Montclair State Film Forum Spring Series

Montclair State University ’s popular Film Forum returns for a fourth year with a diverse line-up of notable contemporary films and an opportunity to hear the filmmakers and industry professionals behind them discuss their work and respond to questions from the audience.

Sponsored by the Filmmaking Program of the College of the Arts, the Spring, 2011 screening-and-discussion series is being offered as a three-credit elective course.  However, each of the 14 sessions is free, except for the Montclair Underdog Film Festival, and open to all students and the general public.

“We tried to get a wide range of people and a mix of independent filmmakers, technicians and craft people in order to expose students to as many different kinds of films as are being made,” said Roberta Friedman, assistant professor in the Filmmaking Program.

The regular weekly program is held on Tuesday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in University Hall, Room 1040.

Tuesday, January 25
Gabi on the Roof in July – An edgy character-driven ensemble comedy about young New Yorkers.  The film won Best Feature award at the 2010 Brooklyn International Film Festival.  Producer/editor/actor Sophie Takal and writer/director/ actor Lawrence Michael Levine will be on hand.

Tuesday, February 1
Jon Alpert – Emmy-award winning journalist and documentary filmmaker will screen excerpts of his documentary, China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, nominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary Short Subject Category in 2009.

Tuesday, February 8
Abel Ferrara – Independent filmmaker known for such films as Pallbearers and The Bad Lieutenant, Ferrara will appear with cinematographer collaborator and Montclair State graduate Ken Kelsch.  Ferrara’s films, excerpts from which will be shown, often involve violence, crooked cops, psychotic killers and victims bent on vengeance.

Tuesday, February 15
Ilene Starger – Casting director of Night at the Museum and more than 30 other films, Starger has won two awards from the Casting Society of America.

Sunday, February 20
Montclair Underdog Film Festival: Oscar Nominated Short Films – This special Sunday presentation features a full-day of Oscar-nominated short films which will be screened from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in University Hall, Room 1070.  The shorts are divided into documentary and fiction sections; admission to one session is $10 and $15 for two.

Tuesday, February 22
The Black Maria Film Festival – Named after Thomas Edison’s movie production studio in West Orange, New Jersey, this alternative festival is an important outlet for cutting-edge, contemporary short films by young and idiosyncratic talent. Excerpts from the 2011 Black Maria Film + Video Tour will be shown.

Tuesday, March 1
Distribution and Publicity Panel: Online Movie Delivery – A panel discussion of industry insiders from Web channel Blip.tv, leading independent feature film distributors Film buff/Cinetic and others talk about building on online audience for films, and what the future holds for TV and Film on the Internet.

Tuesday, March 8
An evening with Michael Price, writer/producer of The Simpsons.

Coming in April:
Writers/directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, of The Nanny Diaries, The Extra Man and American Splendor; West Coast experimental filmmaker Pat O’Neill; writer/director Robert Letterman, director of the animated features A Shark’s Tale and 3-D Gulliver’s Travels; and producer Linda Yellen.

For more information, please visit the Film Forum Web site.