September 17, 2025 • 35 mins
Let’s talk movies.
Here's another episode where Gina geeks out about movies with people who do just that, for a living! This time with the folks behind Montclair Film.
Joining me today are Tom Hall, Artistic Director of Montclair Film, and their new Executive Director, Tricia Haggerty Wenz.
We’re talking about the Montclair Film Festival, running October 17-26th, and all things Montclair Film.
Whether you’re a filmmaker, a movie lover, or just curious about film festivals - Montclair Film is the place to be.
Stay tuned to learn more about this year’s festival lineup, what goes into programming a festival, and if you’re into this sort of thing, the parties where you can hobnob with actors, filmmakers, and like-minded cinephiles.
Thanks for listening!
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The Jersey Arts Podcast is one medium of Feature Stories on Discover Jersey Arts (jerseyarts.com), where articles and videos also cover New Jersey’s vibrant arts and entertainment scene.
Discover Jersey Arts is presented by ArtPride New Jersey. The program was co-founded by, and is currently supported by funds from, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Additional support for JerseyArts.com content is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (00:03):
This is Gina Marie Rodriguez and you're
listening to the Jersey ArtsPodcast.
Get ready, guys.
You've got another episodewhere I get to geek out about
movies with people who do thatfor a living, this time with the
folks behind Montclair Film.
Joining me today are Tom Hall,artistic director of Montclair
Film, and their new executivedirector, Tricia Haggerty Wenz,
director of Montclair Film andtheir new executive director,
(00:24):
Tricia Haggerty-Wenz, and we'retalking about the film festival
running October 17th through the26th and all things Montclair
Film.
Whether you're a filmmaker, amovie lover or just curious
about film festivals, MontclairFilm is the place to be.
Stay tuned to learn more aboutthis year's festival lineup,
what goes into programming afestival and, if you're into
this sort of thing, the partieswhere you can hobnob with actors
(00:47):
, filmmakers and like-mindedcinephiles.
Let's talk movies.
I'd just like to start bysaying congratulations to Tricia
.
You said two weeks, right,You're into your new role as
executive director of MontclairFilm, so I just want to ask you
how things are going.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (01:03):
Really fantastic.
I think I couldn't have pickeda better time to join Montclair
Film, both in its history andeverything that's happening, and
both the time of year we'rejust weeks away from our 14th
film festival, so it is reallyfantastic.
I've hit the ground running andI'm just in awe of this team
(01:26):
and how much they accomplish, soI'm very excited Absolutely,
and 14 years is an impressivefeat.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:33):
So I'd like to talk to Tom about that
as well.
Tom Hall, you are the artisticdirector of the Montclair Film
Festival.
I just want to start by askingyou what is it about the
festival, or maybe, by extension, independent film, that brings
you the most joy?
Tom Hall (01:48):
Yeah, for me it's always been about the connection
that we build between artistsand audiences being in the room
with filmmakers and patrons andmembers of the community as they
have conversations around filmsand the ideas in the movies and
the stories that they tell,talking about the process but
also sort of the greater meaningof the movies.
(02:08):
And building that sense ofcollective experience together
in theaters is my passion as acurator.
So we always are looking formovies that will inspire those
discussions for a wide range ofaudiences based on a wide range
of interests.
The community in Montclair isextremely diverse in terms of
race, gender, sexuality, opinion, ideas, and so honoring that
(02:31):
diversity through a widespectrum of movies is extremely
important to me.
And then making sure that wealso have a sort of
international scope, that weconnect with film communities
all over the world and make it apart of what we're doing, so
that you know, cinephilia, Ithink and film love is something
(02:52):
that's a global phenomenon, andthe ability to be in touch with
what's happening in the artform around the world during the
festival is something I alsofind really valuable for me
personally and meaningful,gratifying.
So bringing all that togetherin our spaces is what I love
(03:13):
about what I do.
So, yeah, that's definitely mypersonal passion and I think it
extends to the mission of theorganization as well.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (03:19):
That was so well said.
I love that, and community iskey right Everywhere, but
especially in the film community.
You can't make a movie on yourown.
But I want to extend the samequestion to Tricia.
I mean, I know that you happento be new to Montclair Film, but
you love film as well, so tellme what it is that's bringing
you joy about this organization.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (03:40):
Well, it's interesting that you use the
word joy, because what I love isthe word joy is also in the
mission of Montclair Film.
I love that to celebrate justthe magic of film, as well as
the fact that Montclair Filmchampions and celebrates diverse
voices all year round, not evenin the film festival, but in
(04:02):
all the programming we show, andwe show programming that
matters.
Last night we had a screeningof the Librarian, which is a
really important documentary,and we had a talk back with the
director and the audience wasfilled with librarians, which
was fantastic.
So Montclair Film createscommunity here and community
(04:22):
that evolves around film.
So it's all good.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (04:26):
You mentioned that you had a
screening last night and I wantto take that opportunity to
discuss the distinction betweenMontclair Film the organization,
the nonprofit and the MontclairFilm Festival.
So can you tell me what it isthat Montclair Film is offering
throughout the year, before weeven touch on the festival?
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (04:42):
Yeah, so you know, montclair Film did
start as a film festival andthen went year round.
I think in 2017, it was that itwent year round.
And not only do we present filmall year round, but we have
robust learning engagementprograms for our community of
all ages.
Programming that's reallyimportant.
(05:04):
We do something called animpact series where we bring
classrooms of kids in and showimportant films on valuable
social justice missions, andthen we have a facilitator here
talking to the children aboutthese subjects.
That's really important.
We have film clubs here we doeducational programs.
(05:24):
Film clubs here we doeducational programs very
different, all differentprograms around teaching the art
of filmmaking, the art ofscreenwriting, as well.
As we have a film club foradults and teens with
disabilities, which has beenreally wonderful.
We play a vital role in thevibrancy of the community all
year round in all different artforms.
Tom Hall (05:46):
I just want to add that we, in addition to that you
know, we operate the ClaridgeCinema, which is a six screen
independent nonprofit cinema.
So we run that year round.
We pick the films ourselves,we're operating the theater
ourselves.
Then we just acquired theBellevue Theater in Montclair as
well, which is going to be nowa three-screen cinema in Upper
(06:06):
Montclair.
So we have two differentcinemas that we're operating and
booking and you know we doeverything from picking out
what's going to be at theconcession stand to which movies
we're showing on the screen,and those are all of our
teammates as well, the teamsthat work at those cinemas.
So our organization has grownsort of exponentially over time
and very quickly.
We're only in our 14th year.
(06:27):
We have a headquarters at 505Bloomfield Avenue that has
classrooms that facilitate theeducation programs that Tricia
was talking about, which alsohas a micro cinema 65 seat micro
cinema where we do everythingfrom story slam events to improv
nights, to performances,private events.
You can rent out our theatersfor birthday parties.
(06:48):
It's a really great.
I mean, there's so much that wehave going on all the time it's
a little overwhelming sometimes, but it's been a really rapid
growth period.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (06:57):
And we make such a tangible impact in
our community, both in theeconomy and the vibrancy of the
community.
So it's you know we're doinggood stuff all the time.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (07:09):
I can tell .
I mean, and as Tom said, thatdoes sound overwhelming.
There were so many things thatwe just discussed but all of
them sound so cool and I'm soglad that you're that children
are have the opportunity tolearn about film as well.
I mean, as a kid I loved movies.
I was a Disney kid growing up,but I didn't really appreciate
(07:30):
cinema until I was much older.
But I like that we'reintroducing kids to cinema at a
young age.
I think that's really exciting.
Tom Hall (07:40):
Well, as a parent myself of two young people, two
young boys, the process ofgetting them excited about going
to the movies has always beenone where I have let them choose
their own interests andsupported that by attending
movies with them.
So my first movie was a Disneymovie when I was a kid.
(08:00):
It was Alice in Wonderland,back in like 1972 or 73.
I don't remember when there-release was.
I was very young.
But I think that the experienceand magic of going to see
movies builds people over time.
I don't expect my kids to likelove the same movies I do.
They're children so and I wantthem to like find their own way,
(08:20):
find their own path, and that'show you keep cinema alive is
letting people find their ownrelationship to film.
