The Montclair Film Festival including a talk with Festival Director Tom Hall

Film festivals are multi-day events staged by arts organizations, universities, private organizations, and/or film societies. They provide an opportunity for filmmakers of all ages and backgrounds and films of all genres to get screened in front of a real live audience and sometimes get professional reviews and prizes. Filmmakers whose movies get accepted into a festival receive press attention, wider exposure to an audience that could include prospective agents, funders, and distributors.  New Jersey has the now four year-old Montclair Film Festival running May 1^st through 10^th in a variety of venues in Montclair. This year’s festival features over 150 films and events over ten days, includes awards, and expands to include two weekends to offer more repeat screenings and more films.

Festival Director Tom Hall who is in his first year in the role remarked that he is “looking for great films.  Half documentaries, half fiction, local, foreign, politics, character studies.  We aren’t trying to compete with Tribecca or Sundance.  We want to reflect the diversity of Montclair with savvy, smart, films that push the envelope but also connect with an audience.”

To that end, Hall and his committee traveled to other festivals to meet filmmakers, view films, and began an open submission process where anyone can submit an entry.  His committee “trusts one another’s taste in what makes a good movie and with each other’s point of view.  Selecting films was very much a collaborative process.”

The Montclair Film Festival is a nonprofit organization with a mission to unite, educate and celebrate the region’s diverse community and artistic heritage. Hall was brought on to help grow the nonprofit with year round education in filmmaking and he said, “see growth in New Jersey and support the whole film community.  We want to be a leader and an important stop for films and give attention and care.  We want to build community where people stay and connect with each other and the medium.  Long term we will use film as professional development, using tax incentives to build jobs in the film industry through educational programs in screenwriting, photography, and film making. While expanding into year round educational programs and screenings.”

An example of this mission proving itself is director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s “ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL”  Said Hall “the producer lives in Montclair.  I saw the film at Sundance and it was built to destroy an audience with tears and laughter.  I begged to get us the film. It is the closing night film and it is perfect for Mother’s day weekend.”  The cast includes Connie Britton and Molly Shannon and the plot is about a teen getting through his senior year of high school unscathed and unsociably while his mother has other plans for him including an unplanned friendship with a girl with Leukemia.

The festival includes special events include a discussion between Festival committee member Stephen Colbert (Late Show, Colbert Report) and actor Richard Gere around homelessness.  Gere’s latest film TIME OUT OF MIND centers on a homeless man struggling with life on the streets and a system that offers no comfort.  Hall chose the film and the forum with Colbert as a means of “using movies that address issues in the community.  The film and conversation between Stephen and Richard is a perfect platform to discuss what it means to the city.  The film humanizes issues and doesn’t place them on a soapbox.  It depicts a deep immersion into homelessness and focuses on people, not politics.” 

Mr. Colbert will also lead a discussion with the legendary singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples.  A documentary will screen that highlights performances, her career, and her message of equality. Hall is excited for the discussion and proud of the role Colbert and his wife Evelyn play in the development of the festival.  “They are a real gift, generous with their time.  We are lucky they live here and I never take it for granted.”

Hall and his committee have chosen a wide array of films that include documentaries on the development of the National Lampoon magazine, WFMU radio station, autistic teens going to a prom, Kurt Cobain, Barry Crimmins (the godfather of the Boston comedy scene), and fictional films including one featuring the late great actor Robin Williams (Boulevard). 

The ten day festival also includes talkbacks with director Jonathan Demme, actor Patrick Wilson leading a discussion with an artist to be determined shortly; documentary legend Barbra Kopple, actor/comic/film makers Michael Ian Black and Bobcat Goldthwait in conversation; and THE LOVE SONG OF R. BUCKMINSTER FULLER a "live documentary" by Academy Award-nominated director Sam Green (THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND) featuring a live score by the legendary indie rock band Yo La Tengo.

Film has clearly touched Hall from a young age.  His first film viewing was Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, which he saw at age four and remembers because “Wake Up Little Suzy” came on the radio and he and his father were late to get home to his mother Susan. 

