film
BIGGER , BOLDER , AND STILL BELOVED
Montclair Film Festival celebratesa special anniversary WRITTEN BY JULIA MARTIN
The advent of the Montclair Film Festival always brings afrisson of excitement to town . In early March 2020 , everything was in place for the highly-anticipated spring event — Montclair Film executive director Tom Hall and founders Evie Colbert and Bob Feinberg had the rights todozens of films , secured venues , and booked industry leaders for post-screening Q & Asand starstudded conversations , many hosted by friend of the festival Stephen Colbert . It was time to print the thick , glossy program and hire scores of paid and volunteer staffers .
But the May festival was not to be . With alarm about COVID growing , organizers pulled the plug and rescheduled the festival for October .
Yet what could have been a disaster for the nonprofit instead had several silver linings . Now , MFF has been reborn , with apermanent October spot on the town ’ s calendar , anew venue in the Clairidge movie
LISTENING IN Stephen Colbert interviews Ben Stiller in the MKA auditorium as part of MFF ’ s Storyteller Series .
theater , whose grand re-opening will kick off the festival , and a dazzling lineup for its 10th anniversary .
A few weeks before the October 2021 festival , we spoke with Evie Colbert , Feinberg , and Hall . They were optimistic about this year ’ s events , despite the resurgence of the Delta variant and flooding from Hurricane Ida that inundated their headquarters at 505 Bloomfield Avenue . Here ’ s their take on how MFF bounced back , the changes the pandemic brought to the nonprofit , and how they see the future of Montclair Film and the film industry .
COURTESY OF NEIL GRABOWSKY FOR MONTCLAIR FILM
20 FALL 2021 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE