Montclair Film Festival Media Contact
Jillian Nannery, The TASC Group
(646) 723-4344
jill@thetascgroup.com

Montclair Art Museum Media Contacts
Michael Gillespie, 973-259-5134                                                                      mgillespie@montclairartmuseum.org
Catherine Mastrangelo, 973-259-5119
cmastrangelo@montclairartmuseum.org

Montclair Film Festival and Montclair Art Museum announce partnership

First joint program: “Kidz Shortz” short film competition for young people

Submission deadline EXTENDED through October 31, 2011

Montclair, NJ, August 29, 2011: The Montclair Art Museum (MAM), one of Montclair’s oldest cultural and arts institutions, has partnered with the Montclair Film Festival (MFF), one of the newest, to support MFF’s mission of nurturing and showcasing talented filmmakers from around the world while creating a cultural focal point for the Township of  Montclair and it’s neighboring communities.  Their first combined effort will be the “Kidz Shortz” initiative, an annual filmmaking competition for young people.

Kidz Shortz is open to students from any community entering 4th through 12th grade in September 2011.  Students will submit a short (no more than 4 minutes in length), “G” rated film on the theme “My Town…The Way I See It,” and will be eligible for awards based on content (story/theme), originality, editing and direction.  The awards will be given in the following age groups:

• Visionaries: entering grades 10-12
• Storytellers: entering grades 7-9
• Cinemaniacs: entering grades 4-6

For registration and submission details go to www.montclairnjfilmfestival.org/kidz/

Winners will be chosen by a jury consisting of representatives from MAM, professional filmmakers, and peer judges chosen from Montclair schools.  The winners will be announced at a MFF press conference later this fall. As prizes for the “Kidz Shortz” Competition, MAM will cover tuition for three digital filmmaking classes. MAM is also providing digital media space, volunteers and film judges.

Lora Urbanelli, director of the Montclair Art Museum, said: “The Montclair Art Museum is very excited about partnering with the Montclair Film Festival as it seeks to bring a world-class event to our town. Montclair has had a reputation as an intellectual community and an artists’ colony since the late 19^th century, when the renowned landscape artist George Inness settled in the town. The founders of the film festival are extending that tradition, focusing on the art of film and bringing further creative energy and attention to Montclair.”

“We are thrilled to have the Montclair Art Museum involved with our organization,” said MFF chairman Bob Feinberg. “Since opening in 1914, MAM has been a focal point of arts and culture, not only for Montclair, but for the entire region.  The Montclair Film Festival, founded almost 100 years later, hopes to follow MAM’s lead, bringing filmmakers and film lovers from around the world to our city.”

About The Montclair Film Festival:

The Montclair Film Festival (MFF) is a non-profit, tax-exempt (501(c)(3)) community-based organization that will produce a multi-day, multi-venue Film Festival in and around Montclair in May 2012.  MFF exists to nurture and showcase the talented filmmakers from around the world while creating a cultural focal point for the Township of Montclair. The goal of the organization is to unite, empower, educate and celebrate the artistic community of Montclair.

Formed in early 2010, MFF has produced two summers of outdoor film screenings under its “Cinema Montclairismo” brand, and produced a sold-out screening of Andrew Rossi’s New York Times documentary, “Page One,” at the Bellevue Theater in Upper Montclair, followed by a live “Q&A” between NYT media reporter, David Carr, and journalist Jonathan Alter.

MFF’s Board of Directors includes local community leaders, philanthropists and media executives Rennie Ackerman, Steve Adubato, Daniel Battsek, Bobbi Brown, Rose Cali, Brian Clarkson, Evie Colbert, Jeff Cooperman, Maggie Drucker, Conrad Fink, Matthew Frankel, Beth Hart, James Johnson, Marcia Marley, Glenda McNeal, Denise Muggli, Shelly Phillips, Stephen Plofker, Warran Ross and Nader Tavakoli.  Montclair residents Stephen Colbert, Dick Grabowsky, Albie Hecht and Roscoe Orman serve on MFF’s Honorary Advisory Board.

MFF is based in storefront headquarters at 494 Bloomfield Avenue, just two doors up from the Clairidge Theater, in the historic Hinck Building.  There, MFF holds screenings and exhibitions of historic movie posters and sells MFF merchandise.

About the Montclair Art Museum

The Montclair Art Museum, a notable, community-based institution with an international reputation, boasts a renowned collection of American and Native American art that uniquely highlights art making in the United States over the last three hundred years. The collection includes more than 12,000 objects: paintings, prints, original works on paper, photographs, and sculpture by American artists from the 18th century to the present, as well as traditional and contemporary Native American art and artifacts representing the cultural developments of peoples from all of the major American Indian regions. The Museum’s education programs serve a wide public and bring artists, performers, and scholars to the Museum on a regular basis. MAM’s Yard School of Art is the leading regional art school, offering a multitude of comprehensive courses for children, teens, adults, seniors, and professional artists.

The Montclair Art Museum is located at 3 South Mountain Avenue in Montclair, N.J. Information and directions are available on the Museum website, montclairartmuseum.org, or by calling 973-746-5555. MAM is open Wednesdays through Sundays, Noon – 5 p.m., and closed on Mondays, Tuesdays, and major holidays. Museum admission is $12 for nonmember adults, $10 for senior citizens and students with I.D., and free for members and children under 12.