Look Mom, We’re In The News:
War of Independents by Peter Keough (Boston Phoenix - April 16, 2008)
Celebrities & Local Filmmakers (The TAB - April 16, 2008)
IFFBirth (The Berkeley Beacon - April 10, 2008)
IFFBoston Preview (Bostonist - April 10, 2008)
Seriously, the festival begins in one week and just to let everyone know… there is some serious panic attack happening as I type this.
I cannot believe that in 7 days our opening night film TRANSSIBERIAN will kick off the festival and that Sir Ben Kingsley will probably be gracing us with his presence. Seriously, he’s frakkin’ Gandhi… how cool is that? Plus, Brad Anderson of whom I adore… it’s going to be amazing. But it’s still just one week away.
Back to my panic-pod.
Hi again everybody,
A number of people have been asking “what filmmakers are attending the festival?”. Well, I’m here to answer that question so you can be an informed festival attendee. There will be more filmmakers and celebs confirming over the next week or so, but as of right now this is the confirmed list of attending filmmakers and actors:
34×25x36 - director Jesse Epstein in attendance
American Teen - director Nanette Burnstein in attendance
Aquarium - director Rob Meyer in attendance
Ballast - director Lance Hammer in attendance
Blood Car - director Alex Orr and actress Katie Rowlett (watch the trailer on our homepage!)
The Cake Eaters - director Mary Stuart Masterson in attendance
Crawford - director David Modigliani in attendance
Eleven Minutes - directors Michael Selditch & Rob Tate and Project Runway’s Jay McCarroll in attendance for the Monday April 28th screening only
The Execution of Solomon Harris - directors Wyatt Garfield & Ed Yonaitis in attendance
Film Makes Us Happy - director Bryan Wizemann in attendance
Frontrunner - director Virginia Williams in attendance
Frownland - director Ronnie Bronstein, lead actor Dore Mann, and actress Mary Bronstein in attendance
Glory at Sea - director Ben Zeitlin and producer Dan Janvey in attendance
Goliath - directors David & Nathan Zellner in attendance
The Greening of Southie - director Ian Cheney & producer Curt Ellis in attendance
Intimidad - directors David Redmon & Ashley Sabin in attendance
Jackson Ward - Director Matt Petock in attendance
Jump! - director Helen Hood Scheer in attendance
Kids + Money - director Lauren Greenfield in attendance
Larry (The Actor) - director Eric Poydar and producer Brett Portanova in attendance
Life.Support.Music. - director Eric Metzgar in attendance
The Linguists - director Jeremy Newberger in attendance
Lioness - directors Meg McLagan & Daria Sommers in attendance
Many More Filmmakers and Actors after the jump…
The festival draws ever nearer and we’re running around trying to get it all ready, but I wanted to tell everyone about another of my fave films at the festival this year, Alexander Voulgaris’s PINK. This film reminds me at times of Fellini, other times of Michel Gondry’s SCIENCE OF SLEEP. It is beautifully shot, has an amazing score, and has pitch-perfect performances by everyone in it. This will most likely be the only chance that you will have to see this film on the big screen in the Boston area (and maybe the only time on the East Coast) so please don’t miss this opportunity to see this great film. Both screenings are at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, one Saturday morning and the other Sunday evening. The film works well, day or night.
Hope to see you at one of the screenings.
Adam, Program Director for the festival here. This is the first of many daily spotlights that I will be writing here on the IFFBoston blog to bring attention to some film, panel discussion, or other event that should not be missed.
Every once in a while there comes a film that we know 10 minutes in is going to be a film for IFFBoston. The first time this happened was with Ondi Timoner’s DIG! in 2004. The most recent example is David and Nathan Zellner’s GOLIATH, which will screen at the Brattle and Somerville Theatres during the festival. I don’t want to give anything away about the film, but I can say that it is both hilarious and insightful, and you’ll be kicking yourself later if you don’t see this film on the big screen at the festival. If you’re a fan of either OFFICE SPACE or the Duplass Brother’s THE PUFFY CHAIR, then I think you will get into this movie. You can watch the trailer on our homepage if you scroll down through the trailers, and I suggest you do.
