THE BOSTON INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Boston has more than enough film festivals, but none which draw national let alone international attention. Some of them, like the Boston Jewish Film Festival and the Gay and Lesbian Festival, festivals which target specific audiences, are very well done with exceptional programming. The smaller festivals, French, German, Iranian, Japanese - are well-programmed premieres of recently made films, but none have that essential 'festive"quality.
Enter the Boston International Film Festival, the youngest of the lot, but the one with the loftiest title. It needs to be seen in context
And the company it keeps is a varied one. Certainly the best is the five-year old Independent Film Festival of Boston. With well-selected films, several gala events, sold out audiences (some venues have 900 seats), and great attendance both by the filmmakers themselves and the Boston filmmaking community. It'a a mandatory schmooze-fest, which provides genuine joy in discovering new work, which between the venues themselves and the nearby cafes and bars, there's plenty of opportunity to share one's reaction. Interactivity is the key to any festival, and IFFB has plenty of it.
Next on the list is the Boston Underground Film Festival (full disclosure, I am the founder, and although I'm no longer admistratively, financially or programmitically involved, I remain as an advisor, sort of a hovering spirit or Holy Ghost, if you will) BUFF, now in its 10th year, has had an up and down history. Nevertheless, it has remained a consistent showcase for genuinely alternative visions. Provative and sometimes tastless, BUFF, now run by Anna Feder and Kevin Monahan, can cause controversy, but again, within a genuinely festive atmosphere.
Then there is the notorious Boston Film Festival, somehow surviving more than 25 years. Possibly the most loathed urban film festival in the country, it has run at the same time as the Toronto Film Festival, where everyone in the film community is in attendance; hence, no contact or interchange with the film commujnity. The filmmaking types who bother to attend, do so because they are in the Northeast for the Toronto fest, often on their way to the New York Film Festival. Most of the films already have distribution, so the nly advantage to the audience is the ability to say you've seen it first. And the distributors who allow their films to be shown, and most will appear in regular engagements within weeks) use the reviews to determine their advertising budgets. There is no effort to create a festive environment. What social events there are are by inhvition only or are too exclusive. Question and answer periods, the staple of any festival, are in the minority. I do hear however, that things are turning around. After the all time low of last year, under former Mass Film Office head Robin Dawson, who was responsibile for last year's disaster, the dates have been moved back so it doesn't start until the last weekend of Toronto, and they are pursuing some locally produced films. MILLION CALORIE MARCH, a documentary on a Woburn man's battle with obesity and his efforts to create eawareness, will have its world premiere at the Festival. The film may do more for the Festival than the Festival will do for it.
That brings us to the Boston Internatinal Film Festival, headquartered at the Boston Common Theatre. It is certainly ambitious (95 films from 24 countries, spread out over an 8 day period) And the staff is earnest. The volunteers are the most cheerful and helpful of any of the festivals. But... Has anyone associated with the festival ever been to another festival to see how things are done? There is a minimum of publicity. The program guide has no information about the director or the actors. The natinalities of the films can only be determined by recognizing the flag next to the title. When one can find a running time, one finds that the total time of the program exceeds the alloted time for showing it. On opening night, there were only 65 people in attendance in an auditoriuym that can seat 400. Maybe that was because the announced starting time was 5:45, an ok time for Sundance, where everyone is there to ingest films all day, but bad for the rest of us. Usually opening nights are among the biggest, with sponsors, filmmakers, film community types. With only 65 people there were no film types (I recognized only 2 other people), the filmmakers stayed behind in Germany. And the program started 45 minutes late, which caused some people to leave. It's also curious that the same film for Opening Night is being shown on Closing Night. It's called WHOLE TRAIN, and is about a group of punked-out, drug-driven urban types devoted to graffiti art. I've seen this kind of film before, way too many times on the indie-circuit, and it hardly warrants getting two screening, since all the rest have only one.
