A rainy September afternoon, Main Street Nantucket, 1994. Jonathan Burkhart, Jonathan Larson, Jace Alexander and Ben Stiller had all been involved in independent films, and were commiserating over how difficult it was to find distribution. Jonathan Larson suggested they should start their own film festival here on Nantucket the following October. “We decided then that it should be a writer’s festival, as writing is the thread that ties everything together,” Jonathan Burkhart remembers. It took a bit longer than a year, but the Nantucket Film Festival launched in June1996. Jonathan Larson later wrote RENT, Jace Alexander has directed and appeared in episodes of numerous television series including LAW AND ORDER, and his feature directorial debut, CARRY ME HOME, will have its world premier at this year’s festival.

The 8th Annual Nantucket Film Festival opens on Thursday, June 19th with a Russian film by writer / director Alexander Rogozhkin. THE CUCKOO is “a heartwarming uplifting love story” according to Executive Director Jill Goode. Set in the end-game of World War II, three lives, three cultures and three languages intersect in a metaphor for present day culture clashes and miscommunication.

The festival will screen 24 features and documentaries, 2 feature length shorts programs and 8 additional shorts to be shown before features.

The film most likely to resonate with the Nantucket audience is WHALE RIDER, by writer / director Niki Caro, a contemporary re-telling of a Maori legend in which a young girl must challenge her grandfather and a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.

Writer/director Catherine Hardwicke, who was awarded the dramatic directing prize at Sundance, will bring THIRTEEN to NFF8. Co-written by 13 year old Nikki Reed, THIRTEEN is a raw and revealing insight into urban adolescence in 2003, a provocative portrait of what teens today are thinking, doing, feeling, and going through.

THE BOOK OF DANNY by writer / director Adam Yaffe will have its world premiere at NFF8, and tells the comic, often poignant story of a teen stoner and his desperate attempts to forge a relationship with his deadbeat father.

In the Spotlight on New England sidebar are ASSISTED LIVING, SAME RIVER TWICE, and NOSEY PARKER.

SAME RIVER TWICE is a follow up to director Robb Moss’s 1978 documentary RIVER DOGS, wherein he revisits good friends from the 70’s who had kayaked through the Grand Canyon, mostly without clothes. We see how time has changed their lives 25 years later (IMAGINE February 2003 cover story).

A pot smoking orderly at a home for the elderly befriends a woman with Alzheimer's who believes the orderly is her son in ASSISTED LIVING, written by Elliot Greenebaum. Winner of the Slamdance feature film audience award and the jury prize, ASSISTED LIVING was filmed in an open nursing home - residents appear in the film mixed in with the actors.

In NOSEY PARKER, writer John O'Brien tells the story of a couple who move from the Connecticut suburbs to rural Vermont as they adjust to country living in this part documentary, part narrative.

Closing the festival is 28 DAYS LATER, a trashy British zombie sci-fi thriller by writer Alex Garland and director Danny Boyle (TRAINSPOTTING).

“Because there are so many festivals now, we all end up sharing many of the same films,” says Executive Director Jill Goode. “What sets this festival apart are events such as the Late Night Storytelling, and discussions like Morning Coffee With…, and In Their Shoes.” Looking for a high profile event embodying the raison d' être for the festival, the NFF8 this year presents the first staged reading of "A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES," a screenplay written by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer. It’s an adaption of the 1980 colorful classic novel by John Kennedy Toole. Reading will be Will Ferrell, Rosie Perez, Anne Meara, Paul Rudd, Cathy Moriarty, Kristin Johnson and Mos Def. Shooting will begin this fall under director David Gordon Green (GEORGE WASHINGTON).

Each year awards are given in the following categories: Best Feature and Best Short Audience Awards, and Best Writer / Director (juried by Ismail Merchant, James Ivory and Susan Stover). New this year are the Moby Dick Awards for Best Screenwriting in a Feature Film and in a Short, chosen by the festival programming staff, and the Teen’s Eyeview, an NFF Award given to the short film judged most inspiring by a jury of Nantucket High School Students.

The winner of the Screenplay Competition will receive an invitation to the Screenwriters Colony for one month in October on Nantucket, and a “first look” option by Showtime, and will be honored at a luncheon at The Wauwinet .

Teen’s Eyeview, sponsored by Eyebeam, is a seven day program running concurrent with the film festival in which students learn to write, direct, shoot and edit short films. The shorts will air on Noggin at least 200 times over the coming months.

Jace Alexander is back to host the ever popular, always sold out, Morning Coffee With…. Panelists are drawn from festival luminaries; the discussions are free form and always lively.

The hottest ticket in 2002 was the Late Night Storytelling Event, this year hosted by Alan Cumming and Rosie Perez. Several Nantucket “characters” are expected to be a part of the show.

New last year were Beach Screenings at Children's Beach, a throwback to drive-in movies, but Nantucket style - without the cars. This year's films are LONG GONE, WHALE RIDER, and the classic JAWS. Admission is free.

In Their Shoes this year: A Conversation with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. Jhabvala is the honoree for the annual NBC Screen Writer's Tribute at the Casino in Sconset, Saturday night at 6 PM. Her screenplays include SERVING PICASSO, JEFFERSON IN PARIS, THE BOSTONIANS, REMAINS OF THE DAY, and HOWARD'S END. NBC’s Brian Williams will MC with special guests at this prestigious event.

Jonathan Burkhart looks ahead: “We want the festival to have more of a year round presence, both on and off Nantucket, all to further the cause of writing. The educational side of the festival will grow.”

Why Nantucket? “Nantucket is a haven for unique characters. I’m always surprised at the people I meet on the island, their intelligence, their experiences, and their hospitality. People who come to the Nantucket Film Festival find it friendly and accessible, driven by dialog and interaction. There is no time for intimacy at other festivals. Nantucket helps us do that, and I want to make Nantucket proud of this festival.”

“The festival started out celebrating the art of screenwriting,” says Executive Director Jill Goode. “Now we want to nurture the screenwriter by providing opportunities to improve and to give their films greater exposure.”

Look for more to come from the Nantucket Film Festival.