Thom Powers, one of the co-founders of the Montclair Film Festival, will speak about his new book, Mondo Documentary, which traces his 20 years of experience in documentary programming and his perspectives on more than 350 films that he has presented to audiences.

Thom will be joined by Documentary Filmmakers Kahane Corn Cooperman (CREEDE U.S.A.), Carla Gutierrez (FRIDA), and Nanfu Wang (ONE CHILD NATION).

Copies of Thom’s book, Mondo Documentary, will be available to purchase at the event.

Kahane Corn Cooperman is an Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker and Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer, director, and showrunner. She is known for her focus on emotional, intimate, powerful storytelling and has made films on subjects as wide-ranging as mental health, civility’s role in democracy, life with autism, and ice sculpting. Select credits include Creede U.S.A., the Academy Award-nominated Joe’s Violin, The Antidote, The Me You Can’t See, the New Yorker Presents, and Making Dazed. Kahane’s work has premiered at festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, HotDocs, DocNYC, and IDFA and can be seen on PBS, HBO, AppleTV+, and Amazon. Kahane started out answering phones at the renowned Maysles Films and was a longtime co-executive producer of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart along the way.

Carla Gutiérrez is an Emmy-winning and Eddie nominated documentary filmmaker.  Her directorial debut FRIDA, about iconic Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, premiered at Sundance 2024 where it won the prestigious Best Editing award.  FRIDA was shortlisted for the Academy Awards, received nominations for the Critic’s Choice, IDA, Cinema Eye and NAACP awards and won an Emmy for Best Director for Outstanding Non Fiction Film. FRIDA is an Amazon MGM Studios original and it’s currently streaming on Prime Video.

Carla‘s work as an editor includes the Oscar nominated films RBG (Sundance, CNN Films), about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and LA CORONA (Sundance, HBO), about a beauty pageant in the largest female prison in Colombia. She edited JULIA, about renowned chef, and television personality Julia Child (Telluride, TIFF, CNN Films); and PRAY AWAY (Tribeca, Telluride, Netflix Original). Carla‘s work has received awards at Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, Outfest, the Critic’s Choice Awards, the National Board of Review Awards and the DuPont Columbia Awards.

Carla has been a creative adviser for the Sundance Edit Lab, and a mentor for the Firelight Producers’ Lab, The Karen Schmeer Diversity Program, and the Tribeca Film Fellows program. Carla is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures and the American Cinema Editors. She received a Masters in Documentary Film from Stanford University.

Nanfu Wang is an acclaimed filmmaker and a recipient of the MacArthur “Genius Grant,” celebrated for her bold documentaries that examine the tension between state power and individual freedom.
Her films have been three times shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Her works include Hooligan Sparrow (Sundance 2016), I Am Another You (SXSW 2017, Special Jury Prize winner), One Child Nation (Sundance 2019, Grand Jury Prize winner, Amazon Studios), and In the Same Breath (Sundance 2021, HBO).

In 2022, Wang directed and executive produced the HBO documentary series Mind Over Murder. Her latest feature, Night is Not Eternal (HBO, 2024), continues her exploration of urgent social issues through a deeply personal lens.