The Montclair Film Festival Begins With a Bash

It’s showtime for the Montclair Film Festival. 

The festival’s second year opened Monday with a sold out showing of the documentary “Twenty Feet from Stardom” in Montclair State University’s Alexander Kasser Theater. The much anticipated opening launches the week-long festival which includes more than 80 films, lectures with actors, free panels and more.  

The start of the festival was proceed by a year’s worth of work, said Artistic Director and Montclair resident Thom Powers on Monday, and the dedication of about 600 volunteers.

“We probably started working on it the day after the last one ended,” said Powers. “After a year of hard work it’s finally here.”

“It’s the first day of a very long ride for us so we are excited to kick it off,” added Executive Director Raphaela Neihausen.

The night’s event drew out residents and non-residents alike, local officials and also Montclair’s Stephen Colbert, host of the satirical conservative show “The Colbert Report.”

“Any big cultural event gives an identity to the town,” said Colbert. “... Everything we can do to come together as a community to do something, to achieve something together ... just makes for a better home and makes for a better community.” 

The much anticipated documentary "Twenty Feet from Stardom" is about the backup singers who have been the dominate voices of popular music during the past 40 years but who remain unrecognized. The opening night film featured a Q&A with director Morgan Neville and featured backup singer Darleen Love. But before the Q&A got underway, Love took the stage alone and sang a passionate rendition of “Lean on Me.” 

Powers said when he screened the documentary months ago, he knew immediately it would be the festival’s opening night film. He equated the role of backup singers who do not always get the recognition they deserve with the hundreds of volunteers needed to pull off an event like the Montclair Film Festival. 

"It’s a film about backup singers; it’s about people who haven’t always gotten the recognition,” said Powers. “It’s about how many voices it takes to make great music ... and I feel like film festivals are like that. Film festivals take hundreds of volunteers and staff people, donors and sponsors and it’s impossible to give credit to them all."

The nascent film festival with a Jersey twist will help to increase Montclair’s well known reputation well beyond the borders of New Jersey, said Neihausen. 

“We look forward to building on Montclair’s reputation of a town where people deeply care about the arts, education and diversity,” said Neihausen. “This is really an opportunity for us to spread its reputation far beyond the state borders, and to attract more visitors and members along the way.”