RED BANK: MONTCLAIR FILM FEST SCREENINGS

In a first-time collaboration, the Montclair Film Festival extends its reach into central New Jersey with the presentation of three new films at Red Bank’s Basie Center Cinemas.

A LITTLE PRAYER (Wednesday October 25 | 6:30PM)
Director: Angus MacLachlan
Producers: Angus MacLachlan, Lauren Vilchik, Max A. Butler
Cast: David Strathairn, Jane Levy, Celia Weston, Will Pullen, Anna Camp, Dascha Polanco
USA, 91 min

Bill (David Strathairn), a Vietnam veteran from suburban Winston-Salem, North Carolina, confronts the limits of patriarchal power while parenting his adult children, both of whom are experiencing personal difficulties. Bill’s every thought becomes consumed by worries about his children, and he continues to struggle with the heartbreak from which he so desperately wants to spare them. As Bill attempts to maintain his composure in the face of chaos, he learns how to best support them in their challenges. A LITTLE PRAYER is a moving portrait of the unexpected changes that family can inspire within us.

THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER (Thursday, October 26 | 6PM)
Director: Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal
Producers: Cristina Huete, Serge Lalou, Sophie Cabon
Cast: Jeff Goldblum
Spain/France, 103 min

In THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER, an animated hybrid of fiction and non-fiction storytelling, Jeff Goldblum plays a New York music journalist who embarks on a quest to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of a young Brazilian piano virtuoso named Tenorio Jr. A celebratory origin story of the world-renowned Latino musical movement Bossa Nova, THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER captures a fleeting time bursting with creative freedom at a turning point in Latin American history in the 60s and 70s, in the critical moment before the continent was engulfed by totalitarian regimes.

THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE (Thursday, October 26 | 8PM)
Director: Ilker Çatak
Producer: Ingo Fliess
Cast: Eva Löbau, Leonie Benesch, Leonard Stettnisch, Michael Klammer, Kathriin Wehlisch
Germany, 98 min

THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE is director İlker Çatak riveting work about school as a microcosm of society. Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is a dedicated, idealistic young teacher in her first job at a German middle school. Her relaxed rapport with her seventh-grade students is put under stress when a series of thefts occur at the school, and a staff investigation leads to accusations and mistrust among outraged parents, opinionated colleagues, and angry students. Caught in the middle of these complex dynamics, Carla tries to mediate—but the more she tries, the more desperate her position becomes.

Tickets, priced at $12.50, with a limited number of $30 combo passes also available, are on sale via the link below.