Eight Students and Alumni Films Featured at the Montclair Film Festival

By Bella Ingemi

Montclair State University alumni and current students, Evan Bradley (Faked), Adam Derengowski (Starcade), Alex Monastersky (Dirty Sound), Charlee Reiff (Corpus Delicti), Justin O’Donnell (Unfortunate), Karl Erikson (Disarray Days), Amelia Spitler (Ex Disposer), and Leiloni Braddy (Utica Ave) had their work featured at the ninth annual Montclair Film Festival.

The week-long ran from October 16 through October 25. The festival is known for giving recognition to filmmakers in New Jersey and around the world.

Professor Roberta Friedman, who represents Montclair State’s film program, said, “It’s exciting to have our students and alumni participate in the Montclair Film Festival. We had so many beautifully-made films to choose from, and it was a difficult task. We think that the selection gave the viewer an idea of the wide range of work our students produce.”

Monastersky is excited to have his short film, Dirty Sound featured this year at the festival. “It was great to have my short featured at the festival. My intention was to make something funny, and in the process, my friends and I had a very interesting time in the SCM Foley Room. The best part of making it was getting to show it to my parents afterwards.”

Reiff, who worked on Corpus Delicti, said “It is exciting to be a part of this celebration of art and community, especially in the face of these really distant and divisive times.”

This year, the festival looked different than past years, with drive-in and virtual options available to viewers. For more information, visit https://montclairfilm.org.