Montclair Film Festival 2021

Two professional actors undergo an immersive process to find out what it takes to be a cop in Mexico City.

Mary Bruno spent her childhood along one of the most polluted waterways in America. Decades later, she returns to kayak the river of her youth and tell its story. AMERICAN RIVER is a new documentary film that follows Ms. Bruno and guide Carl Alderson on a 4-day, 80 mile adventure down the Passaic River, from its pristine source in a wildlife refuge to its toxic mouth in Newark Bay. The river's amazing history, geology and ecology are revealed as the kayakers navigate challenges, travel through urban landscapes and head towards the industrial disaster that has poisoned the Passaic for the past 60 years. Along the way, the filmmakers engage residents, historians and advocates in candid conversations that bring insight, urgency and a sense of wonder to the story. How did the Passaic become one of the most contaminated rivers in America? Can it be saved? The Passaic is an archetype for thousands of rivers across America facing similar reckonings.

A man and a woman meet on a park bench under unusual circumstances.

This unnervingly vivid dive into the 1971 uprising from Emmy® winning director Stanley Nelson sheds new light on the enduring violence and racism of the prison system and highlights the urgent, ongoing need for reform 50 years later.

A widowed mother is radically tested when her teenage daughter insists a supernatural experience has left her body in service to a higher power.

Beau, an emerging artist is about to unveil her latest installation. Her lover Paloma, is a devoted supporter. Her final breakthrough hinges on the success of this piece and soon this pressure causes a rife in the two women's relationship.

A girl consumed by her own teen angst finds comfort in pretending she's the main character of an '80s brat pack movie.

A young boy and his working-class Belfast family experience the tumultuous late 1960s.

A complex look at one of the greatest figures in 20th century classical music, Leonard Bernstein, whose passion and creativity guided him well beyond the concert hall.

A couple's fragile relationship is put to the test after a sudden car accident.

When his sister asks him to look after her son, a radio journalist embarks on a cross-country trip with his energetic nephew to show him life away from Los Angeles.

In the mid 1970's, a visionary leader decades ahead of his time is locked in a struggle for the future of America. His name is Jimmy Carter.

A group of seniors at a pressure cooker, private high school run a mafia-esque scheme out of a garage. They steal test answers, sell them for money, and handle any unruly students who get in their way.

Follows the story of 15-year-old Chiara whose close-knit family falls apart after her father abandons them in Calabria.

In a remote village in Costa Rica, Clara, a withdrawn 40-year-old woman, experiences a sexual and mystical awakening as she begins a journey to free herself from the repressive religious and social conventions which have dominated her life.

A Brooklyn teenager is reunited with her Guyanese cousin for the funeral of a relative. On the last day of the wake, the girls venture out into the city alone.

A close-up portrait of the daily lives of two cows.

A man wakes from a nightmare, only to be haunted by the sounds that inhabit his dreams.

Three kids worry that their beloved school bus driver will be lonely this summer without them. They set out to find her a partner and imagine the perfect matches.

As her former identity slips away into the sleepless abyss of new motherhood, Gwen is pushed to the brink of insanity after her husband misses date night.

Set against a music world profoundly divided between black and white, DON'T MAKE ME OVER tells the dramatic story of Dionne Warwick's meteoric rise from New Jersey gospel choirs to international cross-over super stardom.

In 1970, Black educators in Chicago developed an alphabet flashcard set to provide Blackcentered teaching materials to the vastly white educational landscape and the Black ABCs were born.

A renowned stage actor and director learns to cope with a big personal loss when he receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima.

English artist Louis Wain rises to prominence at the end of the 19th century for his surreal cat paintings that seemed to reflect his declining sanity.

Escaping Ohio follows JJ and Sam, two 18 year-olds facing adulthood. While Sam longs for new adventures in California, JJ dreams of building his life right in their small town. When it becomes clear Sam intends to leave, JJ dares her to give him 24 hours to prove why Ohio - and JJ and Sam's future together - is worth sticking around for.