Every fall, downtown Montclair fills up with moviegoers, filmmakers and famous faces, all drawn by ten days of screenings, conversations and parties.
Now in its 15th year, the Montclair Film Festival takes place October 16–25 in various Montclair locations, and tickets are open to the public now at Festival.MontclairFilm.org.
This year’s in-person confirmed guests include Montclair resident Stephen Colbert, along with Rachel Maddow, Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, John Turturro, Ava DuVernay, Jack O’Connell, Stephan James and Karina Longworth. The festival also features Act One, a film shot in Montclair with support from Montclair Film’s Workforce Development program—one example of how New Jersey is often a filming location these days.
This year’s festival lineup includes more than 160 films, conversations, panels and events over the ten days. Many films will be followed by Q&As with the filmmakers making for a unique, memorable experience. Also, beyond the screenings, the festival overlaps with a full slate of things to do around town.
How the Festival Got Started
The Montclair Film Festival has hosted guests including Michael Moore, Patrick Wilson, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Daniel Craig, Mindy Kaling and Stephen Colbert. What began as a seven-day festival for 7,500 patrons has grown into a ten-day festival that drew over 23,000 patrons and 130 films and events in 2025. Now a year-round organization, Montclair Film runs two multi-screen cinemas and reaches thousands of students annually through its education programs.
See Stephen Colbert, Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti & More Celebrity Guests
Montclair resident Stephen Colbert is moderating three of the festival’s biggest post-screening conversations this year: one following The Debut with director Jesse Eisenberg and stars Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, the second after the screening of 14th with acclaimed director Ava DuVernay who is receiving the festival’s Documentary Filmmaker Award, and the third following the closing night film, Behemoth! with director and writer Tony Gilroy. Colbert has been a fixture of the festival since its earliest years, and both conversations are a chance to see him in a role as both a film fan and moderator.
Other filmmakers and cast members are confirmed to appear, mostly for Q&As after their films, including producer Rachel Maddow and director Ben Klein after Kill. Bury. Print.; Sophia Takal, writer-director of Act One, following the screening; screenwriter Stephen Beresford following Elsinore; actor John Turturro following The Only Living Pickpocket in New York; and actor Jack O’Connell following Ink.
Attend Parties to Connect With Cinema Lovers & Filmmakers
The Montclair Film Festival Opening Night Party will take place at Montclair Mezzanine on Friday, October 16, complete with food, beverages and a DJ. This party will follow the Opening Night Film, Wild Horse Nine, screening at The Wellmont Theater at 7pm.
The Filmmaker Party at Porta on Saturday, October 17 is open to anyone with a ticket, offering a more casual spot to run into working directors, producers and other industry attendees over pizza and drinks.
Highlighted Screening & Events
Friday, October 16
Opening Night: Wild Horse Nine
📍The Wellmont Theater
⏰ 7 pm
👀 Directed by Oscar winner Martin McDonagh and starring John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi, this film is about two CIA agents that are pulled into a personal and political reckoning on Easter Island just before the 1973 Chilean coup.
Opening Night Party
📍Montclair Mezzanine
⏰ 9:30 pm
Saturday, October 17
Being Heumann
📍The Wellmont Theater
⏰ 12 pm
👀 Directed by Oscar winner Siân Heder and starring Ruth Madeley and Mark Ruffalo, this story is based on true events. A young disability rights activist and a coalition of allies stage the longest occupation of a federal building in U.S. history.
Animation Centerpiece: Ray Gunn
📍 The Wellmont Theater
⏰ 4 pm
👀 An animated sci-fi noir directed by Oscar winner Brad Bird following a private eye in a retro-futuristic city whose case is tangled up with murder and a media star. Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson voice lead roles. (This film features cartoon violence and themes that may not be suitable for all ages.)
Act One
📍The Bellevue Theatre
⏰ 7 pm
👀 Directed by Montclair native Sophia Takal and filmed in the town, this film starring Ari Graynor follows a teenage aspiring actress who is drawn into an intense, all-consuming acting studio ahead of opening night. (Also screening Sunday at 3:45 pm)
🗣️ Q&A with director Sophia Takal to follow.
Kill. Bury. Print.
📍The Wellmont Theater
⏰ 8 pm
👀 Produced by Rachel Maddow, a small-town Oklahoma newspaper faces intimidation from local law enforcement after investigating corruption in the sheriff’s office.
🗣️ Q&A with director Ben Klein and producer Rachel Maddow to follow.
Filmmaker Party
📍Porta
⏰ 9 pm
Sunday, October 18
I Play Rocky
📍Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School
⏰ 12 pm
👀 Oscar-winning director Peter Farrelly brings audiences the true story of an unknown actor’s determined bid to both write and star in what became Rocky. Actor Anthony Ippolito portrays Sylvester Stallone.
Act One
📍The Bellevue Theatre (second screening)
⏰ 3:45 pm
👀 Directed by Montclair native Sophia Takal and filmed in the town, this film starring Ari Graynor follows a teenage aspiring actress who is drawn into an intense, all-consuming acting studio ahead of opening night.
