Montclair Storyteller Series Lineup Includes Aaron Sorkin, Stephen Colbert; Middleburg To Open With ‘Nomadland’; Red Sea Lab Projects Picked – Festival Briefs
The Trial of the Chicago 7 writer-director Aaron Sorkin, Stephen Colbert, Sienna Miller, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lee Isaac Chung have been set for Montclair Film Festival‘s first Storyteller Series during the virtual fest, set to run October 16-25 in Montclair, NJ. All events will will streamed on the Montclair’s Virtual Cinema platform.
The “2020 Filmmaker Tribute to Aaron Sorkin” will be available as of October 17 and will be moderated by Colbert, who will also be the subject of a live read of his 1998 pilot script Sometimes Live, a comedy set behind the scenes at a fictional variety show.
The fest will also have conversations with Miller, whose Lionsgate pic Wander Darkly screens in the lineup; Ben-Adir, whose Regina King-directed One Night in Miami is the closing-night film; and Chung, whose Minari is the the Virtual Centerpiece.
The full 2020 Montclair lineup will be announced October 2.
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The Middleburg Film Festival will open October 15 with Chloé Zhao’s Venice and Toronto winner Nomadland, which will kick off the event’s eighth edition that will be a hybrid of in-person and virtual screenings and panels. Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari will be the fest’s Centerpiece film, with Idris Elba-starrer Concrete Cowboy and Regina King’s One Night in Miami the Friday Spotlight and Saturday Spotlight movies, respectively.
Most films in the lineup will screen virtually, with select pics programmed for outdoor and drive-in screenings in Northern Virginia’s wine country about an hour from Washington, DC.
“We’re delighted to present such a wide range of perspectives and experiences in this year’s lineup,” said MFF founder and board chair Sheila C. Johnson. “Films are a powerful way to increase our understanding of one another and encourage dialogue especially during this fraught and divisive time.”
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The Red Sea International Film Festival has chose 12 projects for its first edition of the Red Sea Lodge: Script & Feature lab, with winners of two $500,000 production grants also unveiled: Hind Alfahhad’s Sharshaf for a Saudi project and Mohammad Hammad’s Bullets & Bread for an Arab project. A special mention went to the Saudi project Four Acts of Disruption directed by Hussam AlHulwah, which will be awarded $25,000.
Six Saudi project and six Arab projects also were selected for the lab focusing on emerging filmmakers. Each recipient will work with a mentor throughout the filmmaking process.
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