A Kids of all ages short film festival with films made by local artists is as Hall sees it as a natural extension of the nonprofit’s educational programming with future classes providing an avenue for local students to make films that may screen as part of the festival.  “It is important for young people who don’t spend time with film to fall in love with it and inspire them to care about film,” he remarked.  “We want to be a leader and an important stop for films and build attention, care, and community.  We want this festival to be a home for great film and filmmakers.”

From the array of programming – special events and films selected – Hall, the Colberts, New Jersey, and Montclair are well on their way to presenting a durable, lasting, memorable program that offers education and community for those who love film.

For more information of the Festival, go to montclairfilmfest.org

Take The Stage With Broadway Stars - Carnegie Hall

As a kid, a grand aunt gave us tickets to the Young People’s Concerts at Lincoln Center.  While these concerts were great shows that exposed me to a lot of classical music, they never made me want to be a musician or performer. Music Director Leslie Stifelman and Director/Choreographer Melissa Rae Mahon, Director and Choreographer, brilliantly and successfully inverted the formula at Carnegie Hall with Take the State with Broadway Stars on Saturday, April 18^th.

Their noble mission packed the stage with a chorus of 18 singers and dancers, a group of teen performers, and Tony winner Jessie Mueller.  Co-host Thomas Cabinass and Stifelman frankly laid out the game plan, if you want to be on Broadway you have to sing, dance, and act.  And what better way to draw an audience in than “Hand Jive” from Grease – complete with learning the words and choreography.  Every audience member was on their feet, doing the moves and also singing along to “We Go Together.”

Once you can dance, you’ve got to sing. Jessie Mueller led the way with a rendition of “Do-Re-Mi” from Sound of Music.  If you want to inspire a generation of future Broadway performers, there is no talent more enthusiastic and vocally arresting than Ms. Mueller.  Looking not much older than the teens of the Celia Cruz High School who assisted from the audience, Mueller’s energy and bubbly, and joy for performance personality is infectious. 

Mahon introduced the audience to the concept of harmony through Jonathan Larsen’s “Seasons of Love” (Rent).  The adults learned one line, while the kids took another. Dan Scully’s video projections and animations lent a hand with both lyrics and for those who can read music – the notes. Tamika Lawrence (If/Then) added the finishing touches with her glorious voice.

Ms. Mueller talked about creating the character of Carole King, while also introducing her as someone who’d performed at Carnegie Hall.  She treated us with her winning chops with King’s “Beautiful.”  Kids of all ages surrounded her for a loving rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend.”

The afternoon’s highlights included kids from the audience being asked to come on stage to learn some choreography from “Hairspray.”  They then joined the entire cast and much of the audience in singing and dancing the just learned choreography to “You Can’t Stop the Beat.”  The adults seemed just as excited as the kids to be on stage performing with spirit and care.  The hall rang with a fairly tight production number.

“Hairspray” would have been a fitting conclusion and capped a glorious afternoon.  But there was more, as Mueller along with her sister, Abby, and Haven Burton performed a little Les Miz, and the afternoon concluded with the cast marching through the audience singing.

The audience was treated to a really professional, well put together master class with Broadway talents in a beautiful, classical hall.  The accessibility of the artists, their generosity both of spirit and talent, was infectious and made for a wonderful performance. My daughter, on the commute home, felt the afternoon was “awesome” wants more singing and dancing lessons and see “Hairspray” as soon as possible. 

West Side Story - Westchester Broadway Theater

It is incredibly difficult to a make a production of “West Side Story” your own.  The legendary show features a deft score by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a now dusty book by Arthur Laurents based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  What makes the production at the stalwart dinner theater Westchester Broadway Theater is Barry McNabb’s choreography.

This is a production that soars through dances and is visually arresting.  McNabb creates dynamic pictures through his athletic ballet moves, which evoke rape, torment, romance, and love.  The young cast moves gracefully and powers the story to another dimension.

