The 3rd Annual Montclair Film Festival Opens Tonight!

Montclair Film Festival 2014

Are you ready?

Tonight, the Montclair Film Festival opens with Jon Favreau's Chef.  Over the next six days with over 90 films and events, the 3rd annual Montclair Film Festival will turn Montclair into a movie goers mecca.  For details and up to the minute information on special free events, visit the festival web site www.montclairfilmfest.org .  It's going to be a crazy, wonderful, fascinating week!  Here's are a sampling.

At the risk of sounding like too much of a booster, I just have to spread the word about Oska, the European based but new to Montclair NJ clothing company on Church Street. Distinct shapes (trousers that feel, for all the world, like you just need a cane and moustach to channel your inner Chaplin, comfy, flowy but designed well enough that you don't have to feel like a hippie wearing them.  Loving sized to make everyone comfortable.Another shop I'd like to try if I can get into NYC for one of their pop ups is New Form Perspective. Slightly more descronstructed approach to similar challenges in women's cloths.  Check them out too.

This weekend is the annual Harvest Fest in downtown Bloomfield, and this year the town has even more to celebrate, as the final piece of the redevelopment puzzle across from the NJ Transit Train Station has been acquired.  Food, music, local shops and kid's events on tap both Saturday and Sunday, September 29th and 30th, on and near the green (which dates back to the early 1800's, when Montclair and Glen Ridge were all part of Bloomfield. Get you pumpkin on and celebrate!  For more information visit http://www.bloomfieldharvest.org

Have two free guest passes for the Museum of Modern Art.  It's going to be September before we know it -- no better time than now to check out the new shows and grab a bite at their much better than you would expect cafeteria.
I've been joining MOMA for the past few years -- it's one of those crazy "I live too close to NYC not to" things I like to do, and at $25 a visit, a membership ends up being a fantastic bargain.  Not only can you check out the permanent collection, but there are always 5 or 6 special exhibits.  Right now, the amazing stop-motion puppeteers the Quay Brothers and Century of the Child, Growing by Design, which covers 100 years of design specifically for children.  Hard to believe, but prior to 1900, kids needs just did not figure that much into the design gestalt. Times, they have changed!
So, would you like my passes?  Just send an email to jenniferley @ sothebysrealty.com (take the spaces out) with your name and mailing address, and I'll get them out to you.  Happy to share!  (I only have 2, so first come, first served).  See, it pays to be reading a blog in the middle of August.

Ugh -- forget about 366, or 350 or 320?  May and June evaporated.  I'm sure if I pulled out my calendar, I could tell you where 61 days went. Today, no exception. From the list: package oversized stuff animal gift, check.  Edit and print detailed feature sheet for new listing, check.  Grab signs, flyers (designed yesterday and flash printed in Minnesota, then overnighted), check.  Start contract for house offer, check.  Field phone calls about new Montclair tax rate, check.  Go to mandatory 3 hour ethics training class where I learn being a realtor makes me a defender of American democracy and the right to own private property, check.  Take call from client who thinks I'm reclining on my couch in air conditioning (I wish), check.  Recommend tank removal personnel, check.  Consult on timing of tank removal, check.  4pm -- see roiling thunderstorm approaching, decide to run home to grab an umbrella and flip flops before going to 5pm house showing, check.  Thunderstorm, check.  Get impossibly wet showing house but we get to see the sump pump works, check.  Field text messages about Montclair tax rate and "catch up" payments, check.  7pm, home for night? No. Go back to office to finish writing up offer, check.  Write cover letter, get pre approval, check.  Submit offer, check.  Answer more text messages about a mortgage commitment and home inspection issues, check.  Agree with customer that Chris Christie has not helped the property tax situation in NJ, check.  Did I say I had no idea where May and June went?  This was just one day in, oh man, it's already past the middle of July.

Wait, it's almost over?

Tomorrow is the last day of the Montclair Film Festival -- say what? Makes me so sad. With the trolleys running around town, banners everywhere, balloon arches in front of the theaters, yellow shirted bumble-bee like volunteers buzzing about, not to mention a clutch of search lights stabbing the night sky too cloudy for us to see the super moon has made Montclair feel downright Hollywoodesque.

Tomorrow is a huge day for the festival -- with events in 5 different venues -- some sold out but many not.  I'd need to clone myself to see everything I'd like to see.

Last Call at the Oasis -- Water, Fidelity claims it's a coming commodity, this film will show you why

The Atomic States of America -- Do you know how much NJ relies on nuclear energy?

Michael Moore On Film & Community-Building -- the man, in person

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster -- not a Spinal Tap style doc

Calvet - Street Kid to Gangster to Artist

We're Not Broke -- Corporate taxes, paid? Or not?

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty -- Simply put, gorgeous

My favorite so far?  Kumare.  You don't want me to tell you about it.  You really want to see it.

Weekend Itinerary Suggestions for the Montclair Film Festival

Thinking about making a weekend of it at the Montclair Film Festival?  It can be daunting to decide where to start.  Having spent the past few weeks pouring over the schedule, here are three suggested Saturday itineraries, all of which as of this writing, have tickets available through the festival website.

For a full day into night Saturday showcasing the variety of dramatic story lines living under the rubric "Documentary", start off with

11:30 AM

Flat Daddy

Clairidge Cinema 2
When American soldiers go abroad, their families cope with "heroes on a stick." In person: dirs Nara Garber & Betsy Nagler.

2:00 PM

Unraveled

Clairidge Cinema 2
Wall Street crook Marc Dreier looks back on his crimes while under house arrest. In person: dir Marc Simon.

Then, catch an early dinner or late lunch and a little shopping in downtown Montclair, or nip over to the Montclair Art Museum for their classic film poster exhibition (you could probably do all three) before going back to the Clairidge for

7:00 PM

Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie

Clairidge Cinema 2
Examining the history and legacy of the "father of trash TV." In person: dirs Seth Kramer & Daniel Miller.

Or, if you feel like a full day and night are a bit more than you want to tackle, here's a performance-centric dance and spoken-word 1/2 day menu. Start off with

11:30 AM

First Position

World's most promising ballet students compete for scholarships. In person: dir Bess Kargman. Bellevue Theater

Grab lunch and/or shop in Upper Montclair before returning for 

4:30 PM

Lemon

Bellevue Theater

Three-time felon, one-time Tony Award winner, Lemon Andersen is an acclaimed poet who broke out on Broadway in Russell Simon's Def Poetry Jam.

I'll post ideas for Sunday tomorrow!