Montclair Film Festival to honour Gilroy, DuVernay, O'Connell and Maddow
The Montclair Film Festival will honour Rachel Maddow, Tony Gilroy, Jack O'Connell and Ava DuVernay at its 15th edition, according to Deadline.
The festival runs Oct. 16-25 in Montclair, NJ. The ten-day programme spreads screenings, conversations and prize presentations across cinemas and school venues in town.
Gilroy will receive the 2026 Filmmaker Tribute. His film Behemoth! from Searchlight will play as the closing-night screening on Sunday, Oct. 25. Stephen Colbert will moderate the post-screening Q&A with Gilroy.
Closing night is the final evening slot. It often goes to a new film with its director in the room.
O'Connell will receive the 2026 Performer Award on Oct. 19 at Montclair Kimberly Academy Upper School. He stars as Larry Lamb in Ink, Danny Boyle's film for Netflix. The tribute links the prize directly to that current screen role.
DuVernay will receive the Documentary Filmmaker Award for 14th. She will collect the award on Oct. 23 at MKA Upper School. Colbert will appear in conversation with her following the screening of 14th.
Colbert does double duty. He leads both the Gilroy Q&A and the DuVernay conversation.
Two more honours complete the slate announced so far. Beth de Araújo will receive the 2026 Breakthrough Director honour on Oct. 18 at the Bellevue Theatre, following a screening of her film Josephine. Stephen Beresford will receive the 2026 Screenwriter Award for Elsinore from Focus Features on the same day at MKA Upper School.
For fans, this means close access. Each award is paired with a screening and an on-stage talk, rather than a separate ceremony.
The edition is billed as MFF26, the 15th Annual Montclair Film Festival, according to the festival. Programming is led by Artistic Director and Co-Head Tom Hall. The festival also draws on volunteers across guest services, venue support and hospitality to run its October dates.
