The 15th Montclair Film Festival runs October 16 through 25, and now the wait for its full lineup is over as the festival released its complete slate. The opening night film centers on a CIA mission gone sideways. The documentary centerpiece takes on the 14th Amendment. Somewhere in between, a dying actor prepares to play Hamlet. Members get first access to tickets starting September 28. The general public follows October 1.
In the festival’s announcement of this year’s opening, closing and centerpiece titles, Tom Hall, artistic director of Montclair Film, said: “2026 marks the 15th anniversary of the Montclair Film Festival, and it is shaping up to be an extraordinary year for cinema.”
What Opens and Closes This Year’s Festival
The festival opens October 16 at 7 p.m. at the Wellmont Theater with Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine.” Set just before the 1973 Chilean coup, the film follows CIA agents Chris and Lee, played by John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, after their bureau chief, played by Steve Buscemi, sends them from Santiago to Easter Island. Once there, Chris forms a bond with two students, played by Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas, and that relationship complicates the job the agents were sent to do. Tom Waits and Parker Posey round out the cast.
Closing night belongs to Tony Gilroy’s “Behemoth!,” which screens October 25 at 5 p.m. at Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School. Pedro Pascal plays Alex Serian, a cellist who returns to Los Angeles after 20 years on the road and has to face a family of prominent musicians while he works out where he still fits. Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, Will Arnett and Hank Azaria round out the cast. Gilroy has described the film as centered on film scores and the composers who write them.
What Else is Playing at the Montclair Film Festival 2026
Three centerpiece films fill out the announced lineup so far: one apiece for animation, fiction and documentary.
The animation centerpiece, “Ray Gunn,” screens October 17 at 4 p.m. at The Wellmont. Brad Bird directs Sam Rockwell as a private investigator in Metropia, an alternate-future city styled after 1939, working a case that pulls in aliens, a murder and a multimedia star played by Scarlett Johansson.
The fiction centerpiece, “Elsinore,” screens October 18 at 7:30 p.m. at MKA Upper School. Simon Stone directs Andrew Scott as actor Ian Charleson, opposite Olivia Colman, preparing to play Hamlet at London’s National Theatre while dying of AIDS.
The documentary centerpiece is Ava DuVernay’s “14th,” screening October 23 at 7:30 p.m., also at MKA Upper School. It traces who the 14th Amendment protects and who has historically fallen outside that protection.
Beyond the three centerpieces, the full lineup includes plenty of other films worth a look. “Kill. Bury. Print,” directed by Ben Klein and produced by Rachel Maddow, follows an escalating standoff between a community newspaper and the sheriff of the Oklahoma county it covers. It will receive the 2026 David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking, an award named for the New York Times media columnist who lived in Montclair until his death in 2015. Klein and Maddow will take part in a question-and-answer session after the screening, set for October 17 at 8 p.m. at the Wellmont Theater.
“The Debut,” written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, stars Eisenberg alongside Paul Giamatti and Julianne Moore, with a post-screening conversation moderated by Stephen Colbert, who lives in Montclair and has hosted festival conversations for years. That event is set for October 24 at 7:30 p.m. at MKA Upper School.
A number of past festival guests are also returning this year, including John Turturro, who will appear for a question-and-answer session after “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” directed by Noah Segan, October 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Bellevue Theatre.
Beyond those titles, the full program adds juried competitions in documentary, fiction and short film categories, meaning panels of judges will select winners in each, along with dozens more feature and short films, industry panels and community events, including a free, family-friendly day of activities on Church Street October 24.
Who Montclair Film Is Honoring This Year
Five people are being honored at this year’s festival:
- Beth de Araújo receives the Breakthrough Director Award on October 18 at 7 p.m. at the Bellevue Theatre, following a screening of her new film “Josephine,” for what the festival calls a compassionate look at trauma and human responsibility.
- Stephen Beresford receives the Screenwriter Award that same night, October 18 at 7:30 p.m. at MKA Upper School, tied to his “Elsinore” script and its portrait of friendship and community during the 1980s AIDS epidemic.
- Jack O’Connell receives the Performer Award on October 19 at 7:30 p.m. at MKA Upper School, for playing newspaper editor Larry Lamb in Danny Boyle’s “Ink.”
- Ava DuVernay receives the Documentary Filmmaker Award on October 23 at 7:30 p.m. at MKA Upper School, following the “14th” screening, and stays onstage afterward for a conversation with Stephen Colbert.
- Tony Gilroy receives the Filmmaker Tribute on October 25 at 5 p.m. at MKA Upper School, right after “Behemoth!” closes the festival, with Colbert moderating that conversation as well.
When Do Montclair Film Festival Tickets Go on Sale?
Montclair Film members get first access starting Monday, September 28, at 10 a.m. The general public can start buying tickets Thursday, October 1, at 10 a.m., through the festival’s website. Visit festival.montclairfilm.org to browse the full schedule and buy tickets, and check back with the Pod for more festival coverage as October gets closer.
Image credit: Montclair Film Festival
