The 2004 Independent Film Festival of Boston does not look to be suffering from a sophomore slump, at least not in terms of programming and the special guests they have lined up. And that is a good thing what with The New England Film & Video Festival having moved to the fall and the Boston Women's Film Festival taking a year off.
In 2003 the IFFB was voted "one of the best five film series in Boston" by the Boston Society of Film Critics in their first year and was the only film festival on that list. So when the 2003 festival ended, Executive Director Jason Redmond, Program Director Adam Roffman, and the rest of the core staff got to work planning year two of the festival immediately. From the early reports of what will be going on at the festival it seems that their hard work has paid off.
Scheduled April 29 - May 2 at the Brattle Theatre, The Coolidge Corner Theatre, and the Somerville Theater, the festival kicks off with the East Coast premiere of RICK, a dark dramatic modernization of the opera "Rigoletto" starring Bill Pullman (LOST HIGHWAY), Aaron Stanford (TADPOLE), and Dylan Baker (HAPPINESS,) and directed by Curtiss Clayton. Set in the corporate world of today, RICK shows the worst side of its characters personalities and the consequences of bad behavior. Star Bill Pullman and Director Curtiss Clayton will be appearing at the Somerville Theater for the opening night event's post-screening Q&A. The documentary category was highly praised in the 2003 version of the festival, but this year they have out done themselves. First among the highlights is DIG!, the Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize winner that follows rival bands The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre over a period of seven years. Director Ondi Timoner will be attending the festival with the most entertaining member of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Joel Gion. This film is set to go down as one of the truly great rock films of all time. Also in the documentary slate is the multiple award-winning THE CORPORATION directed by Mark Achbar. After having highly successful screenings in Cannes, Toronto, and Sundance this chronicle and condemnation of
Among locally made films are Gary Henoch's THE PUPPETEER, and Shandor Garrison's FREEBOX. THE PUPPETEER documents the art and work of street puppeteer Igor Fokin who used to be a fixture in Harvard Square on the corner of Mass Ave and Brattle until he had a sudden heart attack. A gold statue of one of his puppets sits atop a small stone column near where he used to perform and until now that was what most had to remember this charming man's work by. Part of the proceeds of the screenings of THE PUPPETEER at the Brattle will go to the family of Igor Fokin.
In FREEBOX an HIV+ teen strikes out at a bullying student. Directed by Shandor Garrison, winner of awards at almost every regional festival in the last three years, this is the most moving short film to be made in New England since Ellie Lee's DOG DAYS. With a beautiful original score by the Alloy Orchestra and a strong performance by young newcomer Adam Soto, this is one film not to be missed.
Bob Odenkirk (MR.SHOW) returns to the IFFB for a second year in a row after his sold-out screenings of MELVIN GOES TO DINNER last year nabbed him an audience award. This year's entry is the hilarious parody of film festivals called THE FRANK INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL starring Mike White (SCHOOL OF ROCK), Bob Odenkirk, Michael Blieden (MELVIN GOES TO DINNER), and Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live). Armisen will be at the Sunday screening of the film to talk about playing the title character in this dead-on mockumentary.
Other highlights of the festival include:
THE BARONESS AND THE PIG, starring Patricia Clarkson, the world premiere
of GOODNIGHT JOSEPH PARKER starring Paul Sorvino (GOODFELLAS), Debi Mazar (JUNGLE FEVER), and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith.
THIS VERY MOMENT, a chilling drama from Germany loosely based on Grimm's fairy tale Hansel and Gretel - TARNATION, a film made up of old super-8 footage, home movies, and answering machine messages and edited completely on Apple iMovie for a total cost of $214. The film is so highly regarded that John Cameron Mitchell and Gus Van Sant put their names on the film as Executive Producers after the fact, MRS. MEITLEMEIHR, a dark comedy starring Udo Kier (SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE) as Adolf Hitler on the day he supposedly died, THE MESMERIST, experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison's (DECASIA) new take on a classic film - WORD WARS follows the bizarre world of competitive Scrabble, GOWANUS, BROOKLYN, the return of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, whose last film, HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN? was one of the great discoveries of the 2003 festival.
There are somewhere in the range of 45 films planned for the 2004 festival and each one of them is worth seeing. In addition to the screenings, the festival will include "A Conversation With John Cameron Mitchell", a talk with the writer/director/star of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH conducted by Wesley Morris of the Boston Globe. Another highlight of the festival is the midnight event at the Brattle on Saturday May 1st, "An Evening With John Waters," Over the course of 90-minutes, Waters, the director of such cult classics as HAIRSPRAY, PINK FLAMINGOS, and PECKER will talk about his life in film and his new film, A DIRTY SHAME, which stars Johnny Knoxville and Selma Blair. With all of this and more it is easy to see that the Independent Film Festival of Boston is destined to be a very important stop on the festival circuit for filmmakers the world round for years to come. Festival Passes go on sale on the festival website April 1st at www.iffboston.org.