Montclair Film Festival 2020

A woman in her sixties, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.

Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida speak out against the national gun-violence epidemic after a mass shooting at their school kills 17 people.

1840s England, acclaimed but overlooked fossil hunter Mary Anning and a young woman sent to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship, altering both of their lives forever.

A documentary from Werner Herzog about meteors and comets and their influence on ancient religions and other cultural and physical impacts they've had on Earth.

"The Australian Dream" is a theatrical feature documentary that uses the remarkable and inspirational story of AFL legend Adam Goodes as the prism through which to tell a deeper, more powerful story about race, identity, and belonging.

Plagued by mysterious hallucinations, a pregnant woman suspects that the family of her deceased boyfriend has intentions for her unborn child.

A European prince terrorizes the local peasantry while using his castle as a refuge against the "Red Death" plague that stalks the land.

Present-day, fraught political reality by exploring historical challenges of the past.

A young girl whose father is an ex-convict and whose mother is a junkie finds conforming difficult and seeks comfort in a quirky combination of Elvis and the punk scene.

A spiritualist medium holds a seance for a writer suffering from writer's block but accidentally summons the spirit of his deceased first wife, which leads to an increasingly complex love triangle with his current wife of five years.

Documentary looks at the daily life of a pig and its farm animal companions: two cows and a one-legged chicken.

Storyteller and Conceptual Magician Derek DelGaudio attempts to understand the illusory nature of identity and answer the deceptively simple question 'Who am I?'

A pregnant woman returns to her recently-deceased grandparents' old family home to spend time with her estranged mother. What begins as a tenuous reunion slowly turns terrifying.

A fictional account of one incredible night where icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown gathered discussing their roles in the Civil Rights Movement and cultural upheaval of the 60s.

A Korean American family moves to an Arkansas farm in search of its own American dream. Amidst the challenges of new life in the strange and rugged Ozarks, they discover the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.

The documentary follows Greta Thunberg, a teenage climate activist from Sweden, on her international crusade to get people to listen to scientists about the world's environmental problems.

New parents Adrienne and Matteo are forced to reckon with trauma amidst their troubled relationship. They must revisit the memories of their past and unravel haunting truths in order to face their uncertain future.

A man arrives at an unknown home with an unknown agenda.

Birdie is a biracial girl raised by her mom in a NJ suburb. She spends a visitation day with her father, and debates inviting him back into her life as she prepares for her Bat Mitzvah and adulthood.

Shaq, a young man grappling with depression, returns to his New Jersey hometown, where his exploration of grief and brotherhood transforms into the imagining of an inner life.

Lizbeth Mateo is an attorney who swore to uphold the Constitution. She's also undocumented. When a client takes sanctuary in a church, Lizbeth's own experience guides their fight for justice.

Every year about 300,000 kids are confined in youth detention in the US, limiting their potential to succeed in life. 70-80% will be re-arrested within 2 or 3 years of being released and nearly 2/3 will never complete high school. Richmond, Virginia's families, police, judges, artists, and activists have united to change this in their own community. Virtually Free is a documentary about unlikely allies who partner to transform the juvenile justice system and stop mass incarceration. Produced by the non-profit media company Shine Global, Virtually Free is directed by André Robert Lee In the film, we meet Sid, Taee, and AR, three teens currently being held in a Richmond, VA detention center who are offered the chance to become activists speaking truth to power. Participating in a local arts organizations' program, Performing Statistics, they are taught by different artists to deliver their powerful, authentic messages to the public, law enforcement, and government officials using their art, including a virtual reality jail cell they've helped create.

At Good Grief groups, children meet to understand the passing of a parent or a sibling through play, giving in to rage in 'the volcano room' and saying goodbye to a dying teddy bear patient in 'the hospital room'. Over the course of a year, we follow the weekly meetings and get close to Kimmy, Nicky, Peter, Nora, Nolan and Mikayla and their close companion: grief. It is sometimes heartbreaking, but also humorous, to experience the questions about life and death through their open and curious minds. Grief is high and heavy as a mountain, but it helps you understand what has happened, and that death is irreversible.

When Mao's Cultural Revolution ended, China's door cracked open. Four young, classical musicians seized the opportunity to flee to the West as Classical music was banned. The Quartet began a lifetime adventure - studying with great masters, attending Juilliard, and performing at major music festivals and best classical music venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and The Kennedy Center. When the Quartet's cellist decided to leave, they invited a young American grad student from New York City's Spanish Harlem. He was a highly praised cellist but also had a New York City "attitude" that the three Chinese musicians had never encountered. In addition to full-time teaching positions, the Quartet now performs throughout the world with a stressful 180-day travel schedule. That schedule, however, has impacted home life. Two of the Quartet's wives are classically trained performance musicians who have had to put their professional careers on the "back burner" to care for the kids and keep the home fires going. Behind the Strings showcases their lives, how they got to the top and the price they pay. And, why China keeps inviting them back to perform their once forbidden music.

A filmmaker at a creative impasse seeks solace from her tumultuous past at a rural retreat, only to find that the woods summon her inner demons in intense and surprising ways.