Last year we attended the Independent Film Festival of Boston for the first time and had a blast. This year’s eighth annual incarnation also promises to be a great festival with the recently announced lineup. The festival, now expanding to a full seven days featuring over 120 film screenings, runs April 21st through 28th.
“American Splendor” directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman’s new film “The Extra Man,” starring Kevin Kline (who will be present for a Q&A), Paul Dano, John C. Reilly, and Katie Holmes, will kick off the festival. Bookending the other side of the Boston fest will be James Franco’s first documentary feature “Saturday Night,” a look at the creation of a single episode of Saturday Night Live. Other highlights include Michael Winterbottom’s controversial “The Killer Inside Me” (which caused quite a stir at this year’s Sundance), Todd Solondz’ quasi-“Happiness” sequel “Life During Wartime” (which we reviewed at last year’s TIFF), Mark and Jay Duplass’ thoroughly enjoyable dysfunctional family/love triangle dramedy “Cyrus,” and Ken Loach’s soccer film “Looking for Eric” (which we saw at Cannes 2009).
The festival also boasts a handful of intriguing documentary features such as Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg’s acclaimed “Joan Rivers – A Piece of Work,” Adrian Grenier’s (“Entourage”) celebrity doc “Teenage Paparazzo,” and a sneak preview screening of Henry Corra’s “The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan,” a documentary chronicling the mysterious fate of a Vietnam soldier. Music buffs will also have much to drool over, with a Robert Patton Spruill and Geoff Edgers documentary chronicling Edgers’ quest to reunite the Kinks, “Do It Again,” Magnetic Fields and Stephin Merritt documentary “Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields” (which we weren’t too thrilled with at SXSW), Wes Orshoki and Greg Olliver’s Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmeister film”Lemmy,” and Gil Reyes’ “Searching For Elliott Smith,” featuring Gus Van Sant and Smith’s ex-girlfriend Jennifer Chiba.
The festival’s special guests will include Kevin Kline, Amber Benson (“Buffy The Vampire Slayer”), John Hawkes (“Deadwood,” “Winter’s Bone” the Sundance hit which is being shown at the fest), Todd Solondz, and others to be announced in the coming weeks. More highlights in bold below.
Narrative Features
BASS ACKWARDS, directed by Linas Philips, CAIRO TIMES, directed by Ruba Nadda, CELL 211, directed by Daniel Monzon, CRACKS, directed by Jordan Scott, CYRUS, directed by Mark and Jay Duplass, LE DONK & SCOR-ZAY-ZEE, directed by Shane Meadows, DOWN TERRACE, directed by Ben Wheatley, DRONES directed by Amber Benson and Adam Busch, THE EXTRA MAN, directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, THE FATHER OF MY CHILDREN, directed by Mia Hansen-Love, THE FREEBIE, directed by Katie Aselton, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE WEIRD, directed by Ji-Woon Kim, HARMONY AND ME, directed by Robert Byington, HIPSTERS (STILYAGI), directed by Valery Todorvskly, I AM LOVE, directed by Luca Guadagnino, THE KILLER INSIDE ME, directed by Michael Winterbottom, LIFE DURING WARTIME, directed by Todd Solondz, LOOKING FOR ERIC, directed by Ken Loach, LOVERS OF HATE, directed by Bryan Poyser, MACHOTAILDROP, directed by Corey Adams and Alex Craig, MY SUICIDE, directed by David Lee Miller, PERRIER’S BOUNTY, directed by Ian Fitzgibbon, PHILLIP THE FOSSIL, directed by Garth Donovan, PUTTY HILL, directed by Matthew Porterfield, SOLITARY MAN, directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, SOUL KITCHEN, directed by Fatih Akin, TINY FURNITURE, directed by Lena Dunham, and WINTER’S BONE, directed by Debra Granik
Documentary Features
8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION, directed by Reed Cowan and Steven Greenstreet, 9500 LIBERTY, directed by Eric Byler and Annabel Park, AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY, directed by Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas, ANNE PERRY: INTERIORS, directed by Dana Linkiewicz, BANANAS, directed by Fredrik Gertten, BEAR NATION, directed by Malcolm Ingram, BEIJING TAXI, directed by Miao Wang, CASINO JACK AND THE UNITED STATES, directed by Alex Gibney, COLONY, directed by Carter Gunn and Ross McDonnell, CONVENTION, directed by AJ Schnack, DIRTY PICTURES, directed by Etienne Sauret, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MCKINLEY NOLAN, directed by Henry Corra, DO IT AGAIN, directed by Robert Patton Spruill, THE ELEPHANT IN THE LIVING ROOM, Mike Webber, ERASING DAVID, David Bond and Melinda McDougall, FAMILY AFFAIR, directed by Chico Colvard, HIS & HERS, directed by Ken Wardrop, HOW TO FOLD A FLAG, directed by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein, I’M DANGEROUS WITH LOVE, directed by Michel Negroponte, JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: THE RADIANT CHILD, directed by Tamra Davis, JOAN RIVERS – A PIECE OF WORK, directed by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern, THE LAST SURVIVOR, directed by Michael Kleiman and Michael Pertnoy, LEMMY, directed by Wes Orshoski and Greg Olliver, LIFE 2.0, directed by Jason Springarn-Koff, THE LOTTERY, directed by Madeleine Sackler, MARWENCOL, directed Jeff Malmberg, NY EXPORT: OPUS JAZZ, directed by Jody Lee Lipes, Henry Joost, Anna Farrell, and Matt Wolf, THE OATH, directed by Laura Poitras, OCTOBER COUNTRY, directed by Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE, directed by Stefanie Brockhaus and Andy Wolff, ORGASM INC., directed by Liz Canner, THE PARKING LOT MOVIE, directed by Meghan Eckman, PELADA, directed by Luke Boughen, Rebekah Fergusson, Gwendolyn Oxenham, and Ryan White, SATURDAY NIGHT, directed by James Franco, SEARCHING FOR ELLIOTT SMITH, directed by Gil Reyes, SECRETS OF THE TRIBE, directed by Jose Padilha, STRANGE POWERS: STEPHIN MERRITT AND THE MAGNETIC FIELDS, directed by Kerthy Fix and Gail O’Hara, TAQWACORE, directed by Omar Majeed, TEENAGE PAPARAZZO, directed by Adrien Grenier, WAR DON DON, directed by Rebecca Richman Cohen.
You can view the full list of films, including shorts, with descriptions at IFFBoston’s website. For those New Englanders hoping to check out some Sundance and SXSW fare, the festival running April 21-28 is a great opportunity.