So, Gina, your path is a greatpath.
You were a kid and you lovedDisney movies and you found your
way to more mature work as yougot older and have stayed
engaged with film and that's thegift of the movies I think it's
really it can support alifetime's worth of appreciation
(08:43):
and interest.
So that's what we're trying todo as well.
Our education classes are reallyfocused on teaching kids the
process so that they canappreciate the form more.
They're not all going to go onto college and become, you know,
the next Martin Scorsese orSpike Lee.
Instead, our hope is that itcan deepen them and turn them
into passionate film lovers thatcan sustain the form for a long
(09:04):
period of time.
So I love.
I love to hear that about youas well, because you fit right
into sort of the idea that wehave for these programs.
So that's great.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (09:12):
Absolutely .
I mean, if nothing else,they're learning to appreciate
the art form, whether they likethe movies that they're being
shown or not.
But I will say I am still aDisney adult.
I have not outgrown that at all.
Tom Hall (09:23):
I assume you're a millennial.
I am.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (09:26):
I am a millennial.
Tom Hall (09:26):
Yes, millennials are like the Disney adults.
This is the generation Disneyadult I was just hearing about.
You guys run the parks for thatcompany because there's so many
Disney adults who now gowithout kids and like, do a lot
of Disney things without theirchildren, which I think is
really interesting.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (09:42):
That is so true.
We have no shame, and that'sokay.
You have to embrace your youthas long as you can.
My first film was Disney too.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (09:51):
What was yours, Dumbo?
I saw it in a drive-in with myparents and there was a real
live elephant there, so thatstayed with me.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (10:01):
What that would stay with anyone.
A real live elephant, that's socool.
Yeah for me.
I want to say it was the LittleMermaid.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (10:10):
It was either the.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (10:11):
Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast,
but I think it was the LittleMermaid.
Tom Hall (10:14):
I love it.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (10:15):
Yeah, I was a kid I had like curtains
that were Little Mermaid, andthen I transitioned to Beauty
and the Beast.
I was obsessed.
But we don't have to spend anhour talking about Disney.
Instead, you had said something.
Don't have to spend an hourtalking about Disney.
Instead, you had said something, tom, earlier that made me
think.
We're in this digital age wherea lot of people are getting
their movies on Netflix or onApple TV or Peacock or whatever
(10:38):
streaming platform they choose,and it's almost become harder to
encourage people to go to thecinema, to go to the movies.
So how, as a film festival, doyou find yourself battling that
if you see it as a battle?
Tom Hall (10:54):
Yeah, I don't see it as a battle.
I think it is a complimentaryprocess.
We work with all of thosecompanies that stream films on
television all the time.
Netflix has our opening nightfilm for the festival this year,
jay Kelly.
It'll be on Netflix in December.
We're previewing it at thefestival.
Netflix has our opening nightfilm for the festival this year,
jay Kelly.
It'll be on Netflix in December.
We're previewing it at thefestival.
Then we're going to give it atheatrical run of a couple of
(11:14):
weeks later before it ends up onNetflix, because our cinema,
the Claridge, is one of thecinemas that they partner with
for theatrical releases.
So we've, I think, created amodel where we're supportive of
all of those partners.
My philosophy on all of that islook, it's your film, it's your
strategy.
We want to be there to supportyou when you feel it's
(11:38):
appropriate.
We don't care about being theworld premiere of your movie or
having some sort of sale of afilm, although that would be
nice if people wanted to come toour festival and buy movies.
More important to us is thatthe filmmakers and the companies
are feeling like they have asupport system on the big screen
, in town and in the region.
So there are a lot of filmlovers in the community.
(11:58):
There are a lot of peopleinvolved in the industry, people
who are with the Academy, whovote on the Oscars there are
several people in our communitywho do that.
We have a lot of TV and mediaprofessionals living in town as
well.
There's a lot of opportunity toreach that sophisticated
audience with your film.
We don't want to createbarriers, so what we do is we
work with those structures.
(12:19):
I personally watch films at homeas well as going to the theater
.
I think it's a complementaryprocess and we want to be part
of that process.
So the festival is really agreat place to show things.
First, the cinema hopefully canbe.
You know, that can help usbuild word of mouth for the
cinema run that's coming uplater, the theatrical run, and
(12:40):
then, after the theatrical run,if it goes to streaming, we can
be there to support that andremind people of what they saw
in cinema, to watch it againonline at home, which I think is
helpful as well as a marketingtool for those partners.
So that's our value propositionto those companies and it's
been successful so far.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (12:57):
There's something you know magical about
seeing a film and a movie too,having that shared cultural
experience, and I witnessed itlast night with an audience of
people that were sort of hungryto have that experience together
.
I remember the first film I sawafter COVID.
It was a movie called Summer ofSoul and you know, I saw a
(13:19):
witness in the theater, peopleclapping and crying at times,
and you don't get that at home.
So I think that's somethingthat the fact that Montclair
Film can offer that year roundis still really a vital cultural
experience for all of us.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (13:37):
Absolutely .
I think so many of us are inneed of communal outlets, and
film screenings and theater arethe easiest approach right to go
and watch something with yourfellow humans and enjoy it and
experience emotion together.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (13:55):
And it sparks spontaneous conversations
that we witness in the lobbyafter the film.
People want to continue to talkabout what they just saw, so
it's an important connectionthat Phil can make for all of us
.
Tom Hall (14:09):
And I will say that you know, jimmy, you mentioned
theater, which I just actually,five minutes before this call
bought tickets for a theaterproduction for February.
So I'm a theater lover, but youknow it's 10 times more
expensive for a theater ticketthan a film festival ticket, and
so one of the things that Ilove about what we do with the
festival is, I think we'reencouraging people to take risks
(14:32):
that they wouldn't otherwisetake.
You know, if you're going tospend 180 dollars on a Broadway
ticket, I think you want to berelatively sure that it's
something you're guaranteed toenjoy and want to see.
And if you're going to think afamily afforded that, that now
you're talking, you know, over$700, whereas a movie ticket is
$15 to $17.
If you're a member of MontclairFilm, it's even cheaper.
(14:53):
So we're trying to create valuethere, but also we're bringing
artists into the theater.
Not only do you get to seetheir film, but you get to see
them in person.
You get to have a conversationwith them directly about their
work.
A conversation with themdirectly about their work, and I
just think that's an unbeatablevalue for people and I hope it
encourages people to say youknow, maybe I wouldn't have gone
to see this otherwise.
(15:14):
But the risk is so low fortaking a chance on this movie
and especially at the festivalwhere we have, you know, 100
plus film screenings happening,like it's, you can look at that
schedule and be overwhelmed bythe number of things Again, not
to make it sound like everythingwe do is overwhelming, but it
can be daunting for people tolook at that schedule and not
have heard of any of the filmsand be like what am I going to
(15:36):
do?
So my advice to people isalways take a chance on
something.
Read the description and take alittle bit of time to just sort
of sort through what we've gotcoming at the festival.
Read the descriptions and thentake a risk.
It's a low stakes risk andhopefully you'll have a high
upside and you'll enjoy yourselfand have a great time.
So that's, I think over timepeople have come to trust us
(15:58):
with our curation and the filmsthat we select and think you
know these are going to be ofvalue and not going to be
disposable in a certain way.
So hopefully that that's thecase If I always say if everyone
in Montclair bought one ticketto the film festival, it would
be the most successful filmfestival in the history by like
three times right.
So like we just need everybodyto come out and support us.
(16:21):
It would be a great day for ourorganization to see the entire
community there.
So that's that there.
So that's my pitch on value.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (16:29):
All that said, I think your mission is
very admirable.
You said something in therethat I wanted to ask you about
curation versus selection.
You have a lot of filmmakersindependent filmmakers who are
submitting to your festival andit's competitive in nature.
So you are selecting thosefilms versus the films that you
are curating.
So can you talk a little bitabout the difference in how you
(16:51):
approach programming?
Tom Hall (16:53):
Yeah, certainly.
