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!

When did I become a Jersey Girl?

It was like pulling teeth, getting me out of the Village, west of the Hudson, putting those new license plates on my Karmann Ghia back in 1987. Telling people I lived "just outside NYC" when traveling, or "12 miles from the city".
But times have changed. We're urban-suburban. Really quite hip, thank you. Our property taxes -- well that's another story, but we have great public schools and we don't pay sales tax on clothes, a bonus any clothes horsie will kill for.
And, starting tonight, we have one heck of a film festival to call our own.  The Montclair Film Festival debuted at Kasser Theater at MSU with a screening of The Oranges, a wry suburban story of friendship and adultery, followed by a live chat between one its stars, Oliver Platt, and local NY Times writer David Carr.

It's hard to explain just what it is about a film festival -- but any worries the industry had that VCRs, then DVDs and cable could kill off theatrical films, first voiced 30 years ago, seem to be unfounded.  People like sitting in the dark together sharing emotions.  Film is celebratory in nature.  It explores our collective consciousness (un and otherwise).
Hats off to everyone who made this happen.  Hats not off to Governor Christie, who by cutting the tax credit for films shot in NJ, made a film about the Oranges cheaper to shoot in New Rochelle.  Every dollar a film crew spends working in the state creates many more dollars for local businesses.  Maybe for next year's NJ budget, we can get that detail right, especially once the Montclair Film Festival shows just what film and film making can do to build community and support local business.  That's a Jersey girl talkin'.