Even amid the ongoing actors strike — which keeps SAG-AFTRA members from promoting their films — the Montclair Film Festival goes on.

Over nine days this month, the North Jersey festival will celebrate cinema with a slate of events and screenings that includes some of the year’s most talked-about films. Audiences will hear from big-name directors, and get a look at some lesser-known, independent, documentary and local works.

Tom Hall, co-head and artistic director of the festival, said organizers “look all year long at movies that may have slipped under the radar” and zero in on “new voices, new filmmakers and new ideas.” The goal, he said, is to make the Montclair Film Festival event a “festival of discovery.”

Among the films featured this year is “Dream Scenario,” which kicks off the festival on opening night, Oct. 20. It’s a buzzy film that stars Nicholas Cage as an introverted professor who wakes up one day to realize he’s begun appearing in other peoples’ dreams. Following the screening, writer-director Kristoffer Borgli will take questions.

Hall said Q&A sessions are an integral part of the festival, an “incredibly important in building a cinema-going culture in our community.”

Other highlights of this year’s festival include a behind-the-scenes look at the prestigious Chopin Piano Competition, a profile of composer and musician Jon Batiste and director Todd Haynes’ film “May December,” starring Julianne Moore and Nathalie Portman.

The biggest draw may be the conversation between "Late Show" host Stephen Colbert and legendary director Martin Scorsese on Oct. 27. Colbert will also present Scorsese with the 2023 “Filmmaker Tribute” award.

“Honestly, it’s a dream come true to be able to host an artist of his stature at our festival,” Hall said.

Scorsese’s latest film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and has already sparked a flurry of whispers about award possibilities.

Colbert will also moderate a panel exploring what the emergence of generative AI means for creative work in the film industry. He is no stranger to the Montclair Film Festival — or the community that surrounds it. He’s hosted events in previous years and his wife, Evelyn McGee Colbert, is the festival’s board president. The couple moved to Montclair in the 1990s.

This past summer’s “Barbenheimer” phenomena — the pairing of the blockbuster films “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — gave audiences a reason to pass up the comfort of their living rooms and head out to theaters. But in a letter to festival-goers, McGee Colbert acknowledged the unprecedented shifts happening in film and television, saying attendance had been “impacted by changes to both moviegoing habits and film exhibition.” People are more discerning about what film’s they’ll come out to see, she said, and more and more audiences are choosing to stream movies at home.

She said the onus is therefore on filmmakers and promoters to “be a little bit more direct” about why moviegoers should come out to the theater to see a film.

Much of Hollywood had been on strike in the runup to this year’s festival. The Writers Guild of America strike is over — which frees up writer-directors to take part in film promotions — but the SAG-AFTRA actors strike continues. Hall said MFF organizers “absolutely respect SAG-AFTRA’s position,” and hopes this year’s presentation both celebrates film while demonstrating that respect.

This year, as in years past, a large part of the draw of the MFF has been the way the organization highlights local filmmakers and more generally brings New Jerseyans together in celebration of film. The festival includes a New Jersey Films juried competition, highlighting non-fiction filmmaking from Garden State artists, as well as a New Jersey Shorts competition.

The closing film, Eileen — shown Sunday, Oct. 29 at the Montclair Montclair Kimberley Academy Upper School — has local ties as well. Set in 1964 and filmed in New Jersey, it features Thomasin McKenzie as Eileen, a young secretary. She becomes enchanted by juvenile detention center counselor Rebecca (Anne Hathaway) — who’s harboring a dark secret (Hathaway grew up in nearby Millburn and is an alumna of the nearby Paper Mill Playhouse).

McGee Colbert highlighted several receptions and credited the festival itself with energizing the local businesses.

“It really makes the town come alive,” she said.

The Montclair Film Festival runs Oct. 20 to 29, 2023 in Montclair. New Jersey. Tickets and information about the week’s events are available at montclairfilm.org.