Montclair Film Festival co-directors share why there's nothing like going out to the movies

You just can’t keep the Montclair Film Festival down. After a couple of plague-like years — the first pandemic year was followed by Tropical Storm Ida in 2021, which devastated the nonprofit’s headquarters — the festival is back in force, from Oct. 21 to 30. The trademark MFF catalog is, once again, thick with a dizzying array of films and top Hollywood talent, including Daniel Craig and Brendan Fraser, who are joining local hero Stephen Colbert for in-person conversations.

See the schedule'Whale' star Brendan Fraser, Eddie Redmayne, Daniel Craig headline Montclair Film Festival

We sat down with Montclair Film co-heads Tom Hall and Beth Gottung for a conversation about festival highlights that was peppered with Hall’s trademark pithy analogies to learn what’s new at the nonprofit’s Claridge Theater, and the future of Montclair Film.

Nice to see you, Tom and Beth. What can viewers look forward to as highlights of this year’s festival?

HALL: Opening night, Friday October 21, will feature Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, starring Daniel Craig playing a detective who travels to Greece to solve a mystery involving a cast of colorful suspects. The star-studded cast includes Edward Norton, Janelle Monae, Leslie Odom Jr. and Kate Hudson. It’s a throwback to the all-star mystery films of the early ‘70s: Think The Last of Sheila meets Death on the Nile.

Craig will also headline Montclair Film’s annual fundraiser at NJPAC, which will be part of the festival for the first time this year. The October 28 event, billed as a “Tribute to Daniel Craig,” will feature the British actor, the star of five James Bond films, in conversation with Stephen Colbert.

The Good Nurse, screening the first Saturday of the festival, is based on the true story of New Jersey nurse Charles Cullen, now in state prison in Trenton after confessing to murdering up to 40 patients. Eddie Redmayne plays Cullen and Jessica Chastain is the nurse who exposed him. After the film, Colbert will moderate a Q & A with Redmayne and  director Tobias Lindholm.

Another highlight will beThe Whale with Brendan Fraser on Sunday, October 23, at the Wellmont, followed by a Q & A with Fraser moderated by Colbert. In the film, Fraser plays a 600-pound man (with the help of a “fat suit”) trying to reconcile with his daughter, played by Sadie Sink from Stranger Things. It’s a really powerful and moving family drama. Fraser left the movie business after injuring his back doing his own stunts; then he was sexually assaulted by someone in the foreign press. This is his big comeback role; they are calling it his ‘Brendan-aissance.’

Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, creators of the super-popular fiction podcast Night Vale, will launch a new spinoff of their series on Saturday the 23rd. Night Vale gives noire-y radio news reports about a small fictional town where horrible things happen. It’s as if Stephen King did Prairie Home Companion.

The centerpiece family film, on Sunday Oct. 23, is Patrick and the Whale, produced with the Nature Conservancy, about a man who befriends a sperm whale in the Caribbean. It’s My Octopus Teacher meets Moby Dick. The photography is incredible. I watched it on my computer and can’t wait to see it at the big screen at the Wellmont.

She Said, the closing night film, is based on the 2019 book by the New York Times’ Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who exposed Harvey Weinstein’s history of sexual abuse and misconduct. It stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan. The filmmakers will be awarded the festival’s David Carr Award for Truth in Filmmaking.

It’s always hard for me to single out films; they’re like my children, and I love them all. But one I’d especially recommend is Devotion, about the friendship between an African-American and white Navy pilot during the Korean War. It’s a Top-Gun-ny buddy film tinged with the racial politics of the time. The other is Remember This, starring David Straithairn, about the  concentration-camp escapee who tried to alert FDR to the atrocities of the Holocaust.

It sounds like you’re almost back to pre-pandemic levels in terms of number of films in the festival. How many attendees are you expecting?

HALL: This year we’ll have about 130 films — 61 features and 68 shorts.

We can show more movies each day than last year, when we were trying to keep an hour between movies so people weren’t lining up on top of each other because of COVID. As far as audience numbers, we likely won’t be shattering 2019’s total of 26,000festival-goers, butwe’ll be closer than last year.

What other parties or special events are being held this year?

