MFF16: Music on Screen
Music has a starring role in this exciting and varied selection of Montclair Film Festival 2016 screenings.
Two-time Academy Award winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple returns to the MFF with a portrait of one of the most fiery and talented performers working today. In 2014, on the eve of the band launching a new album, Ms. Jones faces her greatest challenge yet; a cancer diagnosis that brings her career to a stand still. MISS SHARON JONES! documents the singer’s battle to not only heal her body but continue to drive the Dap Kings toward the musical summit. Filled with incredible performances, laughs, tears and plenty of inspiration, we are proud to present MISS SHARON JONES! as our Closing Night Film.
Screening preceded by the 2016 MFF Filmmaker Award Ceremony
Followed by the MFF16 Filmmaker Party
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE COMBO TICKETS
In Person:
Director Barbara Kopple and members of the Dap Kings
Showings:
The Wellmont Theater, Sat, May 7, 7:30 PM, Buy Tickets
By day, Samantha Montgomery cares for the elderly in one of New Orleans’ toughest neighborhoods. By night, she writes and sings her own songs as Princess Shaw on her confessional YouTube channel. Meanwhile, in Israel, a composer, musician, and video artist named Kutiman creates video mash-up of amateur YouTube performers. When Kutiman discovers Princess Shaw’s raw, vulnerable vocals online, the pair of artists unwittingly begins a journey that will bring them together from across the globe, transforming their lives forever. PRESENTING PRINCESS SHAW is the story of the birth of an unlikely star, an artist who will make you believe in the power of dreams, and is the 2016 Montclair Film Festival’s Centerpiece screening.
Co-presented by Chubb
Followed by the MFF16 House Party.
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE COMBO TICKETS
In Person:
Subject Princess Shaw
Showings:
The Wellmont Theater, Fri, May 6 8:00 PM, Buy Tickets
SYL JOHNSON: ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS
Rob Hatch-Miller’s SYL JOHNSON, ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS is the story of an overlooked yet hugely influential African-American musician whose 60 year career spanned every genre of black music. Despite enjoying success in Chicago in the 1960s with songs like “Come On Sock It To Me,” Syl’s music remained largely unknown until the 1980s, when he was sampled by artists including Run-DMC, Public Enemy, NWA, the Beastie Boys, the Wu-Tang Clan, Jay Z, and Kanye West. ANY WAY THE WIND BLOWS is a portrait of a fiery artist and his fight to persevere.
In Person:
Director Rob Hatch-Miller, Producer Puloma Basu and Editor/Producer Joaquin Perez
Showings:
Clairidge Cinema 1, Thu, May 5 9:00 PM, Buy Tickets
Clairidge Cinema 1, Sat, May 7 6:15 PM, Buy Ticket
MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE
Like the poem that is its namesake, this documentary by Rita Coburn Whack and Bob Hercules is at once empowering and inspirational. Granted unfettered access to never-before-seen footage, the directors uncover a side of Maya Angelou that was unknown to most, and follow her unlikely ascent from calypso singer and dancer, to an author, actor, director, and cultural figure of international renown. MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE gives a revealing glimpse of a towering American talent and it includes appearances by Quincy Jones, Oprah Winfrey, Cicely Tyson, Lou Gossett, Jr. and President Bill Clinton.
In Person:
Co-Directors Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack
Showings:
Clairidge Cinema 2, Fri, May 6 5:45 PM, STANDBY
Bellevue Theater 1 Sat, May 7 11:00 AM, Buy Tickets
EAT THAT QUESTION: FRANK ZAPPA IN HIS OWN WORDS
The career of the late composer, guitarist, and rock and roll iconoclast Frank Zappa spanned over 60 albums, so the idea of encapsulating his work may seem daunting at best. In EAT THAT QUESTION, director Thorsten Schütte allows Zappa to speak for himself. The result is a treasure trove of archival interviews, public appearances, performances, and newsreels that showcase the many facets of Zappa’s public persona— witty, straightforward, sometimes confrontational, and never, ever able to suffer fools. EAT THAT QUESTION brings Zappa the artist into sharp, always-entertaining focus.
Co-presented by Applause Theater & Cinema Books
Showings:
Bellevue Theater 2, Tue, May 3 9:00 PM, Buy Tickets
A SONG FOR YOU: THE AUSTIN CITY LIMITS STORY
Premiering in 1975, Austin City Limits is one o f the rare institutions on American television; from Willie Nelson to Wilco, Ray Charles to Radiohead, the show has grown from a spotlight on a wonderful musical community to being enshrined as a Rock & Roll Landmark in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Keith Maitland’s A SONG FOR YOU: THE AUSTIN CITY LIMITS STORY offers the ultimate backstage pass to 40 years of incredible music and behind-the-scenes stories from the longest-running music show in television history.
In Person:
Director Keith Maitland, Producers Susan Thomson and Sarah Wilson, Coordinating Producer Hilary Pierce, Editor Austin Reedy, Producer/Subject Terry Lickona
Showings:
Clairidge Cinema 1, Sat, May 7 1:30 PM, Buy Tickets
Clairidge Cinema 2, Sun, May 8 2:30 PM, Buy Tickets
In her beautifully crafted short documentary JOE’S VIOLIN, Kahane Cooperman tells the story of Joseph Feingold, a 91-year-old Polish Holocaust survivor who donates his violin of 70 years to a local instrument drive. When the violin lands in the hands of a 12-year-old schoolgirl from the nation’s poorest congressional district, their lives intersect, changing both of them forever. This special screening will feature a musical performance and extended Q&A with the filmmakers and subjects.
Co-Presented by Kensington Senior Living.
In Person:
Director/Producer Kahane Cooperman, Producer Raphaela Neihausen, Editors Amira Dughri and Andrew Saunderson, Subjects Joe Feingold, Brianna Perez, Kokoe Tanaka-Suwan and many others.
Showings:
The Wellmont Theater, Sat, Apr 30 11:00 AM, Buy Tickets
THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS: YO-YO MA AND THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE
Oscar®-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 FEET FROM STARDOM and BEST OF ENEMIES) returns to Montclair with an unforgettable and joyous story about legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the renowned group of musicians that form the Silk Road Ensemble. Inspired by diverse cultural beauty and driven by personal experiences, each instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and arranger contributes the unique and breathtaking body of music. Neville follows them around the world in his wonderful new film THE MUSIC OF STRANGERS: YO-YO MA AND THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE as they work to preserve tradition and inspire a new generation.
Showings:
Bellevue Theater 2, Thu, May 5 6:30 PM, Buy Tickets