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Ava DuVernay Receives Documentary Filmmaker Award at Montclair Film Festival
Ava DuVernay is being honored tonight (Friday, October 23) at the Montclair Film Festival, where she receives the festival’s 2026 Documentary Filmmaker Award for her film 14th, this year’s Documentary Centerpiece.
The award is presented at the Montclair Kimberly Academy Upper School following a screening of the film, after which DuVernay sits down for a conversation with moderator Stephen Colbert. In announcing the honor, the festival praised DuVernay as “a storyteller whose truths transcend narrative forms.”
It is the latest major honor in a career that has repeatedly reshaped American filmmaking behind the camera: Selma, which made her the first Black woman to direct a film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture; the landmark documentary 13th; the Emmy-winning limited series When They See Us; and Origin. Through her company ARRAY, she has spent just as long building pathways for other filmmakers as she has making her own work.
The 14th Montclair Film Festival runs October 16–25 in Montclair, New Jersey, and its honors weekend continues Sunday with the Filmmaker Tribute to writer-director Tony Gilroy.
The Montclair Film Festival has named Beth de Araújo its 2026 Breakthrough Director, honoring the filmmaker on Sunday, October 18 at The Bellevue Theatre following a screening of her new film, Josephine.
In presenting the award, the festival praised de Araújo’s “compassionate and deeply felt exploration of trauma, humanity, and the responsibilities that bind us to one another” — the qualities that have marked her rise as one of the most closely watched American directors of her generation.
De Araújo first drew major attention as the writer and director of Soft & Quiet, her blistering debut feature, which premiered at SXSW and earned her a place on year-end lists and awards ballots for breakthrough filmmaking. Josephine is her second feature, and the Montclair honor — part of the festival’s annual Honors program, which this year also salutes Ava DuVernay and Tony Gilroy — confirms her standing as a director whose work travels.
The 14th Montclair Film Festival runs October 16–25 in Montclair, New Jersey.
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