakers-local-505/
To hear more about the films and the actors involved, click above to hear the entire interview.
