“The Piano Lesson” will be shown at The Montclair Film Festival.
The 13th annual Montclair Film Festival, which will take place from Oct. 18 to Oct. 27, has announced some of its major offerings. These will include:
• “The Piano Lesson,” Oct. 27 at 5 p.m. at The Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School, to close the festival. This film is based on the August Wilson play of the same name; co-stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Fisher, Erykah Badu and others; and is co-produced by Denzel Washington. After the screening, Stephen Colbert will moderate a question-and-answer session with director/co-writer Malcolm Washington and co-star John David Washington (both are sons of Denzel Washington). (watch trailer below)
Ralph Fiennes stars in “Conclave.”
• “Conclave” — based on the novel by Robert Harris, directed by Edward Berger and starring Ralph Fiennes — will open the festival, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. at The Wellmont Theater. Fiennes plays a Cardinal running the secretive, intrigue-filled process of selecting a new Pope after a Pope dies unexpectedly. (watch trailer below)
• “Unstoppable,” to be screened Oct. 19 at 8 p.m. at The Wellmont Theater, will be the festival’s Fiction Centerpiece. It co-stars Jharrel Jerome, Jennifer Lopez and Bobby Cannavale, and is based on the true story of a young man with one leg who wins a college wrestling championship.
• “Flow,” to be screened Oct. 19 at 4 p.m. at The Clairidge (with a sensory friendly screening at the same theater, Oct. 26 at 12:45 p.m.), is the festival’s Family Centerpiece. It is an animated film about a cat who teams up with other animals to survive after a great flood.
• The festival’s first Creator Spotlight, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at The Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School, is intended to “feature the work of artists that use cinematic storytelling in new ways to reach film audiences online,” according to a press release. The event will offer a feature-length episode of Michelle Khare’s docuseries, “Challenge Accepted: 90 Day Blackbelt,” which is about her quest to reach that level in Taekwondo, with no previous training. Khare, other members of the “Challenge Accepted” creative team and a YouTube executive will participate in a post-screening discussion.
• Oct. 27 at 4 p.m. at The Clairidge, “2073,” starring Samantha Morton, will screen as the festival’s Documentary Centerpiece. It is actually a hybrid film, in terms of genre, blending documentary footage from the present with dystopian science fiction. (watch trailer below)
Amy Adams stars in “Nightbitch.”
• Director Marielle Heller will participate in a question-and-answer session following the 7 p.m. screening of her “Nightbitch,” a surreal horror film starring Amy Adams, at The Clairidge. (watch trailer below)
Festival honorees will include John David Washington (Performance Award, for “The Piano Lesson”), Malcolm Washington (Breakthrough Director Award, for “The Piano Lesson”), Asif Kapadia (Documentary Director Award, for “2073”), Marielle Heller (Director Award, for “Nightbitch”) and Petra Costa (David Carr Award for Truth in Filmmaking for “Apocalypse in the Tropics,” screening Oct. 25 at 7:15 p.m. and Oct. 26 at 2:15 p.m. at The Clairidge).
Tickets for festival events will go on sale Sept. 30 at 10 a.m. for Montclair Film members, and Oct. 4 at 10 a.m. for the general public. Visit montclairfilm.org.
Here are the trailers:
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