entertainment
The Stars Behind the Scenes Key MontclairFilm staff make sure the showgoes on year-round WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER PHOTOGRAPHY BY DANIELLE PARHIZKARAN
INT . MARTHA ’ S VINEYARD RESTAURANT AT 9:15 P . M .
MICHAEL ZEMBOWER , a fit , middle-aged man with a gray ponytail , and his adult son , ZACH ZEMBOWER , are enjoying dinner surrounded by family and friends when MICHAEL ’ s cell phone rings . He frowns , says something inaudible , ends the call and turns to ZACH .
MICHAEL
That was Meredith . Hurricane Ida is flooding 505 . She and Jonathan attempted to make their way over to the building , but it was such adeluge of rain that the roads were impassible . She said we should check the remote surveillance app on my phone .
CLOSE-UP OF MICHAEL ’ S PHONE . Water pours into Montclair Film Festival headquarters from Bloomfield Avenue , rushes down the stairs and seeps through the ceiling to the lower level . Father and son stare in disbelief .
MICHAEL ( CONT ’ D )
We ’ re coming back from COVID , and we have a10-day festival to put on in alittle over amonth and ahalf . There ’ s alot to do in the weeks leading up to the annual festival , let alone clean up from amajor flood .
ZACH
And all of our education laptops , filmmaking equipment , and our podcast studio are located in the classroom level , so we ’ ve lost an incredible amount of technology .
MONTAGE : With “ My Hero ” by the Foo Fighters as soundtrack , we see daylight shining through the glass front doors of 505 Bloomfield Ave . In awrecked room with visible watermarks on the walls , we see MICHAEL photographing and documenting sodden paperwork and equipment , and calling remediation companies and landlords for new production spaces . ZACH removes the entire digital production rack . Together , they stack 5-foot-by-9-foot aluminum flood barriers in front of the back door for future mitigation .
Back inside , ZACH holds an external hard drive up to the light .
ZACH ( CONT ’ D )
Iwas using this to archive almost all the media history of Montclair Film . It was soaking wet , but now it ’ s dry . Maybe Ican transfer the data from it to another drive .
ZACH inserts the hard drive into his laptop and scrutinizes the screen .
ZACH ( CONT ’ D )
Crazily enough , it still works ! ( Pausing to reflect ) I believe the nature of this external hard drive is what Montclair Film embodies — to not only endure , but to thrive and build resilience .
MEREDITH LADOV , MONTCLAIR FILM MANAGING DIRECTOR ( VOICEOVER )
Zach and Michael moved and set up everything we needed so we could continue to work . They give so much of their time to ensure that all we do is done well .
THE END
16 FALL 2023 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE