The ANNOTICO Report

Non Italian Jacob Stahlman was intrigued by the little known fact of
Italian Lynchings in the US in the 1800's,
not to be confused with the recent remembrance of the Lynching of One, and
Beating of 24 other Italian Co Belligerents (incorrectly referred to as
POW's) by Black soldiers at Fort Lawson, near Seattle, Washington during
WWII.

I would have liked to have reported that this Film was made by an Italian
American, BUT Jacob Stahlman deserves "Grazie" and recognition from the
Italian American Community!

News- Record
Of Maplewood and South Orange, NJ
By Jamie Lynn Maglietta, Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 1, 2005

Three local high school filmmakers take home top prizes at the New Jersey
Young Film and Video Makers Festival. Their work will be shown at the AMC
Theatre so residents can view the community talent.

On Sunday starting at 1 p.m., at the AMC Theatre in Essex Green, the West
Orange Film Society will present the works of Ashley Rutledge, Mark Karinja
and Jacob Stahlman.

‘These are all Essex County residents that are successful budding film
makers," said West Orange Film Society  Director, Ken Mandel.

"With  access to new technology combined with creativity, they are
excellent productions which are way better then I did when I was their age."

In the high school category, first prize went to Stahlman, a senior at
Montclair High School, for "Urban Lynching," a video about a modern-day
lynching featuring ethnic role reversal, said Mandel.

"This is our third event and may be the best yet," he said. "These young
filmmakers are doing terrific work."

Initially, "Urban Lynching" was created for a school project. Stahlman
created the film after reading about lynching in a class.

When given the option to create an art project for his final in this class,
he chose to make a film because he wanted to experiment with his career
interest.

"It is a film about lynching with a race reversal roll, where they young
gentleman is lynched by three African-Americans," he said. This is based on
the fact that, in the 1800s, Italian-Americans were lynched.

After submitting his film last minute to the competition, he said he was
extremely surprised to have won first place. He agreed that creating films
is his calling. "Any apprehension I had has been resolved."

Second prize for "Where the Socks Go" was awarded to Karinja of West
Orange, a Seton Hall Prep senior.
"His film is a surreal narrative in which a young man climbs into a dryer
in search of his lost socks and discovers an alternate universe"...

Third Prize for "And Then Everything I Saw I Liked" went to Ariel Jackson
and Rutledge of Columbia High School. This film is a love story about a
young man and a ghost...

Stahlman plans to attend film school at Columbia College in Chicago to
study cinematography...

Mayor John McKeon of West Orange will welcome the filmmakers and their
families to the festival.

Guest speaker, Sara Bernstein, Director of HBO Documentary Programming,
will open the event with words of encouragement and congratulations to this
year's winners.

Mandel hopes the speakers will be able to provide the young filmmakers with
advice, encouragement and possible leads on internship.

The film society offers a series of programs to bring interesting
independent or non-commercial films not often seen at the movies into the
spotlight. It is also an opportunity of encouragement to the young
filmmakers to see their award winning project on the big screen.

With West Orange being where the movies were born, with the creation of
film by Thomas Edison, Mandel said they are excited to host events that
celebrate the heritage.

The West Orange Film Society was founded in 2004 in partnership with the
West Orange Arts Council and the AMC theatres.

They plan to continue to have events that celebrate creativity in motion
pictures.

For more information about the film society, contact Ken Mandel at
kmandel@greatprojects.com.

http://www.localsource.com/articles/
2005/06/01/news_-_record/news/local/doc4
29e17f3e31cf250320570.txt