So you know, one of the issueswe have every year is that there
are way more movies that welike, that we wish we could show
at the festival than we canactually show, unfortunately,
because the limitations on timeand the number of screens that
we have, and so it is veryimportant to us that we put
(17:13):
together a program that reflects, like I said, that diversity of
ideas, opinions and somethingthat reflects the interests of
the people who are coming to thefestival.
So I just give an example ofmany years ago, when I was a
programmer, like five of the top10 of story, although each one
had its own unique perspective.
So we had to make a toughchoice.
(17:50):
Even though film three, seven,eight and ten on our top ten
list were all about the samesubject, we could only take one
of those movies because wewanted to create a balanced
program that reflected multipleideas, and if I took five slots
for that, I would be rejectingfour other slots that can be
focused on other things, right?
(18:10):
So that's one of the thingsabout the festival that is
unique is that we're looking atthis wide range of films and we
want to make sure that we'refinding great movies that don't
have too much cultural overlap,that are distinctive, that are
strong artistically and we show,you know, professionally.
(18:33):
We have several films this yearthat played at the Cannes Film
Festival in May coming.
These are like world-class, youknow, incredible, academy
Award-dominant films that arecompeting with people who are,
you know, emerging young,independent filmmakers who are
making their first or secondfeature, making a short film,
making their own documentary,and when we're putting the
program together we try to makeroom for those as well.
So we create discretecategories in our program and
(18:57):
those films sort of are applesto apples with each other as we
try to decide what we're goingto put into the festival.
So the first time filmmakersnot competing with the European
can winner on on our program, wewant to make sure that we have
buckets for each one of thosethings.
So the buckets, when you thinkabout, you know, let's say we
(19:17):
have 70 features.
Let's say 40 of them arefiction, 30 of them are
documentary.
Of the 40, you know some ofthem are independent, some of
them studio American, some ofthem are international those
buckets get small very quicklyand extremely competitive, and
so we have to make curatorialchoices about what we're going
to put into those buckets tomake sure that the program has a
(19:38):
lot of diversity and range,which means we break a lot of
hearts, and I have our ownhearts broken, that we can't fit
everything in.
So the nice thing about havingthe Claridge and the Bellevue,
though, is that it offers us theopportunity to do year-round
screenings with some of thosefilmmakers, those younger,
emerging filmmakers, who canbring their film into our cinema
, and we can have a one-nightscreening with a conversation
(20:01):
with them or a special showcase.
Maybe they end up getting atheatrical release later and we
could show them later in thecinema.
So that makes me feel so muchbetter about the process,
because there is a year-roundopportunity with us.
That wasn't there before.
We had the movie theater.
So there's that.
And then, of course, I have ateam of two incredible film
programmers, larissa Aipan andRebecca Sokol, who work with me,
(20:22):
and we debate and discuss andwatch and talk constantly about
the films that we're going to bechoosing, and we don't always
have the same taste ineverything, which I think is
important, um, that we have awide range of of tastes and
opinions on the, on the uh, on aprogramming department, so, uh,
I think we have a really goodsystem in place.
(20:44):
Every movie gets watched atleast once.
Um, we talk about, we gothrough every film and and weigh
it.
Uh, we have a really goodsystem in place.
Every movie gets watched atleast once.
We talk about, we go throughevery film and weigh it.
We have a screening committeethat works with us, so we have a
whole process in place to findand discover.
And let me just the last thing Iwant to say that we you know
filmmakers often accusefestivals of being sort of
rigged against them.
They say you know, oh, you'reall showing the same films.
(21:06):
And I was like you know, thoseare the films.
If anyone watches that we don't.
I don't go to other festivals.
What are you showing?
I want to copy what you'redoing.
We you recognize as a curatorwhat a great movie is, and so
you pick it.
So the process that we have, Ithink, is proof in the pudding
that we are taking it seriouslyand really want to find things.
(21:26):
Everyone wants to discover agreat filmmaker and be the first
festival to uncover that workif it's great.
Back in my early career Ishowed first films from Greta
Gerwig, the Safdie brothers,barry Jenkins, lena Dunham I
mean we've had.
I've shown early career workfrom incredible filmmakers back
(21:49):
before anyone knew who they were, and I think that's an
extremely important part of ourprocess.
So we are eager to findincredible artists all the time.
So I just wanted to say no onein their right mind would not
want to do that and be afilmmaker, a film programmer,
who can find those artists.
So it's a part of the processas well.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (22:11):
Absolutely .
I've always said that curationis an art in and of itself, and
fun fact about me is that I usedto run a film festival for
about eight years.
Really when I got?
really tired and yes, everythingyou've said is true.
Filmmakers do often feelslighted.
But, honestly, I cried.
(22:45):
I cried real tears when I wouldhave to turn films down because
so many of them were soexcellent.
But, like you said, you justyou don't have the time or the
physical space because if youdon't have enough screens you
physically cannot show as manyfilms as you want to show.
So, to all of the filmmakerslistening, we do love you, we
swear it's just that we can'talways share your work, that
doesn't mean it's not good.
Tom Hall (23:04):
Absolutely.
There's way more work that welike than we can show.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (23:08):
I think that Montclair film is
incredibly lucky to have Tomhere doing this work.
What him and his team puttogether is just it's all
excellent, and I think they do aphenomenal job on the artistic
side.
Thanks, tricia.
And in those two short weeksthat I've been here or actually
I'm only on my second week I'velearned already so much from him
(23:30):
and I'm looking forward tocontinuing this partnership.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (23:34):
As we're talking about curation, I do
want to bring up the fact thatyou've just announced I'm
looking forward to continuingthis partnership.
As we're talking about curation, I do want to bring up the fact
that you've just announced youropening, your centerpiece and
your closing night film.
So let's talk a little bitabout.
You mentioned Jay Kelly before,which is your opening night
film.
You have Come See Me in theGood Light, which is your
documentary centerpiece.
Rental Family with BrendanFraser, right is, is your
(23:55):
fiction centerpiece, and thenthe closing night film is
christy, starring sydney sweeneyand ben foster.
I have seen all of the trailers.
I'm excited by all of them, butI would love to know how you
came to their positions in theprogram.
Why is j killie your openingnight film and why is christy
your closing night?
Tom Hall (24:11):
yeah, I mean, we we try to find films that I think
will for opening night, thatwill be broadly appealing to our
audience.
We have a lot of people who aresponsors and donors and members
who get really excited aboutthe opening, and you also want
to kick off the festival withsomething that encourages people
to check out more films duringthe festival time, during the
(24:33):
festival time.
So I think this film inparticular is a great way to do
that.
It's a movie about a movie starand a movie about movies, so in
that way it's sort of fun andmeta in its own right.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (24:46):
Yeah, george Clooney right.
Tom Hall (24:48):
Yes, he's going to sort of there's a focus of the
film of him going to an Italianfilm festival to pick up a
lifetime tribute award, which Ilove.
So the idea of putting that,you know, first in the festival
and also just sort of the broadappeal of the cast and people
who are familiar with NoahBaumbach's work, I think are
going to be surprised at alittle bit how, how light this
(25:09):
film is compared to some of hissort of heavier, darker comedies
.
I just think it's a really goodfit for our audience for an
opening night film.
We have the Governor coming aswell that we're going to be
announcing soon for openingnight.
And you know Netflix, who haveJ Kelly, like I said, have been
tremendous partners to us andyou know they're building a film
(25:29):
production studio in FortMonmouth and doing a lot of work
here in New Jersey.
I thought it was reallyimportant to honor that as well
and their investment in thestate and in our community by
offering them this slot so thatwe could bring all of these
factors together with theopening of the festival.
I just think it's a really agreat way to honor what's coming
for the state and to thank thegovernor for putting those tax
(25:52):
incentives in place to inspirefilm production in New Jersey,
which has been an incredibleboon, I think, economically, to
what's going on in the state.
So there's that factor.
But the movie is, of course,stands alone and is great.
And it's not really a politicalchoice at all.
It's really about the tone andthe lightness of the film.
And then for Christie, I'mgoing to flip that and say
(26:13):
sometimes when you want to leavethe festival, you're going to
put something a little bitheavier and more challenging at
the end of the festival to givepeople something to chew on
until next time.