GOTTUNG: After a two-year hiatus, we are again hosting the opening night party, which will be at the Wellmont on October 21; a filmmaker party will be at Porta restaurant, next door to our headquarters, on October 23. There is also a filmmaker breakfast open to the public and an October 29 showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, with The Ordinary Kids performing a live floor show. Wear a costume.

Will you observe any COVID restrictions at the festival?

HALL: No. While masks are strongly encouraged and staff will be masked, we are following the lead of the Governor and Broadway and not requiring masks or vaccine cards. Everything has been walked back. I don’t know if that’s appropriate or not. One of the good things is that Montclair is a heavily vaccinated area.

The Clairidge Theater reopened last year right before the festival. What changes will we see?

HALL: The lobby was recently renovated, and we are waiting on town approval of a liquor license for the snack bar. It’s a nonprofit license (and not subject to a bidding war like those given to retail businesses), so the cost to us will be minimal. After the festival, we’ll be replacing the floors and chairs in all six theaters, supported by a matching grant. We also need to replace the theater’s three HVAC systems. We took that on when we signed the lease for the property (with Montclair landlord Dick Grabowsky.)  We’ll be fundraising for that.

With our showings (throughout the year) at the Clairidge, we are trying to strike a balance between art house and international films and documentaries and bigger studio titles. Unlike other theaters, we pick the movies and schedule them ourselves. We know Montclair. We don’t necessarily pick the biggest movie; we pick the movie the community would like. That said, we showed Top Gun. I don’t want to not give people what they’re interested in. People wanted to see Top Gun, there’s no other movie theater in Montclair, we’re going to show Top Gun.

How has the Claridge been doing since you took over the lease last year?

HALL: In terms of audience numbers, we are doing about the same as the Claridge did before. We’re not full, but nobody’s full. This summer was supposed to be a great summer for movie theaters, and it was — July was our best month since we opened, by far. But it’s not super sustainable long-term unless people come back. We need people to feel safe to come back to the movies, and to think it’s valuable not to wait until it comes out on Peacock or Netflix.

We are doubling down and making it a great experience, and hoping that people continue to come back. Our membership program, which provides discounts, is another way we are encouraging people to come back.

GOTTUNG: During the festival, we try to keep it affordable at $17 a ticket or $15 with membership, significantly less than tickets at big screen theaters. I think it’s important for people to know the Clairidge is a nonprofit theater and is connected to Montclair Film. I don’t know that everyone is making that connection.

What are you planning in terms of fundraising?

HALL: We haven't had a fundraiser in more than two years because of COVID. We may do another NJPAC event again in the spring. I don’t know if we’ll do the dance party with the Loser’s Lounge. It’s expensive to put on, and we have to walk the line between raising money and making it accessible.

This year, Montclair Film has two co-directors. How did that come about and what do your new roles entail?

HALL: Our development director retired in ‘21 and we took that as an opportunity to reimagine our leadership roles. I pushed hard for adding another co-director to handle development while I focus on programming. In addition to fundraising, Beth, who most recently was with the KIPP charter schools nonprofit in Newark, is also overseeing our educational programming. (Gottung was also a director of development at Montclair State University, and the field hockey coach with the most wins in school history.)

What’s happening with Montclair Film’s education arm?

GOTTUNG: When flooding from Tropical Storm Ida destroyed the basement classrooms at MF headquarters at 505 Bloomfield Ave. last year, Montclair landlord and developer David Placek donated space for us to use, and we did some classes virtually. We are finally back 100%, and have new offerings in filmmaking, editing, animation, screenwriting, podcasting and storytelling. Our popular story slams have resumed.

Thanks to generous donors, we are broadening our reach into communities around Montclair. We now teach two film courses in Newark and one in Paterson. Our new Impact series has high school students coming to watch films about social justice issues followed by a conversation with a moderator. During the festival, Montclair High School 11th graders will participate.

Will the festival continue to be held in October?

HALL: Yes, we are never going back. The October dates give us much better access to films. Because our festival is after Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York, we’re able to feature films that end up being a part of the award season discussion. That has really upped our industry profile, establishing Montclair as an important stop on the fall festival circuit.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Montclair Film Festival 2022: Highlights from the co-directors