Hey gang, IFFBoston has a table at Bazaar Bizarre this year!  We’re finally part of the coolest DIY craft affair around and while we don’t stitch much, we bitch plenty so we’ll fit right in.

Come to the BCA Cyclorama on Sunday, December 6th between 12 -7pm to check out over 100 independent artists, crafters and like minded organizations.  It’s a great way to support local artists as well as get your holiday shopping taken care of!

IFFBoston will have our usual swag for sale as well as some frakkin’ incredible limited edition items that you will not want to miss out on.  We’ll have photos, videos, chocolate, candy canes and plenty of witty banter to get you through your day.

Check us out at Booth 105 right as you walk into the choas.

For more information, visit the Bazaar Bizarre website.

Our friends at the Boston Irish Film Festival have a couple of events coming up that you should check out:

Thursday November 19th @ 7pm at the Brattle Theatre:
KISSES - A Sneak Peek Screening

KISSES, directed by Lance Daly and winner at Galway Film Fleadh for Best Irish Feature, will get general release in the USA late next year, but don’t miss the chance to see it now! Join us Thursday for a sneak peek at the Brattle Theater.

On the fringes of Dublin two kids, Kylie and Dylan, live in a suburban housing estate devoid of life, colour and the prospect of escape. Kylie lives with five other siblings and her overworked mother. Next door, Dylan lives in the shadow of an alcoholic father and the memory of an elder brother who ran away from home two years earlier. After a violent altercation with his father, Dylan runs away from home and Kylie decides to run away with him. Together they make their way to the magical night time lights of inner city Dublin, to search for Dylan’s brother in the hope of finding the possibility of a new life….

Get more info
or Buy Tickets Online

Monday, Nov. 23rd @ 7pm at the Coolidge Corner Theatre:
Blazing The Trail: The Story of the Kalem Film Company in Ireland

The Boston Irish Film Festival is proud to present this unique multimedia event that takes you back to the early 1910s when pioneering screenwriter/actress Gene Gauntier and director Sidney Olcott of the Kalem Film Company blazed a trail from New York to Killarney - and into history!

Featuring the music of pianist Peter Freisinger and vocalists Victoria Hayes & Liz Hayes, Blazing the Trail is directed Peter Flynn and produced by Dawn Morrissey.

Affectionately known as the “O’Kalems,” Gauntier, Olcott, and their crew became the first American filmmakers to shoot overseas and the first to produce films that reflected the realities of the Irish experience. A sentimental mix of rebel dramas, folk romances, and tales of exile and emigration, their films proved tremendously popular with the Irish in America and helped ease the pangs of being so far from home. Blazing the Trail presents a selection of these rarely-seen films with live musical accompaniment.

Get more info
or Buy Tickets Online

In film form, at least. After producing several studio-based records that lead some people to question if they had lost their way, R.E.M. decided to go back to their roots and workshop new material in front of a live audience.

Over five days at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, they rehearsed the songs that went on to become Accelerate, hailed as their hardest rocking record since Lifes Rich Pageant. They also played IRS-era songs they hadn’t played since the Green tour.

Portions of these performances have shown up on YouTube, but they don’t look or sound all that great. With the upcoming CD/DVD release of Olympia highlights, we’ll get to experience these amazing shows in highest quality.

We’re very excited to be showing a sneak preview of This Is Not a Show, the DVD version of the Olympia performances, on the Brattle’s big screen before it’s October 27 release. We hope to see you there.

Tickets are $7

Two IFFBoston favorites became available on dvd over the last week and we wanted you to know about them.

Alex Karpovsky’s WOODPECKER (IFFBoston 2008) is now available for purchase at http://www.carnivalesquefilms.com/Woodpecker.html , courtesy of Carnivalesque Films. WOODPECKER received lots of great reviews as it played at over 30 film festivals and is definitely a pretty unique and entertaining film, so check it out! And while you’re at the Carnivalesque site, peruse some of the other great titles they have for sale. All of their titles are worth picking up and include a number of other IFFBoston titles such as KAMP KATRINA, INVISIBLE GIRLFRIEND, and THE NEW YEAR PARADE. If you would like to rent WOODPECKER it is also available on Netflix and at various videostores. If you’re in the Boston area you can find it at Video Underground in Jamaica Plain and soon it’ll be available at Hollywood Express in Cambridge. If you can’t find it at your local videostore, request they get a copy!

Another great IFFBoston alum film now available on dvd is Jay Delaney’s fantastic documentary, NOT YOUR TYPICAL BIGFOOT MOVIE (IFFBoston 2008). You can pick this entertaining film up here: http://www.amazon.com/Not-Your-Typical-Bigfoot-Movie/dp/B002IREXBU .

