Now in its 14th year, Montclair Film Festival continues to thrive

Emma Stone stars in “Bugonia,” which will be shown at this year’s Montclair Film Festival.

The Montclair Film Festival was just a couple of years old when Tom Hall became its artistic director, in 2014. Its motto back then?

Sundance – Only Jersey-er.

“And I said, ‘No, we’ve got to get rid of that,’ ” Hall says, laughing. “Got to shift away from that whole inferiority complex.”

Mission accomplished.

While it may never have the swag and swagger of that Utah event, the Montclair Film Festival — back for its 14th year, from Oct. 17 to Oct. 26 — has definitely come into its own.

Its proximity — both to Manhattan, and to Hollywood’s annual awards season — has helped it attract big films and big guests. And its savvy, cine-literate audience has given Hall and his staff the confidence to program an eclectic schedule of screenings.

Just a few of this year’s highlights? The George Clooney picture “Jay Kelly,” the rock biopic “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” and the new “Knives Out” mystery, “Wake Up Dead Man.”

Add in a slew of other studio offerings, indies, imports and docs — along with guest appearances, Q-and-A sessions, parties and symposia — and it becomes easy to get lost.

So here is Hall, to provide context and some tips.

TOM HALL

Q: How has the festival changed, and grown, since you came aboard?

A: When I got here, we didn’t have a year-round organization. We had a part-time artistic director; we really didn’t have anyone in development. Since then we’ve expanded the festival to 10 days, we’ve professionalized our staff, we’ve taken over two cinemas, and we’ve launched a year-round education program. So those have all been big developments.

Another change was: This used to be a spring festival. Then the pandemic came and sort of disrupted that. But in the end that turned out to be a good thing for us, because we moved to October. And going to the fall has given us a big opportunity to really be a part of that end-of-year conversation, and get access to a completely different batch of movies. That, along with operating The Clairidge, and now The Bellevue — and with all this film production coming to Jersey, thanks to the tax breaks — has sort of changed our relationship with the industry. We feel like we’re participating in the full life cycle of films now, from test screenings to festival premieres to theatrical runs.

Q: I know it’s a little like asking a parent, “Who’s your favorite child?” But what films were you happiest to discover this year? What ones surprised you?

A: On the surprise front I don’t think I was ready for “Bugonia.” I like (director) Yorgos Lanthimos, but I was not prepared for how compelling that would be, and I’m really thrilled to have the opportunity to show that. “Train Dreams” is a really beautiful movie which I hope people come out to see on a big screen; also “Left-Handed Girl” by Shih-Ching Tsou, who we’re honoring this year with our Breakthrough Director award. Personally, for me — as a father and as someone who’s seen every iteration of “Hamlet” — I was really moved by “Hamnet.” It completely changed my relationship to the play, and made me look at it in a way I’d never considered before.

SPIKE LEE

Q: I know an advantage you have is that, in addition to your tireless president, Evie Colbert, her husband regularly pitches in. What will he be doing this time?

A: Stephen’s doing a couple of things for us. The first is our Filmmaker Tribute to Spike Lee, which I’m very much looking to. I’ve followed Spike’s work since college and I really enjoyed his latest, “Highest 2 Lowest,” which was actually our No. 1 film at The Clairidge this year. I can’t wait to see what he and Stephen will be talking about. And Stephen is also doing a post-screening conversation with Brendan Fraser, after we show his film “Rental Family”; Brendan is also slated to get this year’s Performer Award. Brendan was here before with “The Whale” and it’s lovely to see what a really wonderful, vulnerable actor he’s become.

Q: You have a new venue this year, too.

A: That’s right, we still have The Clairidge, which is downtown, across from our headquarters, but now we’ve added The Bellevue in Upper Montclair. It’s this lovely old theater and was really beloved in the community. In fact, when we announced we were taking it over, and remodeling it, so many people wrote with their memories of growing up with it; a lot of them mentioned seeing “The Sound of Music” there, where it actually ran for three years! So we’ll be showing a restored print of that during the festival, along with some other things. And then the theater re-opens full time on Halloween.

Q: We’ve seen so many theaters shut down since COVID. What role can nonprofits like yours play in keeping them alive?

A: I think we can play a special role. As nonprofits, we don’t need to be serving shareholders; if we can break even, or better, that’s great. But the community needs to be behind it, too. One of the things we talked about when we were considering taking over The Bellevue was … we already had The Clairidge. We didn’t want to just split our audience in two while taking on additional costs. So it was important to have the community invested in this new venture; nostalgia only gets you so far. But we’ve always had that support here. People show up for screenings and special events, they come to the festival, they support the Montclair Film organization. There’s a sense of community and ownership.

Sydney Sweeney in “Christy.”

Q: The festival has always been committed to serving the entirety of Montclair’s community; your home page uses the words “diversity” and “inclusivity,” words that have become real triggers for some people. Have you had any pushback, in terms of fundraising or grants?

A: Our funding is up year-over-year, so we’re in good shape there, and I haven’t heard anything about the language on our website. We do try to reflect our audience, which is diverse in terms of backgrounds and interests and ideas, but then the whole idea of art is to connect people, and building conversations. I think it builds trust when people see their interests reflected, but we paint with a big palette here, and we show a wide range of films that address a wide range of issues. I think that’s one of the best things about cinema.

Look, we’re closing the festival with a Sydney Sweeney movie (“Christy”). It’s not about the politics of the film or of the filmmakers. It’s always about showing the best work we can.

Q: I think sometimes film festivals start because some civic leader declares, “I think it would be fun to have a film festival!” — the way Charles Foster Kane declared, “I think it would be fun to run a newspaper!” — without really knowing what goes into it. Why has this festival thrived when others, frankly, haven’t?

A: People start a film festival because they love their town, and they love films. But you know, you also need to build an actual nonprofit institution. You have to put together a board that will be really involved, you have to have an expert production manager. The person in charge of fundraising can’t just be into Kubrick; they have to be into fundraising! And we’ve done that. We have an incredible staff who love their roles. And the other thing we’ve done is put the emphasis on programming. We’re not just choosing films for ourselves. There’s a balance we have to hit: Emerging artists, established filmmakers, studio films, low-budget films. You always have to ask yourself: Are you responding to the community? Are you working with the industry? Who are you serving?

Montclair will always be our core audience, but we know we’re also part of a larger community. So it’s all those things. Building the right team, having the right goals — and doing it all for the right reasons.

For all festival information, visit montclairfilm.org.
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