Obviously the city of Boston has had a pretty rough and weird month. But the city’s never been one to sit back and take all the horrible things life has to offer without fighting back and carrying on. Boston is tough and so is the Independent Film Festival of Boston, which kicks off Wednesday, April 24 as planned. The fest, which runs through Tuesday, April 30, will take place all over Boston and features over 1300 film screenings, 105 films, filmmaker Q&A sessions, panel discussions, visiting filmmakers, parties and events. Not to mention the IFFBoston has been recognized as the premiere film festival of Boston.
I should be there throughout the festival and there are many films I’m excited to see. As you may have heard via the Film Threat Podcast, I’ve never attended IFFBoston but have long respected the hard-working people who run the fest, as well as their smart move of cherry picking the best films from the festival circuit and adding in some nice premieres as well. The festival should be a great chance to see some films I’ve heard great things about as well as meet filmmakers and fellow movie geeks who want to have a good time in one of America’s most awesome cities. Yeah, I’ve always wanted to go and I’m excited to finally get a chance.
Every year there are films at festivals that I really want to see and always manage to miss. For instance, on this year’s festival circuit, I’ve missed the heavily lauded films “Sightseers,” “The Spectacular Now,” Touchy Feely,” “Frances Ha” and “Computer Chess,” and they’re all playing at IFFBoston. Films I saw this year and liked such as “The East,” “Prince Avalanche” and “V/H/S/ 2” are also programmed, and I can vouch that all three are worth checking out. I think the film I‘m most excited to see is Bobcat Goldthwait’s found-footage Bigfoot movie “Willow Creek.” Yeah, Bobcat Goldthwait made a found-footage Bigfoot movie. Need I say more?
I’ll include the full list of films (shorts, features and docs!) and panels below and if you see me at the fest, be sure to say hello!
Narrative Features
BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO directed by Peter Strickland
COMPUTER CHESS directed by Andrew Bujalski
CONCUSSION directed by Stacie Passon
CRYSTAL FAIRY directed by Sebastian Silva
THE DIRTIES directed by Matt Johnson
THE EAST directed by Zal Batmanglij
EXIT ELENA directed by Nathan Silver
FRANCES HA directed by Noah Bumbauch
A HIJACKING directed by Tobias Lindholm
HOUSTON directed by Bastian Gunther
THE HUNT directed by Thomas Vinterberg
THE ICEMAN directed by Ariel Vromen
IN A WORLD… directed by Lake Bell
THE LAND OF EB directed by Andrew Williamson
THE LAST DAY OF AUGUST directed by Craig DiFolco
LAURENCE ANYWAYS directed by Xavier Dolan
LONELY BOY directed by Dale Fabrigar
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING directed by Joss Whedon
PRINCE AVALANCHE directed by David Gordon Green
SIGHTSEERS directed by Ben Wheatley
SOFT IN THE HEAD directed by Nathan Silver
SOME GIRL(S) directed by Daisy Von Scherler Mayer
THE SPECTACULAR NOW directed by James Ponsoldt
THIS IS MARTIN BONNER directed by Chad Hartigan
TOUCHY FEELY directed by Lynn Shelton
V/H/S 2 directed by Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Eduardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Huw Evans, and Jason Eisener
WASTELAND directed by Rowan Athale
WILLOW CREEK directed by Bobcat GoldthwaitDocumentary Features
12 O’CLOCK BOYS directed by Lotfy Nathan
THE ACT OF KILLING directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME directed by Victor Buhler
BEFORE YOU KNOW IT… directed by PJ Raval
BEST KEPT SECRET directed by Samantha Buck
BLACKFISH directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite
