Montclair Film Festival to Feature Over 150 Films and Events Over 10 Days

Although it’s only in its 4th year of existence, the Montclair Film Festival is rapidly becoming a town institution.

This year’s festival will run from Friday, May 1 to Sunday, May 10, and will feature over 150 films and events. To fit this massive amount of cinema, the festival will expand from seven to ten days.

According to a release, for the first time, the festival will feature filmmaking awards, competitions and audience awards, all of which will be presented on Saturday, May 9, at the MFF’s inaugural “Filmmaker Awards” ceremony. Competitive categories will include the Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Future/Now (honoring emerging low-budget American independent filmmaking), and the New Jersey Films Competition (honoring a selected group of films made by New Jersey artists).

Audience Awards will be given in the Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, World Cinema, and Short film categories.

The festival will also present two awards in honor of the late David Carr and Bruce Sinofsky, both Montclair residents. The “David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking” will honor a filmmaker, selected by the festival, who utilizes journalistic techniques to explore important contemporary subjects. In conjunction with the Carr family, the award will be presented by Carr’s friend and colleague Brian Stelter of CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”

The “Bruce Sinofsky Prize” will be awarded to the winning film in the festival’s Documentary Feature competition, awarded by the festival’s Documentary Competition Jury. Hosted in conjunction with the Sinofsky family, the award will be presented by Sinofsky’s long time friend and collaborator Joe Berlinger of Paradise Lost I, II and III.

“We are deeply humbled to honor the memory of our friends David Carr and Bruce Sinofsky at the festival, and we look forward to welcoming the filmmaking community to Montclair,” stated Montclair Film Festival Founder and Chairman Bob Feinberg.

“This year’s program features films from around the world that address the diversity and sophistication of our audiences,” stated Executive Director Tom Hall. “We are incredibly proud to be able to bring this lineup of powerful, state of the art filmmaking to Montclair.”

For more information or for a full schedule, visit the festival’s website.

Photo courtesy of the Montclair Film Festival

Photo caption: Montclair Film Festival supporters Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell ham it up during a fundraising event for the 2015 festival.