🗣️ Q&A with director Sophia Takal to follow.
In Conversation: Stephan James
📍The Audible Lounge at Montclair Mezzanine
⏰ 6:30 pm
🗣️ Actor Stephan James starred as Olympics hero Jesse Owens in Race, for which he received an NAACP Image Award nomination, and in Ava DuVernay’s acclaimed film Selma. Now, he steps into the shoes of Carl Weathers in Peter Farrelly’s biopic I Play Rocky about Sylvester Stallone’s belief in himself and his script for Rocky.
Josephine
📍The Bellevue Theatre
⏰ 7 pm
👀 Based on writer-director-producer Beth de Araújo’s own lived experiences, this film follows the psychological fallout after eight-year-old witnesses a crime in Golden Gate Park.
🗣️ Q&A with Breakthrough Director Award winner Beth de Araújo to follow.
Fiction Centerpiece: Elsinore
📍Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School
⏰ 7:30 pm
👀 The true story of actor Ian Charleson, played by Andrew Scott, who confronts his own mortality while delivering one of his most celebrated stage performances. Olivia Colman also stars.
🗣️ Q&A with Montclair Film’s Screenwriter Award winner Stephen Beresford to follow.
Monday, October 19
Ink
📍Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School
⏰ 7:30 pm
👀 From Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle comes a drama tracing the origins of tabloid news culture through the rise of a scrappy, provocative British newspaper. Guy Pearce and Jack O’Connell star.
🗣️ Q&A with actor Jack O’Connell to follow.
Tuesday, October 20
Gentle Monster
📍The Bellevue Theatre
⏰ 7 pm
👀 Léa Seydoux stars in this story about a concert pianist’s life that unravels after a police raid reveals how little she knew about her husband. (This film features German, English, French dialogue with English subtitles).
Wednesday, October 21
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
📍The Bellevue Theatre
⏰ 7:30 pm
👀 Emmy-winning actor John Turturro plays a pickpocket who steals from unsuspecting riders on the New York City subway system, until he steals from the wrong person.
🗣️ Q&A with actor John Turturro to follow.
Friday, October 23
Documentary Centerpiece: 14th
📍Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School
⏰ 7:30 pm
👀 A decade after her Oscar–nominated and Emmy–winning documentary 13th, director Ava DuVernay’s new documentary examines the long, unresolved fight over the 14th Amendment and who it protects.
🗣️ Q&A with director Ava DuVernay, moderated by Stephen Colbert to follow.
Saturday, October 24
The Debut
📍Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School
⏰ 7:30 pm
👀 Director Jesse Eisenberg’s comedy about a suburban woman whose small community-theater role spirals into an all-consuming acting obsession stars Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti.
🗣️ Q&A with writer/director Jesse Eisenberg and stars Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, moderated by Stephen Colbert to follow.
The Search (1948)
📍The Bellevue Theatre
⏰ 7:30 pm
👀 In conjunction with the new season of Karina Longworth’s long-running podcast You Must Remember This, see a screening of Fred Zinnemann’s 1948 drama The Search, starring one of the main subjects of Longworth’s new season, Montgomery Clift.
🗣️ An extended introduction by Longworth precedes the screening.
Sunday, October 25
In Conversation: Karina Longworth
📍The Audible Lounge at Montclair Mezzanine
⏰ 12 pm
🗣️ Karina Longworth is a film historian and the writer, creator and host of You Must Remember This, a podcast about 20th Century Hollywood. She is a former film critic and the author of five books, including Seduction: Sex, Lies and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood.
Closing Night: Behemoth!
📍Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School
⏰ 6 pm
👀 Oscar-nominated director Tony Gilroy’s story follows a cellist, played by Pedro Pascal, who returns home after decades on tour and reckons with how music has shaped his life. Olivia Wilde also stars.
🗣️ Q&A with writer-director Tony Gilroy, moderated by Stephen Colbert to follow.
There are many, many more films and events to discover at Festival.MontclairFilm.org.
While You’re in Town: More Things to Do in Montclair
The festival unfolds across the entire town and it’s worth exploring between showtimes. A few highlights happening during the festival’s run:
- Ironbound Farm Market at Lackawanna Station (Oct 16–25)
- Montclair Farmers Market at The Walnut Street Train Station (Oct 17 & 24)
- Zombie Walk at East Side Mags (Oct 17)
- AAPI’s Light Up Diwali at Montclair Art Museum (Oct 17)
- Haunted Fun House at Montclair Book Center (Oct 23–25)
- Strut Your Mutt, a dog costume competition, at Brookdale Park (Oct 24)
- Cemetery Tour & Carriage Route Tour at Rosedale Cemetery (Oct 25)
Combined with the festival’s screenings and events, there’s enough going on to fill a full day or weekend in Montclair. Visit experiencemontclair.org for more information on what to do in Montclair.
Tickets for the 2026 Montclair Film Festival are on sale now at Festival.MontclairFilm.org.