BLOOD BROTHER directed by Steve Hoover
CASTING BY directed by Tom Donahue
THE DEFECTOR: ESCAPE FROM NORTH KOREA directed by Ann Shin
DIRTY WARS directed by Richard Rowley
DOWNLOADED directed by Alex Winter
THE ELDERS directed by Nathaniel Hansen
THE FINAL MEMBER directed by Jonah Bekhor & Zach Math
FUTURE MY LOVE directed by Maja Borg
THE GARDEN OF EDEN directed by Ran Tal
THE GENIUS OF MARIAN directed by Banker White & Anna Fitch
GIDEON’S ARMY directed by Dawn Porter
GOLD FEVER directed by JT Haines, Tommy Haines, & Andrew Sherburne
GOOD ‘OL FREDA directed by Ryan White & Jessica Lawson
GORE VIDAL: THE UNITED STATES OF AMNESIA directed by Nicholas Wrathall
HERE ONE DAY directed by Kathy Leichter
MUSCLE SHOALS directed by Greg Camalier
NARCO CULTURA directed by Shaul Schwarz
NIGHT LABOR directed by David Redmon
OUR NIXON directed by Penny Lane
OXYANA directed by Sean Dunne
PERSISTENCE OF VISION directed by Kevin Schreck
THE PLEASURES OF BEING OUT OF STEP directed by David Lewis
THE PUNK SINGER directed by Sini Anderson
REMOTE AREA MEDICAL directed by Farihah Zaman & Jeff Reichert
REWIND THIS! directed by Josh Johnson
SECUNDARIA directed by Mary Jane Doherty
STORIES WE TELL directed by Sarah Polley
SUITCASE OF LOVE AND SHAME directed by Jane Gillooly
TINY: A STORY ABOUT LIVING SMALL directed by Merete Mueller & Christopher Smith
TOKYO WAKA: A CITY POEM directed by John Haptas & Kristine Samuelson
TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM directed by Morgan NevilleShort Films
AFTER YOU directed by Damien O’Connor
THE ATTENDANT directed by Ian Beattie
BEN: IN THE MIND’S EYE directed by Iva Radivojevic
BETTER PEOPLE directed by Mark O’Brien
THE BIRDMAN directed by Jessie Auritt
BLACK METAL directed by Kat Candler
DEAR VALUED GUESTS directed by Jarred Alterman
DIE LIKE AN EGYPTIAN directed by Matt Mamula
THE END OF THE COUNTER directed by Laura McGann
FERAL directed by Dan Sousa
THE GAMBLING MAN directed by Aron Gaudet
GOLD PARTY directed by Nellie Kluz
HOME directed by Aoife Kelleher
INSTALL: LIGHT, SOUND, & CRAIG COLORUSSO directed by Kevin Belli
IRISH FOLK FURNITURE directed by Tony Donoghue
JESUS FISH directed by Bryce James McGuire
THE LAST ICE MERCHANT directed by Sandy Patch
MAGNESIUM directed by Sam De Jong
MARCEL, KING OF TERVUREN directed by Tom Schroeder
OH WILLY… directed by Marc James Roels & Emma De Swaef
PARADISE directed by Nadav Kurtz
POUTERS directed by Paul Fegan
THE PROFESSOR directed by Alison Maclean
THE RANCHER directed by Kelly Lynn Sears
REBORNING directed by Helen Hood Scheer & Yael Bridge
REINDEER directed by Eva Weber
SEE THE DIRT directed by Chelsea Hernandez & Erik Mauck
SKIN directed by Jordana Spiro
SLOMO directed by Josh Izenberg
SOCIAL BUTTERLFY directed by Lauren Wolkenstein
A STORY OF THE MODLINS directed by Sergio Oksman
TRACK BY TRACK directed by Anna Moot-Levin
TWO HEARTS directed by Darren Thornton
TWO WHEELS, GOOD directed by Barry Gene Murphy
VLADMIR PUTIN IN DEEP CONCENTRATION directed by Dana O’Keefe & Sasha Kliment
WE WILL LIVE AGAIN directed by Josh Koury & Myles Kane
WHEN THE ZOMBIES COME directed by Jon Hurst
WORLD FAIR directed by Amanda MurrayPanels include Meet The Insiders: Film Distribution featuring David Laub of Oscilloscope Laboratories, Matt Grady of Factory 25, and Jonthan Marlow of Fandor; The Art of Documentary Editing: Case Studies featuring Francisco Bello (OUR NIXON and BEST KEPT SECRET) and Pola Rapaport (HERE ONE DAY); and The Art & Politics of End Credits featuring Matthew Miller (THE DIRTIES), Tom Donahue (CASTING BY) and Danielle DiGiacomo (BEST KEPT SECRET).
Additional information about the festival is available at http://www.iffboston.org.