And if you’re interested in picking up a copy of any other films that have played at IFFBoston over the years, you can find links to most of them on our handy IFFBoston Alumni DVD page by clicking here: http://www.iffboston.org/yearround/alumdvd.php .

If there is a title we have shown that you don’t see listed that you’ve found a link for or that you’re trying to find, let us know. Keep supporting independent film and IFFBoston’s filmmakers and start your Christmas shopping early by picking up some of these great dvds!

Two IFFBoston alums return to the area in the next two weeks for screenings of their films.

Ondi Timoner (director of IFFBoston 2004 film DIG!) returns this coming weekend with her new Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning film WE LIVE IN PUBLIC. The film will be screening at the Brattle Theatre Friday Sept.4th - Tuesday Sept.8th and director Timoner will be present for post-screening Q&As on both Friday and Saturday night. If you missed it at the festival, don’t miss this chance to see this fascinating film on the big screen. http://www.weliveinpublicthemovie.com .

Then on Friday September 11th, take the day off work and head down to the Brattle to see Alex Karpovsky’s TRUST US, THIS IS ALL MADE UP at 3pm. The film is an entertaining look into the process of the legendary improv duo of TJ Jagadowski and David Pasquesi. Director Alex Karpovsky (director of past IFFBoston hits THE HOLE STORY and WOODPECKER) will be present to provide a Q&A after the screening. http://www.trustusfilm.com .

So make sure to check out both of these films and continue the IFFBoston experience year-round. More information on both of these film’s Brattle screenings can be found at http://www.brattlefilm.org .

Congratulations to director Geralyn Pezanoski. Her fantastic documentary MINE, which screened at IFFBoston 2009, has been acquired for North American distribution by Film Movement. Film Movement plans a limited theatrical run followed by releases on DVD and VOD. In addition to playing at IFFBoston, MINE won the audience award at the prestigious South By Southwest Film Festival.

If you missed MINE at the festival, make sure to seek it out in theaters, DVD, and VOD. It is a powerful and engaging film that should be on everyone’s “must see” list.

The Independent Film Festival Boston would like to congratulate three alumni of our festival who were invited to become voting members of the Academy of Arts & Sciences (the people behind the Academy Awards) this past week. Our congratulations go out to:

- Michael Cera (actor), who attended the festival in 2006 with the short film DARLING, DARLING.
- Michael Wilkinson (Costume Designer), who served on our short film jury in 2004.
- Doug Pray (documentary filmmaker), who attended the festival in 2006 with his film INFAMY and again in 2009 with his film ART & COPY.

It was announced today that Joe Berlinger’s IFFBoston 2009 Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary CRUDE has been picked up for distribution by First Run Features. A theatrical release is scheduled for this September so if you missed it at the festival, don’t make that same mistake in September. And while you’re at it, if you haven’t seen Berlinger’s previous phenomenal work, go rent BROTHER’S KEEPER, PARADISE LOST: THE CHILD MURDERS AT ROBIN HOOD HILLS, and METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER. You won’t be sorry.

Congratulations to Joe on the award, the distribution deal, and on making another great film.

Several distribution deals were announced for IFFBoston titles during the festival last week and we’d like to congratulate these filmmakers and the distributors wise enough to pick them up.

Robert Siegel announced during his Q&A for BIG FAN (IFFBoston 2009) that his film had just been acquired by First Independent Pictures for a theatrical release set for late summer/early fall of 2009.

Andrew Bujalski’s BEESWAX (IFFBoston 2009) was picked up last weekend by the Cinema Guild and will open on August 7th at the Film Forum in New York, to be followed by a national release shortly after.

And lastly, director Jared Goodman informed us at the festival last week that ESPN had attended IFFBoston 2008 to see his documentary feature, RUMBO A LAS GRANDES LIGAS and shortly thereafter acquired the film.

So congratulations to these filmmakers for making great films and we hope everyone reading this will make sure to check out all three of these films when they play in your area. We’ll keep you updated here on other IFFBoston titles that get picked up for distribution.

The 2009 Independent Film Festival of Boston has just concluded and its time to announce all of the award winners.

Best Marketing: (TIE) SHOOTING BEAUTY and LOLLIPOP MAN
The crews of these two films worked the hardest throughout the festival to promote their films’ screening.

Another tradition at IFFBoston is that there is a filmmaker candlepin bowling challenge each year. The bowling awards went to:

BEST BOWLER: Scott Teems, THAT EVENING SUN
MOST CONGENIAL BOWLER: Tze Chun, CHILDREN OF INVENTION
BOWLS MOST LIKE A FILMMAKER: Michael Axelgaard, LOLLIPOP MAN

Congratulations to all of our award-winning filmmakers!