We are expecting one or both of the directors, who are also the stars of the film, to be in attendance to do Q&As after their screenings. Don’t miss this chance to meet two of the best up-and-coming filmmakers in the country and see a thoroughly enjoyable film. Tickets are on sale now and they are going fast.
For any of you volunteers out there, just a reminder that in the next week there are 2 options for New Volunteer Orientation meetings.
Option 1:
Date: Sunday April 13th
Time: 10:00am-11:00am
Place: The Coolidge Corner Theatre
Option 2:
Date: Thursday April 17th
Time: 7:00pm-8:00pm
Place: The Somerville Theatre (Upstairs in our Filmmakers Lounge)
If you’re a new volunteer we need you to come to one of these meetings. Please log-in to Shiftboard and RSVP for one of the dates on the Calendar.
Don’t make me hunt you down! Worse, don’t let Tania come for you. She’s small but she’s got great knowledge of torture and burping, not a pretty combo. See you there!
Hi all,
This is a historic day ladies and gentlemen. This is my first official blog post…EVER! Anyway, on to my post and posts to come, where I hope to bring a little insight into the inner workings of this film festival. So let’s start with something that often draws gasps of the open mouth variety. IFFBoston has a core staff of seven people (Adam, Brian, Christine, Dan, Nancy, Scott, and myself) who work essentially full time to put on IFFBoston as well as the monthly screening series. The surprising element is that we all have other full-time jobs. Of course we also have a tremendous support staff that comes onboard in the months leading up to the festival to coordinate parties (YES!!!), volunteers, box office operations, filmmaker travel and more. When all is said and done it takes close to 300 people to make this thing run smoothly.
So have I mastered the art of mind control so I can coax people to volunteer hundreds of hours in a given year for nothing but the promise of late nights and free Utz potato chips? Not exactly. The truth is we share a passion of sharing the works of filmmakers that move us so intensely with as many people as we can.
This year, with our new web site, we are implementing tools that allow you more access to the films, our sponsors, our staff (with this blog) and your fellow attendees. So browse the site, buy some tickets (or a pass for the marathon watchers) and come out and support this non-profit endeavor that is looking to connect a community of film-goers together.
See you in a couple weeks.
ticket sales are getting ever closer. we’re using a brand new system this year, so there’s a bit of a learning curve for us to climb. we know the wait can be a big drag, but we think it will be well worth it.
that said, we know a lot of you want to start planning your festival, so we’ve posted a pdf schedule you can download and print. we hope you’re as excited about it as we are.
Hey everyone, Dan here and while TTown (Tania, our new Volunteer Coordinator) has been away on her honeymoon I had the pleasure of finalizing all of the Volunteers for the festival this month. After much chaos, chai tea and even a crying fit or two, all 200 volunteers were plugged into their slots (wait, that sounds dirty) and notified…
Or were they? Seems like we had a couple technical glitches where some volunteers were sent the wrong information, some never received anything and some just down right had no clue what we were talking about thanks to a software snafu. While I’m a technology whore, sometimes I wish I had a chisel and a stone tablet or knew a sky writer. I curse you technology!
Regardless, notifications have been sent and if you’ve applied to volunteer but were not accepted, we’ve placed you on the Wait List and over the next two weeks we may be calling your name to be the next contestant on… you get the idea.
For those newbies, the hazing rituals have been postponed for this year but we still need for you to come to our New Volunteer Orientation! Volunteers can choose between two orientations.
The first will be Sunday, April 13th from 10:00 - 11:00am (Coolidge Corner Theatre) and the other option is Thursday, April 17th from 7:00 - 8:00pm at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square. You can log-in to Shiftboard and RSVP for the time and location that works best for you.
Back to work…
Hey everyone, intro posts are usually totally lame and this one will not be an exception…
What To Expect:
Check back for updates as well as information on the festival as we get closer to our Opening Night (think Sir Ben Kinglsey and swoon)!