Set in Hells Kitchen in the waning summer of 1957 the neighborhood is patrolled less by Officer Krupke (Mike Boland) and Schrank (Ed Romanoff) than by the rival gangs of The Jets and Sharks.  Owning and controlling turf is important to both groups.  The Sharks are Puerto Rican who are fighting for their piece of the American dream while the Jets – sons of immigrants take the newcomers for granted.  Modern day social workers would advocate for increased schooling or jobs to keep these kids off the streets.  Alas, toughened up by pride, these boys defend that which they know.

There’s artful Tony (Zach Trimmer) yearning for something more while working in Doc’s and painting a sign.  Off the streets and largely retired from gang life, Tony is compelled to help his friends by Riff (Adam Soniak) who’s itching for a fight to prove his leadership and supremacy over Berndardo (Brandon Contreras) and his Sharks.

Squaring off at a high school dance with a comic turn by Ed Romanoff as the ineffective principal, the boys agree to rumble.  Tony meets Maria (the beautiful Carly Evans) and romance becomes more important than turf.  McNabb’s choreography nice turns from athletic and macho in the early scenes to awkward, teen hormonal in the school dance.  His cast rewards the audience with individualized performances that create both character, motivation, and propel the story forward.  You really believe these Sharks and Jets love their territory, one another, and fear for being pushed around and out.

The production is also well sung particularly in group numbers like “Gee, Officer Krupke”, “I Feel Pretty” and “Tonight.”  Trimmer and Evans craftily evoke first love and tragic romance.  Allison Thomas Lee’s Anita tormented by Bernardo’s death turns on Maria after being overwhelmed by the Jets at Doc’s – she’s a tremendous actress whose actions bring on the tragic conclusion.

As well danced as the production is with McNabb’s choreography beautifully and deftly syncopated with Bernstein’s score.  Laurent’s book feels dated and cheesy.  One wishes for a fuller sounding orchestra to match the robust dynamism that dances before you. 

The production dances through July 5^th.  Jet on up to Elmsford, have the chicken marsala and enjoy a robust, taut production of “West Side Story.”

Love American Style -- Almost, Maine - Hoboken, NJ

Love, amour, distance, commitment, hope, loss, pain – these are the elements at play in Hudson Theater Ensemble’s charming production of John Cariani’s “Almost, Maine.”

Set in the not quite a town or on a map area of Almost, Maine, the show is a series of nine scenes about love.  Powered by a charming cast and graceful direction from Laurie Brongo, the play mixes whimsy, laughter, and heart. 

The offbeat, adorable residents -- fall in and out of love one enchanted Friday night as the Northern Lights crosses, exchanging unsolicited kisses, awkward confessions and a yearning for connection. Their brief stories are laced with magic realism, uncanny coincidences, metaphors taken literally and idioms come to life.  Some work better than others but all are short and (bitter)sweet.  This is a world beyond Tinder, OKCupid, or Match and one where people carry their broken hearts in bags and deliver bulging sacks of love.

Cariana’s light touch is evident in scenes like “They Fell” in which a bromance turns unexpectedly complete with physical falling for one another.  Victor Andres and Doug Schneider deftly handle the physicality and uncertainty of a new possibility.  A bit more heavy handed is “Where it Went” which tackles a marriage that goes south despite a wife (Laura DiCerto) trying to bring romance to the spot of a first kiss.

Victor Andres’ malleable facial expressions capture a tremendous mix of emotions especially in the prologue and “This Hurts” in which he plays a main who feels no pain. 

The cast of six plays a wide variety of characters in the town, as well as visitors to it hoping to see the Northern Lights.  They adroitly avoid cutesiness or  cloying, steering with balance. And the evening ends with the possibility of seeing the romance before you, accepting, and emphatically embracing it in a nice turn from actors Steve Yates and Jessica Sherr.

After a long winter, a fine spring romance as evoked by the Hudson Theater Ensemble’s production makes for a pleasant outing.