2024 Montclair Film Festival: ‘Conclave,’ ‘Unstoppable,’ ‘The Piano Lesson’ and More

Montclair Film has announced the 2024 Opening Night, Centerpiece, and Closing Night Films, as well as The 2024 Montclair Film Festival Honors for the 13th Annual Montclair Film Festival, taking place October 18-27, in Montclair, NJ.

“This year’s program is filled with powerful new works, and we are so honored to bring these incredible artists and their films to the Montclair Film Festival,” said Tom Hall, Artistic Director and Co-Head of Montclair Film.

On Friday, October 18 at 7:00 PM at The Wellmont Theater, the festival opens with Conclave, Directed by Edward Berger. Conclave follows one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events – selecting the new Pope. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running this covert process after the unexpected death of the beloved Pope. Once the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders have gathered from around the world and are locked together in the Vatican halls, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake, secrets which could shake the foundations of the Church. On the heels of his multiple Academy Award-winning All Quiet on the Western Front, Conclave continues Edward Berger’s ascent as one of our leading directors. The Montclair Film Festival presents Conclave as its 2024 Opening Night Film. Conclave is a Focus Features release.

On Saturday, October 19 at 8:00 PM at The Wellmont Theater, William Goldenberg’s Unstoppable screens as the festival’s 2024 Fiction Centerpiece. Unstoppable is the inspiring true story of Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome) who was born with one leg but whose indomitable spirit and unbreakable resolve empowered him to defy the odds and pursue his dreams. With the unwavering love and support of his devoted mother Judy (Jennifer Lopez) and the encouragement of his coaches, Anthony fights through adversity to earn a spot on the Arizona State Wrestling team. But it will demand everything he has, physically and mentally, to achieve his ultimate quest to become an NCAA Champion. The Montclair Film Festival is proud to present William Goldenberg’s Unstoppable as the 2024 Fiction Centerpiece Film. Unstoppable is an Amazon MGM Studios release.

On Saturday, October 19 at 4:00 PM at The Clairidge, Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow screens as the festival’s 2024 Family Centerpiece. A wondrous journey, through realms natural and mystical, Flow follows a courageous cat after his home is devastated by a great flood. Teaming up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, they must rely on trust, courage, and wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet. From the boundless imagination of the award-winning Gints Zilbalodis (Away) comes a thrilling animated spectacle as well as a profound meditation on the fragility of the environment and the spirit of friendship and community. Steeped in the soaring possibilities of visual storytelling, Flow is a feast for the senses and a treasure for the heart. The Montclair Film Festival presents Flow as its 2024 Family Centerpiece film. Flow is a Sideshow & Janus Films release.

On Friday, October 25 at 7:00 PM at The Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School, the Montclair Film Festival will introduce our first-ever Creator Spotlight, which was developed to feature the work of artists that use cinematic storytelling in new ways to reach film audiences online. The program launches with an engaging and insightful conversation exploring the art and strategy behind creating compelling content on YouTube.  In this program, YouTube will present an early look at the first-ever feature-length episode of creator Michelle Khare’s docuseries, Challenge Accepted. In Challenge Accepted: 90 Day Blackbelt, Michelle Khare attempts to earn a black belt within 90 days with no prior training under the guidance of world-renowned taekwondo Grandmaster Simon Rhee.

Following the screening, star and creator of the hit YouTube series, Michelle Khare, will be joined by other members of the Challenge Accepted creative team and a YouTube executive for a discussion on various aspects of the craft, including the creative process, audience engagement strategies, and the impact of storytelling that have catapulted YouTube as the #1 streaming platform in the US.

On Saturday, October 26, at 4:00 PM at The Clairidge, Asif Kapadia’s 2073 screens as the festival’s Documentary Centerpiece. It’s the year 2073, and the worst fears of modern life have been realized. Surveillance drones fill the burnt orange skies and militarized police roam the wrecked streets, while survivors hide away underground, struggling to remember a free and hopeful existence. In this ingenious mixture of visionary science fiction and speculative nonfiction, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia (Amy) transports us to a future foreshadowed by the terrifying realities of our present moment. Two-time Academy Award nominee Samantha Morton plays a survivor besieged by nightmare visions of the past—a past that happens to be our present, visualized through contemporary footage interconnecting today’s global crises of authoritarianism, unchecked big tech, inequality, and global climate change. 2073 is an urgent, unshakable vision of a dystopic future that could very well be our own. 2073 is a NEON release.

On Sunday, October 27 at 5:00 PM at The Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School, August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, directed and co-written by Malcolm Washington, screens as the festival’s 2024 Closing Night Film. A battle is brewing in the Charles Household. At the center stands a prized heirloom piano tearing two siblings apart. On one side, a brother (John David Washington) plans to build the family fortune by selling it. On the other, a sister (Danielle Deadwyler) will go to any lengths to hold onto the sole vestige of the family’s heritage.  Their uncle (Samuel L. Jackson) tries to mediate,  but even he can’t hold back the ghosts of the past.  Adapted from August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork, The Piano Lesson explores the intergenerational dynamics of identity, resilience and transcendence – revealing startling truths about how we perceive the past and who gets to define our legacy.  The film is directed and co-written by Malcolm Washington in his feature directorial debut. From Oscar nominated producers Denzel Washington and Todd Black, and featuring an all-star cast including Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu with Danielle Deadwyler and Corey Hawkins.

Q&A with John David Washington & Malcolm Washington. Moderated by Stephen Colbert. The Piano Lesson is a Netflix release.

This year, the Montclair Film Festival continues its tradition of honoring artists whose work exemplifies the best in cinema.

On Sunday, October 27 at 7:00 PM at The Clairidge, director Marielle Heller will be honored with the festival’s 2024 Director Award after a screening of her new film Nightbitch. Making the decision to stay at home with a young child is always fraught; the career that is put on hold, the creativity, the freedom, the time available to pursue spontaneity. In Marielle Heller’s (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) Nightbitch, a mother (Amy Adams) pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom seeking a new chapter in her life when her maternal routine takes an unexpectedly surreal turn. At once hilarious and knowing, Nightbitch is a tour de force of maternal anxiety, a search for the inner self that once walked on the wild side.

Q&A with Marielle Heller follows the screening. Nightbitch is a Searchlight release.

This year, the festival honors Director Petra Costa with the festival 2024 David Carr Award for Truth in Filmmaking for her new film Apocalypse in the Tropics.

When does a democracy end, and a theocracy begin? In Apocalypse in the Tropics, Petra Costa investigates the increasingly powerful grip that faith leaders hold over politics in Brazil. Costa gains extraordinary access to the country’s top political leaders, as well as to Brazil’s most famous televangelist: a larger-than-life pastor who seems to play puppet master to the latter. Weaving past and present, she immerses us in the contradictory realities of a young democracy that is hanging on by a thread, holding up a mirror to the rest of the world.

Each year, the Montclair Film Festival honors the legacy of New York Times reporter and longtime Montclair resident David Carr by presenting an award to an outstanding film that honors Mr. Carr’s passion for the truth and his commitment to great journalism. This year, the 2024 David Carr Award for Truth in Filmmaking is awarded to Apocalypse in the Tropics directed by Petra Costa. The festival gives this award to acknowledge the film’s deep access and challenging questioning of its subjects, a demonstration of Petra Costa’s rigorous commitment to truth telling in the name of democratic values.

The film screens Friday, October 25 at 7:15 PM and Saturday, October 26 at 2:15 PM at The Clairidge.

Further honorees may be announced at a later date.