So Christie is absolutely thatmovie.
I know that there's a lot ofcultural debate about Sidney
Sweeney as a human being being,but this is an incredible
performance, uh, in a film thatI think inverts, uh and really
(26:39):
undermines a lot of preconceivednotions about the politics of
her as a person.
And, and it's an incredibleperformance, she you know I
don't know how much I love orcare about physical
transformations that actors doputting on weight dropping, all
that stuff but she bulked up forthis role and it is really,
really strong performance fromher, a very unexpected
(27:00):
performance, and I think thefilm itself is gonna be a real
conversation starter,unfortunately at the end of the
festival, but where it belongs.
It's a perfect closing nightfilm to get people talking it
out on a note that has themthinking more deeply about what
they assumed walking into themovie theater.
(27:22):
I don't know if people areready for Christie, but I'm
excited for them to see itbecause it's a fantastic film.
By the way, ben Foster all-timevillain performance in this
movie, all-time bad guyperformance I'm just going to
put that out there.
I won't say too much more thanthat, but it is amazing.
He's incredible in the film aswell.
I don't want to overlook hisperformance, so don't miss it.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (27:46):
Having only seen the trailer, I can
already see everything thatyou're talking about in just the
trailer alone.
I am looking forward to it, forsure, but I have a soft spot
for Brendan Fraser.
So, I'm looking forward toRental Family.
I mean, can you tell me alittle bit about that film as
well?
I know that it's by Hikari, thedirector, and it has a lot to
(28:10):
do with an actor who is puttinghimself in a position of
falsifying relationships withstrangers as a role.
I don't know if I explainedthat well, but the trailer
looked very intriguing and I'mcurious how that relates to the
rest of your programming and if,is there a theme when you
program or are you just simplylooking for good films?
Tom Hall (28:31):
Yeah, thematically, no , we don't really go for overall
theme.
I have worked at festivals likethere's a wonderful film
festival in Nantucket that'sfocused on screenwriting and
storytelling and like a lot ofthe films that they should, I
used to work there.
It's a really they do a greatjob of that festival with a very
tight focus in the work wherepeople are responding to the
times or something that whereideas bubble up or have a
(28:58):
relevance or resonance.
You know, when we were comingout of the Iraq war, there was a
lot of films about that topic.
It just depends on, like, thetiming or whatever.
But we're not looking activelyto say this is the year of the
blank, um, so that's not thecase.
And then in in the case ofrental family, um, you know we
had Brendan Fraser at thefestival a couple years back for
the Whale where he talked toStephen Colbert and that was an
(29:19):
Academy Award winningperformance for him and I'm also
a big fan of his work, thismovie.
Hikari, who worked on the TVshow Beef I don't know if you
saw that, but this is an amazingTV show that's on Netflix.
Judy, you want to say somethingabout Beef?
Gina Marie Rodriguez (29:35):
TV show that's on Netflix.
Judy, you want to say somethingabout Beef?
Oh, I was just saying that I'veheard great things, but I also
heard that it was very stressfuland I couldn't help to.
I wasn't ready for the stressjust yet.
Tom Hall (29:47):
Yeah, I'm into stressful shows, so in this
movie is actually a much lightertouch as well.
It's a really a warm andbeautiful film about Brendan
Fraser's character, who worksfor a company that hires him out
to families to play an activerole in there.
(30:11):
So one of them is like a singlemom with a daughter who's
asking questions about where herfather is, and so Brendan
Fraser steps in to play the sortof a father figure role.
Another one is a woman that hasan elderly father who's an
artist.
She hires Brendan Fraser topretend he's creating a
documentary about him so thatthe father's work feels
(30:33):
validated, and then they strikeup a friendship as well about
him, so that the father's workfeels validated and then they
strike up a friendship as well.
And it's sort of the impact ofthese performative roles that
he's playing in these everydaysituations that transform him as
a person as well and he startsto see sort of the.
He's also a cultural outsideras an American in Japan, so
there's this whole Americanabroad in the Japanese culture
(30:54):
aspect to the movie as well.
That's really quite profoundand it takes on almost a
beautiful spiritual connectionin the film.
I think it's a really moving,really moving film and I'm
excited for people to be able totalk about this one as well.
It's a completely differenttone from the other two, which
is another reason why I liked itas the centerpiece movie,
(31:16):
because it's high profile enoughto be hold that slot, but it's
also going to bring yousomething completely different
than the other films that wehave.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (31:23):
I'm excited, that's.
I don't know what else to saybeyond.
I'm excited because they alllook amazing.
And can I ask you during thefestival, do you also offer
panels for filmmakers, or I mean, I guess it doesn't just have
to be for filmmakers for anyoneto attend, or are there?
Is it strictly Q&As?
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (31:41):
Yeah, we do offer lots of different
panels.
Even we're having a specialpanel this year with the state
of New Jersey around workforcedevelopment, around filmmaking
in the state.
Tom Hall (31:55):
And then we also we are also going to be featuring
conversations aboutpost-production technology and
how it's transforming filmmaking.
We have a panel coming aboutbranding.
So I don't know if you saw F1earlier this year, but obviously
F1 is a brand that has a moviebuilt around it.
Barbie is a brand that had amovie built around it.
It seems to be a trend that'shappening and we want to sort of
figure out what's going on withthe way in which brands and
(32:19):
filmmaking are intersecting.
So there'll be a conversationabout that.
And then we have a specialrelationship with the trade
publication the Anchor, which isa really great trade.
If you're not an Anchorsubscriber, subscribe.
We love them and they are goingto be partnering with us on a
couple of panels as well.
And then we have some localpodcasts and we have Tom Powers
is coming back to promote hisnew book, mondo Documentary,
(32:41):
with a panel conversation in thefestival.
So there's definitely a lot ofand those are all free and open
to the public during thefestival timeline as well.
But we'll be announcing thatfull slate on the 26th.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (32:52):
Now I have to ask out of curiosity do you
also have parties?
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (32:56):
We're planning an opening night party
at a at the Claridge space.
There's a new space abovecalled the mezzanine and this
will be our first year usingthat space, which we're really
excited about.
Tom Hall (33:08):
And then we have the filmmaker party the next night
at Porta that we do every year,and then we will definitely be
having a few sort of off thebooks parties and get togethers
during the festival with folksthat you know, people who are
here with films and will beattending and hanging out with
us.
So that'll be fun as well.
(33:28):
But yeah, our two big publicfacing events are the opening
night party and then thefilmmaker party which is at
Porta.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (33:35):
You said public, so even for the
filmmaker party audiences,audience members, yeah, you can
buy a ticket.
Tom Hall (33:40):
Yep, you can buy a ticket and come hang out with
the filmmakers and be there Sameon opening night.
If you just don't want to seeJay Kelly but want to come hang
out at the party, you can dothat as well.
There's an individual ticketfor both of those events.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (33:52):
That's exciting.
I think I'm going to have tobuy my ticket right.
Well, as soon as they go onsale.
I was going to say after this,but I guess they're not
available yet.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (34:05):
We encourage people to join our
e-news, where you'll get a lotof information and you'll get
all those dates and know whenthe tickets are available both
to our members and to the public, and it'll give you links to
allow you to buy tickets for allthese events.
So if you're not part of oure-news, please join it and
you'll find out all theinformation.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (34:19):
All right, we talked about so much stuff.
I'm so excited.
As a film lover myself, I knowI'm going to be there and I hope
that our listeners have gottenexcited as well.
So I hope to see you all there,and I mean that I do hope to
see you all there.
This cinephile can't resist agood film festival.
If you'd like to check out theMontclair Film Festival, they
(34:40):
run October 17th through the26th, but, as Tom and Tricia
pointed out, there are plenty ofevents throughout the year to
keep in mind as well.
For festival tickets and moreinformation, be sure to visit
montclairfilmorg and considersigning up for their
e-newsletter to be kept up todate with film fun outside of
the festival.
If you liked this episode, besure to review, subscribe and
tell your friends.
(35:00):
A transcript of this podcast,links relevant to the story and
more about the arts in NewJersey can be found at
jerseyartscom.
