Montclair Film Festival Unveils 2026 Lineup Led by McDonagh, DuVernay

The Montclair Film Festival will open its 2026 edition on Oct. 16 with Martin McDonagh's "Wild Horse Nine" at the Wellmont Theater and close on Oct. 25 with Tony Gilroy's "Behemoth!" at MKA Upper School. The festival announced the complete lineup, spanning international premieres, awards season contenders, documentaries and independent films.

The slate features new work from Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi ("La Bola Negra"), Peter Farrelly ("I Play Rocky"), Jesse Eisenberg ("The Debut"), Siân Heder ("Being Heumann"), James Gray ("Paper Tiger") and Mike Leigh ("Tender Loving Care"). The feature program runs deep with international auteurs: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's "All of a Sudden," Pawel Pawlikowski's "Fatherland," Cristian Mungiu's "Fjord," Lee Chang-dong's "Possible Love," Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Minotaur," Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Look Back" and Lukas Dhont's "Coward." Pedro Almodóvar contributes "Bitter Christmas," Danny Boyle directs "Ink," and Alex Gibney turns to "Musk." Ron Howard's documentary "Avedon" and James Gray's "Paper Tiger" anchor the American contingent.

Ava DuVernay's documentary "14th" serves as the documentary centerpiece, flanked by Simon Stone's fiction centerpiece "Elsinore" and Brad Bird's animated centerpiece "Ray Gunn."

The guest list draws heavily from awards season. Tim Blake Nelson, Edward Burns, Eisenberg, Susie Essman, Paul Giamatti, Stephan James, Karina Longworth, Rachel Maddow, Julianne Moore and John Turturro will appear in person. They join previously announced honorees Beth de Araújo, Stephen Beresford, DuVernay, Gilroy and Jack O'Connell. Gilroy's Filmmaker Tribute will be moderated by Stephen Colbert, who will also moderate a conversation with Eisenberg, Giamatti and Moore about "The Debut."

Burns will attend a screening of "Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies." Nelson appears for "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd," which he directs. Turturro participates in a Q&A after "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York," and Essman attends "The Good Life." Stephan James sits for an In Conversation event on Oct. 18 at the Audible Lounge at Montclair Mezzanine, with Karina Longworth following on Oct. 25.

The 2026 David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking goes to director Ben Klein and producer Rachel Maddow for "Kill. Bury. Print.," which examines an escalating conflict between a community newspaper and the sheriff of the Oklahoma county it covers. Klein and Maddow will participate in a post-screening Q&A.

Juried competitions cover documentary, fiction and the Future/Now section, which honors emerging independent filmmakers with the $5,000 Mark Urman Award. Documentary contenders include "Closure" (Michal Marczak), "The Great Experiment," "One in a Million," "Rehearsals for a Revolution" and "When a Witness Recants" (Dawn Porter). The fiction competition fields "All of a Sudden," "Fatherland," "Minotaur," "Possible Love" and "Rose."

Short-film competitions in documentary, fiction and New Jersey categories range from Ben Proudfoot and Stephen Curry's "The Baddest Speechwriter of All" to "Albatross," "Callback," "Scratch," "St. Joseph" and "Us Being Epic." The shorts slate also includes John Ridley and Jeanmarie Condon's "The Corner," Alison Klayman's "Scenes From the Divide," David France and Paul McGuire's "Testing Testing Sandi Bachom" and Yoruba Richen's "Free Joan Little."

Beyond screenings, the festival programs six panels. "Inside Puppet Heap: Fabrication in Filmmaking" (Oct. 18) goes behind the scenes of the puppet studio. "Who Gets to Make Movies Now? New Paths, New Voices" (Oct. 18), led by The Ankler's Christopher Rosen, examines new routes into the industry. Alan Jenkins leads "Art Can Save Our Democracy" (Oct. 19) with panelists from the Montclair Art Museum, Jazz House Kids, Vanguard Theater Group and Montclair Film. "Breaking Into the Business" (Oct. 22) covers New Jersey's film and television sector with the state's Economic Development Authority and Motion Picture and Television Commission. "Meet the Programmers" (Oct. 24), hosted by Film Festival Alliance executive director Mallory Martin, takes filmmakers inside festival selection. Katey Rich closes with "Box Office, Buzz and the Race Ahead" (Oct. 25), on how commercial success shapes awards prospects.

Special events include a StorySlam themed "Feeling Fifteen" (Oct. 21), Montclair Improv Comedy at Cinema505 (Oct. 22) and the free, family-friendly "Meet Us on Church Street" (Oct. 24).

Tickets go on sale Sept. 28 at 10 a.m. for Montclair Film members and Oct. 1 at 10 a.m. for the public. With O'Connell receiving the Performer Award for "Ink," Beresford the Screenwriter Award for "Elsinore," DuVernay the Documentary Filmmaker Award for "14th" and de Araújo the Breakthrough Director Award for "Josephine," the festival positions itself as a late-fall stop for titles with eyes on the awards race.