01 / MUSES
The people
Filmmakers, musicians, artists, and cultural voices whose work opens a door to another story.
Reel Jersey Girl / New Jersey, through a personal lens
NJ Film + Music History
Present Day
Possibilities
The artists, places, and stories that shaped us—and the creative work they inspire today.
A distinctly Jersey lens
History lives in the people
who carry it forward
An old recording, a theater, a photograph, a song—the starting point for a story that connects then with now.
02 / MUSINGS
The connections
Essays, archival discoveries, and reflections on the intersections of art, place, memory, and personal history.
03 / MUSIC
The living sound
New Jersey’s music history alongside the performances, recordings, and creative relationships that keep it moving.
From the archives / A foundation of lived experience
The Jersey story
has many beginnings
FILM /
FORT LEE
FORT LEE
Where moving pictures
found a home
Film history becomes public history through screenings, research, conversations, and preservation advocacy.
Christina’s twelve years with the Fort Lee Film Commission included women’s film history programming, international film series, and work bringing Alice Guy Blaché’s legacy to public attention.
Alice in Movieland, her original screenplay inspired by real events, carries that interest into narrative storytelling.
Explore Alice in Movieland ↗MUSIC /
JERSEY ROOTS
JERSEY ROOTS
From the Jersey Sound
to the Shore
The bands, stages, friendships, and recordings that make music history personal.
Kinderhook: Send Your Demo Here Vol. 1 brings archival Capitol Theatre performance footage into a documentary about New Jersey’s 1970s music scene. The film premiered in the Music Legacy category at the 2018 Asbury Park Music+Film Festival.
Yuri Turchyn’s recordings, photographs, and creative life offer another point of entry into this continuing story.
Explore the Kinderhook documentary ↗ARCHIVES /
VOICES + PLACES
VOICES + PLACES
Keep the record
Keep the voice
Preservation begins with understanding what an object holds—and whose story it tells.
Film and music archival research connects original recordings, photographs, documents, and firsthand experience with the audiences who can give them new meaning.
That practice carries into interviews, writing, documentary production, and twenty years of Film Festival reViews podcasting.
Explore Film Festival reViews ↗Music video / Original production + performance archives
The music
in moving images
Music videos and live performances connecting New Jersey’s artists, songs, and stages.
Music video / 2023
Boots of Spanish Leather
Pat Guadagno and Mary McCrink reimagine Bob Dylan’s song as a duet, with Yuri Turchyn on violin.
Produced, directed, and edited by Christina Kotlar Turchyn / March Hare Media
Read the production story ↗Collection of music videos / Live performance
Pat Guadagno & Tired Horses
BobFest
A collection celebrating the music of Bob Dylan and the New Jersey musicians who bring it to life.
Featured from the performance archive: Yuri Turchyn’s opening at the 20th BobFest celebration, 2018, leading into Hurricane at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank.
Explore the BobFest performance story ↗Present day possibilities / Open to collaboration
Bring the history
into the room
New work can begin with a collection, a community, a venue, or a question worth asking.
These are directions for future collaborations, grounded in Christina’s production, research, editorial, and cultural programming experience.
Screenings +
conversations
Film programs, artist interviews, and discussions that connect historical work with audiences today.
Archives +
new stories
Research, oral histories, exhibit development, and documentary or podcast projects drawn from personal and community collections.
Music +
community
Writing, recorded conversations, and cultural programming around New Jersey’s musicians, venues, and creative communities, with a particular interest in Monmouth County.
The writing / Letters from Reel Jersey Girl
A story is always
finding its way home
Personal essays, film, music, and the moments that connect a creative life. Recent subjects include John Lennon’s last day, Kinderhook, and Yuri’s Fender Bender guitar.
- PHOTOGRAPHY + PROVENANCEThe Photo of John Lennon’s Last Day
- JERSEY MUSIC / THEN + NOWStill Sounds Like Kinderhook
- INSTRUMENTS + LEGACYYuri’s Fender Bender Guitar In the Right Hands
Research · Writing · Preservation · Production