The Jersey Arts Podcast ispresented by Art Pride New
Jersey, advancing a state ofcreativity since 1986.
The show was co-founded by, andcurrently supported by, funds
from, the New Jersey StateCouncil on the Arts.
This episode was hosted, editedand produced by me, gina Marie
(35:23):
Rodriguez.
Executive producers are JimAtkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez,
and my thanks, of course, to TomHall and Tricia Haggerty Wenz
for speaking with me today.
I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez forthe Jersey Arts Podcast.
Thanks for listening.
This is Gina Marie Rodriguez and you're
listening to the Jersey ArtsPodcast.
Get ready, guys.
You've got another episodewhere I get to geek out about
movies with people who do thatfor a living, this time with the
folks behind Montclair Film.
Joining me today are Tom Hall,artistic director of Montclair
Film, and their new executivedirector, Tricia Haggerty Wenz,
director of Montclair Film andtheir new executive director,
(00:24):
Tricia Haggerty-Wenz, and we'retalking about the film festival
running October 17th through the26th and all things Montclair
Film.
Whether you're a filmmaker, amovie lover or just curious
about film festivals, MontclairFilm is the place to be.
Stay tuned to learn more aboutthis year's festival lineup,
what goes into programming afestival and, if you're into
this sort of thing, the partieswhere you can hobnob with actors
(00:47):
, filmmakers and like-mindedcinephiles.
Let's talk movies.
I'd just like to start bysaying congratulations to Tricia
.
You said two weeks, right,You're into your new role as
executive director of MontclairFilm, so I just want to ask you
how things are going.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (01:03):
Really fantastic.
I think I couldn't have pickeda better time to join Montclair
Film, both in its history andeverything that's happening, and
both the time of year we'rejust weeks away from our 14th
film festival, so it is reallyfantastic.
I've hit the ground running andI'm just in awe of this team
(01:26):
and how much they accomplish, soI'm very excited Absolutely,
and 14 years is an impressivefeat.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (01:33):
So I'd like to talk to Tom about that
as well.
Tom Hall, you are the artisticdirector of the Montclair Film
Festival.
I just want to start by askingyou what is it about the
festival, or maybe, by extension, independent film, that brings
you the most joy?
Tom Hall (01:48):
Yeah, for me it's always been about the connection
that we build between artistsand audiences being in the room
with filmmakers and patrons andmembers of the community as they
have conversations around filmsand the ideas in the movies and
the stories that they tell,talking about the process but
also sort of the greater meaningof the movies.
(02:08):
And building that sense ofcollective experience together
in theaters is my passion as acurator.
So we always are looking formovies that will inspire those
discussions for a wide range ofaudiences based on a wide range
of interests.
The community in Montclair isextremely diverse in terms of
race, gender, sexuality, opinion, ideas, and so honoring that
(02:31):
diversity through a widespectrum of movies is extremely
important to me.
And then making sure that wealso have a sort of
international scope, that weconnect with film communities
all over the world and make it apart of what we're doing, so
that you know, cinephilia, Ithink and film love is something
(02:52):
that's a global phenomenon, andthe ability to be in touch with
what's happening in the artform around the world during the
festival is something I alsofind really valuable for me
personally and meaningful,gratifying.
So bringing all that togetherin our spaces is what I love
(03:13):
about what I do.
So, yeah, that's definitely mypersonal passion and I think it
extends to the mission of theorganization as well.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (03:19):
That was so well said.
I love that, and community iskey right Everywhere, but
especially in the film community.
You can't make a movie on yourown.
But I want to extend the samequestion to Tricia.
I mean, I know that you happento be new to Montclair Film, but
you love film as well, so tellme what it is that's bringing
you joy about this organization.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (03:40):
Well, it's interesting that you use the
word joy, because what I love isthe word joy is also in the
mission of Montclair Film.
I love that to celebrate justthe magic of film, as well as
the fact that Montclair Filmchampions and celebrates diverse
voices all year round, not evenin the film festival, but in
(04:02):
all the programming we show, andwe show programming that
matters.
Last night we had a screeningof the Librarian, which is a
really important documentary,and we had a talk back with the
director and the audience wasfilled with librarians, which
was fantastic.
So Montclair Film createscommunity here and community
(04:22):
that evolves around film.
So it's all good.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (04:26):
You mentioned that you had a
screening last night and I wantto take that opportunity to
discuss the distinction betweenMontclair Film the organization,
the nonprofit and the MontclairFilm Festival.
So can you tell me what it isthat Montclair Film is offering
throughout the year, before weeven touch on the festival?
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (04:42):
Yeah, so you know, montclair Film did
start as a film festival andthen went year round.
I think in 2017, it was that itwent year round.
And not only do we present filmall year round, but we have
robust learning engagementprograms for our community of
all ages.
Programming that's reallyimportant.
(05:04):
We do something called animpact series where we bring
classrooms of kids in and showimportant films on valuable
social justice missions, andthen we have a facilitator here
talking to the children aboutthese subjects.
That's really important.
We have film clubs here we doeducational programs.
(05:24):
Film clubs here we doeducational programs very
different, all differentprograms around teaching the art
of filmmaking, the art ofscreenwriting, as well.
As we have a film club foradults and teens with
disabilities, which has beenreally wonderful.
We play a vital role in thevibrancy of the community all
year round in all different artforms.
Tom Hall (05:46):
I just want to add that we, in addition to that you
know, we operate the ClaridgeCinema, which is a six screen
independent nonprofit cinema.
So we run that year round.
We pick the films ourselves,we're operating the theater
ourselves.
Then we just acquired theBellevue Theater in Montclair as
well, which is going to be nowa three-screen cinema in Upper
(06:06):
Montclair.
So we have two differentcinemas that we're operating and
booking and you know we doeverything from picking out
what's going to be at theconcession stand to which movies
we're showing on the screen,and those are all of our
teammates as well, the teamsthat work at those cinemas.
So our organization has grownsort of exponentially over time
and very quickly.
We're only in our 14th year.
(06:27):
We have a headquarters at 505Bloomfield Avenue that has
classrooms that facilitate theeducation programs that Tricia
was talking about, which alsohas a micro cinema 65 seat micro
cinema where we do everythingfrom story slam events to improv
nights, to performances,private events.
You can rent out our theatersfor birthday parties.
(06:48):
It's a really great.
I mean, there's so much that wehave going on all the time it's
a little overwhelming sometimes, but it's been a really rapid
growth period.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (06:57):
And we make such a tangible impact in
our community, both in theeconomy and the vibrancy of the
community.
So it's you know we're doinggood stuff all the time.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (07:09):
I can tell .
I mean, and as Tom said, thatdoes sound overwhelming.
There were so many things thatwe just discussed but all of
them sound so cool and I'm soglad that you're that children
are have the opportunity tolearn about film as well.
I mean, as a kid I loved movies.
I was a Disney kid growing up,but I didn't really appreciate
(07:30):
cinema until I was much older.
But I like that we'reintroducing kids to cinema at a
young age.
I think that's really exciting.
Tom Hall (07:40):
Well, as a parent myself of two young people, two
young boys, the process ofgetting them excited about going
to the movies has always beenone where I have let them choose
their own interests andsupported that by attending
movies with them.
So my first movie was a Disneymovie when I was a kid.
(08:00):
It was Alice in Wonderland,back in like 1972 or 73.
I don't remember when there-release was.
I was very young.
But I think that the experienceand magic of going to see
movies builds people over time.
I don't expect my kids to likelove the same movies I do.
They're children so and I wantthem to like find their own way,
(08:20):
find their own path, and that'show you keep cinema alive is
letting people find their ownrelationship to film.
So, Gina, your path is a greatpath.
You were a kid and you lovedDisney movies and you found your
way to more mature work as yougot older and have stayed
engaged with film and that's thegift of the movies I think it's
really it can support alifetime's worth of appreciation
(08:43):
and interest.
So that's what we're trying todo as well.
Our education classes are reallyfocused on teaching kids the
process so that they canappreciate the form more.
They're not all going to go onto college and become, you know,
the next Martin Scorsese orSpike Lee.
