The Montclair Film Festival has announced the full lineup for the 2025 edition. This will be held from October 17th to October 26th.
New Jersey Fest will present Brendan Fraser with the Performer Award following the screening of his new Searchlight Pictures Dramedy “Rental Family,” which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film was chosen as the centerpiece of Fest’s fiction. Stephen Colbert joins Fraser on stage after screening for discussion about the film.
The festival will also be honoring casting director Ellen Lewis with its first casting award for David MyCord’s “Christie,” which will serve as the closing night film. The difference in the competition for other notable fall favourite screenings at the festival is Noah Banbach’s “Jay Kelly,” Yorgos Lantimos “Bgonia,” Chloe Zao’s “Hamnet,” and Scott Cooper’s “Springsteen: Me from Delivery Me” Many filmmakers will attend post-screening discussions and panels.
Like tradition, the Montclair Film Festival screens the features of the competition across three categories: documentary, fiction, and future/current. Meanwhile, Shorts competes in documentary, fiction and New Jersey film categories.
“This year’s lineup is an extraordinary collection of incredible films. The film introduces us to the world and offers us opportunities to connect and interact with bold ideas, unique perspectives, and endless creativity,” said Tom Hall, Artistic Director of Film Arts, Montclair. “We hope that if we try to find ways to understand and engage with the times, this year’s festival will be a meaningful experience for our patrons and filmmakers, allowing cinema art to participate in the global conversations that only films can offer.”
This year’s festival coincides with the acquisition of the Montclair film and the reopening of the Bellevue Theatre, a 103-year-old Tudor-style venue located at the top of the city. To celebrate the reopening, the festival will screen the restoration of Robert Wise’s “Sounds of Music” on October 18th.
Other winners at the festival include Composer Award winner Nicholas Brittel, who has won the film in “Jay Kelly,” and Screenwriter Award winner Tracy for his “Bagonia” script, and her film “Left-handed Girl,” Pamela Abi, CEO of the film “Oven House” and the True Oben House and the “Laura Poitras” Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, also won the festival’s visionary award, and Spikeley will be awarded a filmmaker’s tribute.
Tickets for the Montclair Film Festival will be available for purchase on September 29th, and will be open to the public on October 3rd at Montclairfilm.org.
