Wellmont Theatre

The story

A Palme d'Or-winning director once ran the projector here as a high school kid in the 1980s. The Wellmont opened in 1922 for live entertainment, switched to movies in 1929, and Sean Baker threaded film through its booth somewhere in between those eras and this one. A $3 million renovation in 2008 rewired and replumbed the place, and by 2013 it was hosting Steely Dan, B.B. King, and Ms. Lauryn Hill. Now it anchors the Montclair Film Festival each year — a room that keeps finding new reasons to matter.