Instead, our hope is that itcan deepen them and turn them
into passionate film lovers thatcan sustain the form for a long
(09:04):
period of time.
So I love.
I love to hear that about youas well, because you fit right
into sort of the idea that wehave for these programs.
So that's great.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (09:12):
Absolutely .
I mean, if nothing else,they're learning to appreciate
the art form, whether they likethe movies that they're being
shown or not.
But I will say I am still aDisney adult.
I have not outgrown that at all.
Tom Hall (09:23):
I assume you're a millennial.
I am.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (09:26):
I am a millennial.
Tom Hall (09:26):
Yes, millennials are like the Disney adults.
This is the generation Disneyadult I was just hearing about.
You guys run the parks for thatcompany because there's so many
Disney adults who now gowithout kids and like, do a lot
of Disney things without theirchildren, which I think is
really interesting.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (09:42):
That is so true.
We have no shame, and that'sokay.
You have to embrace your youthas long as you can.
My first film was Disney too.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (09:51):
What was yours, Dumbo?
I saw it in a drive-in with myparents and there was a real
live elephant there, so thatstayed with me.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (10:01):
What that would stay with anyone.
A real live elephant, that's socool.
Yeah for me.
I want to say it was the LittleMermaid.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (10:10):
It was either the.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (10:11):
Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast,
but I think it was the LittleMermaid.
Tom Hall (10:14):
I love it.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (10:15):
Yeah, I was a kid I had like curtains
that were Little Mermaid, andthen I transitioned to Beauty
and the Beast.
I was obsessed.
But we don't have to spend anhour talking about Disney.
Instead, you had said something.
Don't have to spend an hourtalking about Disney.
Instead, you had said something, tom, earlier that made me
think.
We're in this digital age wherea lot of people are getting
their movies on Netflix or onApple TV or Peacock or whatever
(10:38):
streaming platform they choose,and it's almost become harder to
encourage people to go to thecinema, to go to the movies.
So how, as a film festival, doyou find yourself battling that
if you see it as a battle?
Tom Hall (10:54):
Yeah, I don't see it as a battle.
I think it is a complimentaryprocess.
We work with all of thosecompanies that stream films on
television all the time.
Netflix has our opening nightfilm for the festival this year,
jay Kelly.
It'll be on Netflix in December.
We're previewing it at thefestival.
Netflix has our opening nightfilm for the festival this year,
jay Kelly.
It'll be on Netflix in December.
We're previewing it at thefestival.
Then we're going to give it atheatrical run of a couple of
(11:14):
weeks later before it ends up onNetflix, because our cinema,
the Claridge, is one of thecinemas that they partner with
for theatrical releases.
So we've, I think, created amodel where we're supportive of
all of those partners.
My philosophy on all of that islook, it's your film, it's your
strategy.
We want to be there to supportyou when you feel it's
(11:38):
appropriate.
We don't care about being theworld premiere of your movie or
having some sort of sale of afilm, although that would be
nice if people wanted to come toour festival and buy movies.
More important to us is thatthe filmmakers and the companies
are feeling like they have asupport system on the big screen
, in town and in the region.
So there are a lot of filmlovers in the community.
(11:58):
There are a lot of peopleinvolved in the industry, people
who are with the Academy, whovote on the Oscars there are
several people in our communitywho do that.
We have a lot of TV and mediaprofessionals living in town as
well.
There's a lot of opportunity toreach that sophisticated
audience with your film.
We don't want to createbarriers, so what we do is we
work with those structures.
(12:19):
I personally watch films at homeas well as going to the theater
.
I think it's a complementaryprocess and we want to be part
of that process.
So the festival is really agreat place to show things.
First, the cinema hopefully canbe.
You know, that can help usbuild word of mouth for the
cinema run that's coming uplater, the theatrical run, and
(12:40):
then, after the theatrical run,if it goes to streaming, we can
be there to support that andremind people of what they saw
in cinema, to watch it againonline at home, which I think is
helpful as well as a marketingtool for those partners.
So that's our value propositionto those companies and it's
been successful so far.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (12:57):
There's something you know magical about
seeing a film and a movie too,having that shared cultural
experience, and I witnessed itlast night with an audience of
people that were sort of hungryto have that experience together
.
I remember the first film I sawafter COVID.
It was a movie called Summer ofSoul and you know, I saw a
(13:19):
witness in the theater, peopleclapping and crying at times,
and you don't get that at home.
So I think that's somethingthat the fact that Montclair
Film can offer that year roundis still really a vital cultural
experience for all of us.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (13:37):
Absolutely .
I think so many of us are inneed of communal outlets, and
film screenings and theater arethe easiest approach right to go
and watch something with yourfellow humans and enjoy it and
experience emotion together.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (13:55):
And it sparks spontaneous conversations
that we witness in the lobbyafter the film.
People want to continue to talkabout what they just saw, so
it's an important connectionthat Phil can make for all of us
.
Tom Hall (14:09):
And I will say that you know, jimmy, you mentioned
theater, which I just actually,five minutes before this call
bought tickets for a theaterproduction for February.
So I'm a theater lover, but youknow it's 10 times more
expensive for a theater ticketthan a film festival ticket, and
so one of the things that Ilove about what we do with the
festival is, I think we'reencouraging people to take risks
(14:32):
that they wouldn't otherwisetake.
You know, if you're going tospend 180 dollars on a Broadway
ticket, I think you want to berelatively sure that it's
something you're guaranteed toenjoy and want to see.
And if you're going to think afamily afforded that, that now
you're talking, you know, over$700, whereas a movie ticket is
$15 to $17.
If you're a member of MontclairFilm, it's even cheaper.
(14:53):
So we're trying to create valuethere, but also we're bringing
artists into the theater.
Not only do you get to seetheir film, but you get to see
them in person.
You get to have a conversationwith them directly about their
work.
A conversation with themdirectly about their work, and I
just think that's an unbeatablevalue for people and I hope it
encourages people to say youknow, maybe I wouldn't have gone
to see this otherwise.
(15:14):
But the risk is so low fortaking a chance on this movie
and especially at the festivalwhere we have, you know, 100
plus film screenings happening,like it's, you can look at that
schedule and be overwhelmed bythe number of things Again, not
to make it sound like everythingwe do is overwhelming, but it
can be daunting for people tolook at that schedule and not
have heard of any of the filmsand be like what am I going to
(15:36):
do?
So my advice to people isalways take a chance on
something.
Read the description and take alittle bit of time to just sort
of sort through what we've gotcoming at the festival.
Read the descriptions and thentake a risk.
It's a low stakes risk andhopefully you'll have a high
upside and you'll enjoy yourselfand have a great time.
So that's, I think over timepeople have come to trust us
(15:58):
with our curation and the filmsthat we select and think you
know these are going to be ofvalue and not going to be
disposable in a certain way.
So hopefully that that's thecase If I always say if everyone
in Montclair bought one ticketto the film festival, it would
be the most successful filmfestival in the history by like
three times right.
So like we just need everybodyto come out and support us.
(16:21):
It would be a great day for ourorganization to see the entire
community there.
So that's that there.
So that's my pitch on value.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (16:29):
All that said, I think your mission is
very admirable.
You said something in therethat I wanted to ask you about
curation versus selection.
You have a lot of filmmakersindependent filmmakers who are
submitting to your festival andit's competitive in nature.
So you are selecting thosefilms versus the films that you
are curating.
So can you talk a little bitabout the difference in how you
(16:51):
approach programming?
Tom Hall (16:53):
Yeah, certainly.
So you know, one of the issueswe have every year is that there
are way more movies that welike, that we wish we could show
at the festival than we canactually show, unfortunately,
because the limitations on timeand the number of screens that
we have, and so it is veryimportant to us that we put
(17:13):
together a program that reflects, like I said, that diversity of
ideas, opinions and somethingthat reflects the interests of
the people who are coming to thefestival.
So I just give an example ofmany years ago, when I was a
programmer, like five of the top10 of story, although each one
had its own unique perspective.
So we had to make a toughchoice.
(17:50):
Even though film three, seven,eight and ten on our top ten
list were all about the samesubject, we could only take one
of those movies because wewanted to create a balanced
program that reflected multipleideas, and if I took five slots
for that, I would be rejectingfour other slots that can be
focused on other things, right?
