The New Jersey 2022 90-Second Newbery Film Festival: Online Screening!
Hello, fans of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival! This is our first year bringing the 90-Second Newbery to New Jersey. We’ve been doing this film festival for ten years, and usually we put on our live screenings at libraries and theaters around the country. We had been planning big live kickoff screening in Trenton on April 30. However, due to Covid, we can’t do our screening live this year . . .
So instead, we are doing the screening online! In the video above, join film festival founder James Kennedy (author of the YA fantasy The Order of Odd-Fish and the new adult speculative thriller Dare To Know) and author Keir Graff (author of The Tiny Mansion and many other books for kids and adults) as we watch the best kid-made 90-Second Newbery movies of 2022 from New Jersey (and a few ringers from around the country, too)!
This is a special occasion, because 2022 marks the HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY of the Newbery award! And so Keir and I open the show with a brief skit in which we learn about the HORRIFYING PROPHECY that comes true on the centenary anniversary of the Newbery award. Will John Newbery rise from the dead? Will we once again sing our way bravely through an opening musical number? Yes and yes! Thanks to Javier Ramirez and the Exile in Bookville bookstore in Chicago for helping us out with that. (Go buy a book from them! They ship!) And thanks to Chris, Alice, Heather, Domingo, Lucy, and Ingrid for helping sing the opening song.
Want to learn more about the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival? Check out our official website at www.90secondnewbery.com. And remember, it’s never too early to start making movies for the 2023 90-Second Newbery Film Festival!
Thank you to all the young filmmakers for their fantastic movies, and the families, teachers, and librarians who assisted them! So sit back, relax, and enjoy the video above.
Here’s the running order of the movies, with links to their reviews on the 90-Second Newbery website:
1. The One and Only Ivan (Katherine Applegate, 2013 Medal Winner) by Brenden and Aaron of Marlboro Memorial Middle School, Marlboro, NJ
2. Holes (Louis Sachar, 1999 Medal Winner) by Aubrey, Devon, Farrah and Maya of Hainesport Township School District, Hainesport, NJ
3. The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin, 1979 Medal Winner) by Dylan, Maggie, Aaron, and Jay of Hainesport Township School District, Hainesport, NJ
4. Doctor DeSoto (William Steig, 1983 Honor Book) by Mr. Johnson’s 5th Grade Film Club at the Grant Center for Expressive Arts
5. Al Capone Does My Shirts (Gennifer Choldenko, 2005 Newbery Honor) by Nate, Ale, and Cayden of Hainesport Township School District, Hainesport, NJ
6. The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin, 1979 Medal Winner) by Pat, Abby, Sam, and Jayden of Hainesport Township School District, Hainesport, NJ
7. Doll Bones (Holly Black, 2014 Honor Book) by the Leland Street Players
8. The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin, 1979 Medal Winner) by Ryan, Jordan, and Juelyana of Hainesport Township School District, Hainesport, NJ
9. The One and Only Ivan (Katherine Applegate, 2013 Medal Winner) by Nathan and Daniel of Jersey Community Middle School, Jerseyville, NJ
10. 26 Fairmount Avenue (Tomie dePaola, 2000 Honor Book) by Mr. Johnson’s 4th Grade Class of the Grant Center for the Expressive Arts
11. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White, 1953 Honor Book) by Kylie, Kira and Rachel of Hainesport Township School District, Hainesport, NJ
12. Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut (Derrick Barnes, 2018 Honor Book) by Juarez E. of the Advanced Learning Academy
13. The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin, 1979 Medal Winner) by Ta-Leaha, Ava, and Nat of Hainesport Township School District, Hainesport, NJ
James Kennedy is the author of the YA fantasy The Order of Odd-Fish and the adult speculative thriller Dare To Know. He is the founder and curator of the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two daughters. You can find him on the web at http://www.jameskennedy.com and on Twitter at @iamjameskennedy.
Keir Graff is the author of funny and fantastical middle-grade adventure novels including The Tiny Mansion, The Phantom Tower (named a Best Children’s Book by the Chicago Tribune), and The Matchstick Castle (an official Illinois Reads selection). He also writes books for grown-ups—some of them under fake names! He lives in Chicago with his wife Marya, sons Felix and Cosmo, and cats Toothless and Totoro. Follow him on Twitter at @KeirGraff and find out more at www.keirgraff.com.
Do you want to support the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival, so we can keep this crazy show going every year, coast to coast? Please make a tax-deductible donation to the 90-Second Newbery here. The 90-Second Newbery is under the nonprofit fiscal sponsorship of Fractured Atlas.