Montclair Film Announces Complete 2023 Montclair Film Festival Program

Today, Montclair Film announced the full slate for the 2023 Montclair Film Festival, taking place October 20-29, in Montclair, NJ.

Each year, the Montclair Film Festival presents juried awards to films in four categories; Documentary, Fiction, Future/ Now, which seeks to support emerging voices in independent filmmaking with The Mark Urman Award, a $5,000 cash prize to help support & encourage future work for the winning filmmaker, and New Jersey Films, which focuses on non-fiction filmmaking from New Jersey artists.

This year’s Documentary Film Competition features are FOUR DAUGHTERS, directed Kaouther Ban Hania, ON THE ADAMANT, directed by Nicolas Philibert, PIANOFORTE, directed by Jakub Piatek, QUEENDOM, directed by Agniia Galdanova, and RULE OF TWO WALLS, directed by David Gutnik.

This year’s Fiction Film Competition features are LA CHIMERA, directed by Alice Rohrwacher, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD, directed by Radu Jude, EVIL DOES NOT EXIST, directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL, directed by Phạm Thiên Ân, and TÓTEM, directed by Lila Avilés.

This year’s Future/Now Competition features, competing for the 2023 Mark Urman Award, are THE FEATHERWEIGHT, directed by Robert Kolodny, THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED, directed by Joanna Arnow, FREE TIME, directed by Ryan Martin Brown, PET SHOP DAYS, directed by Olmo Schnabel, and PLAYLAND, directed by Georden West.

This year’s New Jersey Films Competition features are JESSZILLA, directed by Emily Sheskin, LEAD AND COPPER, directed by William Hart, SCREAM OF MY BLOOD: A GOGOL BORDELLO STORY, directed by Nate Pommer, Eric Weinrib, TELL THEM YOU LOVE ME, directed by Nick August-Perna, and YOU WERE MY FIRST BOYFRIEND, directed by Cecilia Aldarondo, Sarah Enid Hagey.

Each year, the Montclair Film Festival presents awards to short films in three juried categories; Documentary, Fiction, and New Jersey Films.

The 2023 Documentary Shorts Competition features BLACK GIRLS PLAY: THE STORY OF HAND GAMES, directed by Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson, THE FOUNDRY, directed by Robert Machoian, NINA & IRENA, directed by Daniel Lombroso, THE PEDESTRIAN, directed by Nora DeLigter and Claire Read, STRONG GRANDMA, directed by Cecilia Brown and Winslow Crane-Murdoch, and WAKING UP IN SILENCE, directed by Mila Zhluktenko and Daniel Asadi Faezi.

The 2023 Fiction Shorts Competition features COLD & SARA, directed by Brenna Power, I HAVE NO TEARS, AND I MUST CRY, directed by Luis Fernando Puente, INDOOR BASEBALL, directed by Christian Cerezo, LET LIV, directed by Erica Rose, RICKY, directed by Rashad Frett, SADNESS, directed by Henry Jinings, SAWO MATANG, directed by Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto.

The 2023 New Jersey Shorts Competition features ACCIDENT, directed by Stephanie Ahn, BEAR BRONSON, directed by Everett Ravens, THE BLAKE directed by Courtney Sposato and Mark Sposato, CLOISTERED directed by Catherine Finsness, DARK MOON directed by Katie Mathews, PUSHOVER directed by Brian Lederman, SWIPE NYC directed by Sue Zarco Kramer.

The complete list of films in the 2023 program is available at MontclairFilm.org.

“We are incredibly honored to be able to share the work of so many incredible artists at the Montclair Film Festival,” said Montclair Film Artistic Director Tom Hall. “This year’s festival is filled with major new works by some of the world’s greatest living filmmakers along with outstanding films from emerging filmmakers from around the globe. We look forward to seeing our patrons at the festival for what promises to be a great year of filmgoing, conversation, and connection. ”

Tickets for Montclair Film Festival events go on sale on Monday, October 2, 2023 at 10:00 AM for Montclair Film Members and Friday, October 6, 2023 at 10:00 AM for the public. Tickets for this event will be available at montclairfilm.org.

Tickets for the festival’s Filmmaker Tribute to Martin Scorsese hosted by Stephen Colbert are on sale now by visiting njpac.org, ticketmaster.com, montclairfilm.org, or by telephone at 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722), and at the NJPAC Box Office at One Center Street in downtown Newark, NJ.

The full 2023 Montclair Film Festival program, including the 2023 Competition Films, will be announced on Friday, September 29, 2023.