(18:10):
So that's one of the thingsabout the festival that is
unique is that we're looking atthis wide range of films and we
want to make sure that we'refinding great movies that don't
have too much cultural overlap,that are distinctive, that are
strong artistically and we show,you know, professionally.
(18:33):
We have several films this yearthat played at the Cannes Film
Festival in May coming.
These are like world-class, youknow, incredible, academy
Award-dominant films that arecompeting with people who are,
you know, emerging young,independent filmmakers who are
making their first or secondfeature, making a short film,
making their own documentary,and when we're putting the
program together we try to makeroom for those as well.
So we create discretecategories in our program and
(18:57):
those films sort of are applesto apples with each other as we
try to decide what we're goingto put into the festival.
So the first time filmmakersnot competing with the European
can winner on on our program, wewant to make sure that we have
buckets for each one of thosethings.
So the buckets, when you thinkabout, you know, let's say we
(19:17):
have 70 features.
Let's say 40 of them arefiction, 30 of them are
documentary.
Of the 40, you know some ofthem are independent, some of
them studio American, some ofthem are international those
buckets get small very quicklyand extremely competitive, and
so we have to make curatorialchoices about what we're going
to put into those buckets tomake sure that the program has a
(19:38):
lot of diversity and range,which means we break a lot of
hearts, and I have our ownhearts broken, that we can't fit
everything in.
So the nice thing about havingthe Claridge and the Bellevue,
though, is that it offers us theopportunity to do year-round
screenings with some of thosefilmmakers, those younger,
emerging filmmakers, who canbring their film into our cinema
, and we can have a one-nightscreening with a conversation
(20:01):
with them or a special showcase.
Maybe they end up getting atheatrical release later and we
could show them later in thecinema.
So that makes me feel so muchbetter about the process,
because there is a year-roundopportunity with us.
That wasn't there before.
We had the movie theater.
So there's that.
And then, of course, I have ateam of two incredible film
programmers, larissa Aipan andRebecca Sokol, who work with me,
(20:22):
and we debate and discuss andwatch and talk constantly about
the films that we're going to bechoosing, and we don't always
have the same taste ineverything, which I think is
important, um, that we have awide range of of tastes and
opinions on the, on the uh, on aprogramming department, so, uh,
I think we have a really goodsystem in place.
(20:44):
Every movie gets watched atleast once.
Um, we talk about, we gothrough every film and and weigh
it.
Uh, we have a really goodsystem in place.
Every movie gets watched atleast once.
We talk about, we go throughevery film and weigh it.
We have a screening committeethat works with us, so we have a
whole process in place to findand discover.
And let me just the last thing Iwant to say that we you know
filmmakers often accusefestivals of being sort of
rigged against them.
They say you know, oh, you'reall showing the same films.
(21:06):
And I was like you know, thoseare the films.
If anyone watches that we don't.
I don't go to other festivals.
What are you showing?
I want to copy what you'redoing.
We you recognize as a curatorwhat a great movie is, and so
you pick it.
So the process that we have, Ithink, is proof in the pudding
that we are taking it seriouslyand really want to find things.
(21:26):
Everyone wants to discover agreat filmmaker and be the first
festival to uncover that workif it's great.
Back in my early career Ishowed first films from Greta
Gerwig, the Safdie brothers,barry Jenkins, lena Dunham I
mean we've had.
I've shown early career workfrom incredible filmmakers back
(21:49):
before anyone knew who they were, and I think that's an
extremely important part of ourprocess.
So we are eager to findincredible artists all the time.
So I just wanted to say no onein their right mind would not
want to do that and be afilmmaker, a film programmer,
who can find those artists.
So it's a part of the processas well.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (22:11):
Absolutely .
I've always said that curationis an art in and of itself, and
fun fact about me is that I usedto run a film festival for
about eight years.
Really when I got?
really tired and yes, everythingyou've said is true.
Filmmakers do often feelslighted.
But, honestly, I cried.
(22:45):
I cried real tears when I wouldhave to turn films down because
so many of them were soexcellent.
But, like you said, you justyou don't have the time or the
physical space because if youdon't have enough screens you
physically cannot show as manyfilms as you want to show.
So, to all of the filmmakerslistening, we do love you, we
swear it's just that we can'talways share your work, that
doesn't mean it's not good.
Tom Hall (23:04):
Absolutely.
There's way more work that welike than we can show.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (23:08):
I think that Montclair film is
incredibly lucky to have Tomhere doing this work.
What him and his team puttogether is just it's all
excellent, and I think they do aphenomenal job on the artistic
side.
Thanks, tricia.
And in those two short weeksthat I've been here or actually
I'm only on my second week I'velearned already so much from him
(23:30):
and I'm looking forward tocontinuing this partnership.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (23:34):
As we're talking about curation, I do
want to bring up the fact thatyou've just announced I'm
looking forward to continuingthis partnership.
As we're talking about curation, I do want to bring up the fact
that you've just announced youropening, your centerpiece and
your closing night film.
So let's talk a little bitabout.
You mentioned Jay Kelly before,which is your opening night
film.
You have Come See Me in theGood Light, which is your
documentary centerpiece.
Rental Family with BrendanFraser, right is, is your
(23:55):
fiction centerpiece, and thenthe closing night film is
christy, starring sydney sweeneyand ben foster.
I have seen all of the trailers.
I'm excited by all of them, butI would love to know how you
came to their positions in theprogram.
Why is j killie your openingnight film and why is christy
your closing night?
Tom Hall (24:11):
yeah, I mean, we we try to find films that I think
will for opening night, thatwill be broadly appealing to our
audience.
We have a lot of people who aresponsors and donors and members
who get really excited aboutthe opening, and you also want
to kick off the festival withsomething that encourages people
to check out more films duringthe festival time, during the
(24:33):
festival time.
So I think this film inparticular is a great way to do
that.
It's a movie about a movie starand a movie about movies, so in
that way it's sort of fun andmeta in its own right.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (24:46):
Yeah, george Clooney right.
Tom Hall (24:48):
Yes, he's going to sort of there's a focus of the
film of him going to an Italianfilm festival to pick up a
lifetime tribute award, which Ilove.
So the idea of putting that,you know, first in the festival
and also just sort of the broadappeal of the cast and people
who are familiar with NoahBaumbach's work, I think are
going to be surprised at alittle bit how, how light this
(25:09):
film is compared to some of hissort of heavier, darker comedies
.
I just think it's a really goodfit for our audience for an
opening night film.
We have the Governor coming aswell that we're going to be
announcing soon for openingnight.
And you know Netflix, who haveJ Kelly, like I said, have been
tremendous partners to us andyou know they're building a film
(25:29):
production studio in FortMonmouth and doing a lot of work
here in New Jersey.
I thought it was reallyimportant to honor that as well
and their investment in thestate and in our community by
offering them this slot so thatwe could bring all of these
factors together with theopening of the festival.
I just think it's a really agreat way to honor what's coming
for the state and to thank thegovernor for putting those tax
(25:52):
incentives in place to inspirefilm production in New Jersey,
which has been an incredibleboon, I think, economically, to
what's going on in the state.
So there's that factor.
But the movie is, of course,stands alone and is great.
And it's not really a politicalchoice at all.
It's really about the tone andthe lightness of the film.
And then for Christie, I'mgoing to flip that and say
(26:13):
sometimes when you want to leavethe festival, you're going to
put something a little bitheavier and more challenging at
the end of the festival to givepeople something to chew on
until next time.
So Christie is absolutely thatmovie.
I know that there's a lot ofcultural debate about Sidney
Sweeney as a human being being,but this is an incredible
performance, uh, in a film thatI think inverts, uh and really
(26:39):
undermines a lot of preconceivednotions about the politics of
her as a person.
And, and it's an incredibleperformance, she you know I
don't know how much I love orcare about physical
transformations that actors doputting on weight dropping, all
that stuff but she bulked up forthis role and it is really,
really strong performance fromher, a very unexpected
(27:00):
performance, and I think thefilm itself is gonna be a real
conversation starter,unfortunately at the end of the
festival, but where it belongs.
