Documentary festival features 24 films

The fifth annual New Jersey Documentary Film Festival is planned Friday, May 2 through Sunday, May 4 at Sparta Avenue Stage, 10 Sparta Ave. N.

The festival will show 24 films from throughout the world.

The films, both shorts and documentaries, are shown in blocks.

Tickets are $15 for one block and $30 for a festival pass, which covers all the films. Buy them online at filmfreeway.com/NJdocfest/tickets

Each block has a theme, such as true-crime stories labeled ”No Justice, No Peace,” “Second Chances,” “When the World Shifts” and “The Power of She.”

Among the films to be shown:

• “Trail Mix,” which follows Appalachian Trail hikers on their 2,000-mile journey from Georgia to Maine.

• “The Architects of Hope: The First Steps in Rebuilding Ukraine,” which follows five architects who continue creating and building during wartime.

• “Natural Light: The Remarkable Transformation of a School on Detroit’s East Eight Mile” about a new leader at one of Michigan’s worst schools who seeks help from a firm known for solving “impossible” school problems.

• “Racing for Recovery” about Todd Crandell, a former addict who founded Racing for Recovery, a nonprofit that offers an approach to sobriety through physical fitness and plant-based living.

• “Rebel with a Clause” about a woman who set up a folding table on a Manhattan sidewalk with a homemade sign that said “Grammar Table,” then took the table on the road to all 50 states.

• “Saturday, October 7,” which uses the testimonies of seven survivors of the Hamas terrorist attack to chronicle the darkest day in modern Israeli history.

• “Unconditional: Zahara’s Journey” about an abused street dog in Cairo, Egypt, and the three women who rescue, rehabilitate and give her a new life filled with unconditional love.

Films made by New Jersey residents will be shown at 2 p.m. Saturday in a block called “Forever Young.” They are “Extra Innings: Grandpa Got Game” about a softball league for a close-knit group of old-timers and “Bobby Up the Block” about a man with too many stories.

The festival will present trophies for Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short and Best Homegrown Doc.

The event is organized by Sparta residents Joshua and Jessica Nelson.

They also produced the second annual Fourth Wall Film Festival, featuring independent films in a variety of genres, in February at Sparta Avenue Stage.