It's a perfect closing nightfilm to get people talking it
out on a note that has themthinking more deeply about what
they assumed walking into themovie theater.
(27:22):
I don't know if people areready for Christie, but I'm
excited for them to see itbecause it's a fantastic film.
By the way, ben Foster all-timevillain performance in this
movie, all-time bad guyperformance I'm just going to
put that out there.
I won't say too much more thanthat, but it is amazing.
He's incredible in the film aswell.
I don't want to overlook hisperformance, so don't miss it.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (27:46):
Having only seen the trailer, I can
already see everything thatyou're talking about in just the
trailer alone.
I am looking forward to it, forsure, but I have a soft spot
for Brendan Fraser.
So, I'm looking forward toRental Family.
I mean, can you tell me alittle bit about that film as
well?
I know that it's by Hikari, thedirector, and it has a lot to
(28:10):
do with an actor who is puttinghimself in a position of
falsifying relationships withstrangers as a role.
I don't know if I explainedthat well, but the trailer
looked very intriguing and I'mcurious how that relates to the
rest of your programming and if,is there a theme when you
program or are you just simplylooking for good films?
Tom Hall (28:31):
Yeah, thematically, no , we don't really go for overall
theme.
I have worked at festivals likethere's a wonderful film
festival in Nantucket that'sfocused on screenwriting and
storytelling and like a lot ofthe films that they should, I
used to work there.
It's a really they do a greatjob of that festival with a very
tight focus in the work wherepeople are responding to the
times or something that whereideas bubble up or have a
(28:58):
relevance or resonance.
You know, when we were comingout of the Iraq war, there was a
lot of films about that topic.
It just depends on, like, thetiming or whatever.
But we're not looking activelyto say this is the year of the
blank, um, so that's not thecase.
And then in in the case ofrental family, um, you know we
had Brendan Fraser at thefestival a couple years back for
the Whale where he talked toStephen Colbert and that was an
(29:19):
Academy Award winningperformance for him and I'm also
a big fan of his work, thismovie.
Hikari, who worked on the TVshow Beef I don't know if you
saw that, but this is an amazingTV show that's on Netflix.
Judy, you want to say somethingabout Beef?
Gina Marie Rodriguez (29:35):
TV show that's on Netflix.
Judy, you want to say somethingabout Beef?
Oh, I was just saying that I'veheard great things, but I also
heard that it was very stressfuland I couldn't help to.
I wasn't ready for the stressjust yet.
Tom Hall (29:47):
Yeah, I'm into stressful shows, so in this
movie is actually a much lightertouch as well.
It's a really a warm andbeautiful film about Brendan
Fraser's character, who worksfor a company that hires him out
to families to play an activerole in there.
(30:11):
So one of them is like a singlemom with a daughter who's
asking questions about where herfather is, and so Brendan
Fraser steps in to play the sortof a father figure role.
Another one is a woman that hasan elderly father who's an
artist.
She hires Brendan Fraser topretend he's creating a
documentary about him so thatthe father's work feels
(30:33):
validated, and then they strikeup a friendship as well about
him, so that the father's workfeels validated and then they
strike up a friendship as well.
And it's sort of the impact ofthese performative roles that
he's playing in these everydaysituations that transform him as
a person as well and he startsto see sort of the.
He's also a cultural outsideras an American in Japan, so
there's this whole Americanabroad in the Japanese culture
(30:54):
aspect to the movie as well.
That's really quite profoundand it takes on almost a
beautiful spiritual connectionin the film.
I think it's a really moving,really moving film and I'm
excited for people to be able totalk about this one as well.
It's a completely differenttone from the other two, which
is another reason why I liked itas the centerpiece movie,
(31:16):
because it's high profile enoughto be hold that slot, but it's
also going to bring yousomething completely different
than the other films that wehave.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (31:23):
I'm excited, that's.
I don't know what else to saybeyond.
I'm excited because they alllook amazing.
And can I ask you during thefestival, do you also offer
panels for filmmakers, or I mean, I guess it doesn't just have
to be for filmmakers for anyoneto attend, or are there?
Is it strictly Q&As?
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (31:41):
Yeah, we do offer lots of different
panels.
Even we're having a specialpanel this year with the state
of New Jersey around workforcedevelopment, around filmmaking
in the state.
Tom Hall (31:55):
And then we also we are also going to be featuring
conversations aboutpost-production technology and
how it's transforming filmmaking.
We have a panel coming aboutbranding.
So I don't know if you saw F1earlier this year, but obviously
F1 is a brand that has a moviebuilt around it.
Barbie is a brand that had amovie built around it.
It seems to be a trend that'shappening and we want to sort of
figure out what's going on withthe way in which brands and
(32:19):
filmmaking are intersecting.
So there'll be a conversationabout that.
And then we have a specialrelationship with the trade
publication the Anchor, which isa really great trade.
If you're not an Anchorsubscriber, subscribe.
We love them and they are goingto be partnering with us on a
couple of panels as well.
And then we have some localpodcasts and we have Tom Powers
is coming back to promote hisnew book, mondo Documentary,
(32:41):
with a panel conversation in thefestival.
So there's definitely a lot ofand those are all free and open
to the public during thefestival timeline as well.
But we'll be announcing thatfull slate on the 26th.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (32:52):
Now I have to ask out of curiosity do you
also have parties?
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (32:56):
We're planning an opening night party
at a at the Claridge space.
There's a new space abovecalled the mezzanine and this
will be our first year usingthat space, which we're really
excited about.
Tom Hall (33:08):
And then we have the filmmaker party the next night
at Porta that we do every year,and then we will definitely be
having a few sort of off thebooks parties and get togethers
during the festival with folksthat you know, people who are
here with films and will beattending and hanging out with
us.
So that'll be fun as well.
(33:28):
But yeah, our two big publicfacing events are the opening
night party and then thefilmmaker party which is at
Porta.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (33:35):
You said public, so even for the
filmmaker party audiences,audience members, yeah, you can
buy a ticket.
Tom Hall (33:40):
Yep, you can buy a ticket and come hang out with
the filmmakers and be there Sameon opening night.
If you just don't want to seeJay Kelly but want to come hang
out at the party, you can dothat as well.
There's an individual ticketfor both of those events.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (33:52):
That's exciting.
I think I'm going to have tobuy my ticket right.
Well, as soon as they go onsale.
I was going to say after this,but I guess they're not
available yet.
Tricia Haggerty Wenz (34:05):
We encourage people to join our
e-news, where you'll get a lotof information and you'll get
all those dates and know whenthe tickets are available both
to our members and to the public, and it'll give you links to
allow you to buy tickets for allthese events.
So if you're not part of oure-news, please join it and
you'll find out all theinformation.
Gina Marie Rodriguez (34:19):
All right, we talked about so much stuff.
I'm so excited.
As a film lover myself, I knowI'm going to be there and I hope
that our listeners have gottenexcited as well.
So I hope to see you all there,and I mean that I do hope to
see you all there.
This cinephile can't resist agood film festival.
If you'd like to check out theMontclair Film Festival, they
(34:40):
run October 17th through the26th, but, as Tom and Tricia
pointed out, there are plenty ofevents throughout the year to
keep in mind as well.
For festival tickets and moreinformation, be sure to visit
montclairfilmorg and considersigning up for their
e-newsletter to be kept up todate with film fun outside of
the festival.
If you liked this episode, besure to review, subscribe and
tell your friends.
(35:00):
A transcript of this podcast,links relevant to the story and
more about the arts in NewJersey can be found at
jerseyartscom.
The Jersey Arts Podcast ispresented by Art Pride New
Jersey, advancing a state ofcreativity since 1986.
The show was co-founded by, andcurrently supported by, funds
from, the New Jersey StateCouncil on the Arts.
This episode was hosted, editedand produced by me, gina Marie
(35:23):
Rodriguez.
Executive producers are JimAtkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez,
and my thanks, of course, to TomHall and Tricia Haggerty Wenz
for speaking with me today.
I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez forthe Jersey Arts Podcast.
Thanks for listening.
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