Many of the films are shown on weekday matinees (who's around?, and, on opening night, one of the festival staffers proudly stated they received slightly over 300 submissions, out of which whey're showing 95. Other festivals, even smaller ones, have between 400-600 ksubmissioins, and show maybe l2-20% of the films. And, much of their program is curated. Here, 5 of the 95 are made by the Festival Director himself.
At the party, there was little talk about the film.\. The Director left shortly after 10 pm. That's the only announced party until Closing Night. IFFB and BUFF has parties every night
Enter the Boston International Film Festival, the youngest of the lot, but the one with the loftiest title. It needs to be seen in context
And the company it keeps is a varied one. Certainly the best is the five-year old Independent Film Festival of Boston. With well-selected films, several gala events, sold out audiences (some venues have 900 seats), and great attendance both by the filmmakers themselves and the Boston filmmaking community. It'a a mandatory schmooze-fest, which provides genuine joy in discovering new work, which between the venues themselves and the nearby cafes and bars, there's plenty of opportunity to share one's reaction. Interactivity is the key to any festival, and IFFB has plenty of it.
Next on the list is the Boston Underground Film Festival (full disclosure, I am the founder, and although I'm no longer admistratively, financially or programmitically involved, I remain as an advisor, sort of a hovering spirit or Holy Ghost, if you will) BUFF, now in its 10th year, has had an up and down history. Nevertheless, it has remained a consistent showcase for genuinely alternative visions. Provative and sometimes tastless, BUFF, now run by Anna Feder and Kevin Monahan, can cause controversy, but again, within a genuinely festive atmosphere.
Then there is the notorious Boston Film Festival, somehow surviving more than 25 years. Possibly the most loathed urban film festival in the country, it has run at the same time as the Toronto Film Festival, where everyone in the film community is in attendance; hence, no contact or interchange with the film commujnity. The filmmaking types who bother to attend, do so because they are in the Northeast for the Toronto fest, often on their way to the New York Film Festival. Most of the films already have distribution, so the nly advantage to the audience is the ability to say you've seen it first. And the distributors who allow their films to be shown, and most will appear in regular engagements within weeks) use the reviews to determine their advertising budgets. There is no effort to create a festive environment. What social events there are are by inhvition only or are too exclusive. Question and answer periods, the staple of any festival, are in the minority. I do hear however, that things are turning around. After the all time low of last year, under former Mass Film Office head Robin Dawson, who was responsibile for last year's disaster, the dates have been moved back so it doesn't start until the last weekend of Toronto, and they are pursuing some locally produced films. MILLION CALORIE MARCH, a documentary on a Woburn man's battle with obesity and his efforts to create eawareness, will have its world premiere at the Festival. The film may do more for the Festival than the Festival will do for it.
That brings us to the Boston Internatinal Film Festival, headquartered at the Boston Common Theatre. It is certainly ambitious (95 films from 24 countries, spread out over an 8 day period) And the staff is earnest. The volunteers are the most cheerful and helpful of any of the festivals. But... Has anyone associated with the festival ever been to another festival to see how things are done? There is a minimum of publicity. The program guide has no information about the director or the actors. The natinalities of the films can only be determined by recognizing the flag next to the title. When one can find a running time, one finds that the total time of the program exceeds the alloted time for showing it. On opening night, there were only 65 people in attendance in an auditoriuym that can seat 400. Maybe that was because the announced starting time was 5:45, an ok time for Sundance, where everyone is there to ingest films all day, but bad for the rest of us. Usually opening nights are among the biggest, with sponsors, filmmakers, film community types. With only 65 people there were no film types (I recognized only 2 other people), the filmmakers stayed behind in Germany. And the program started 45 minutes late, which caused some people to leave. It's also curious that the same film for Opening Night is being shown on Closing Night. It's called WHOLE TRAIN, and is about a group of punked-out, drug-driven urban types devoted to graffiti art. I've seen this kind of film before, way too many times on the indie-circuit, and it hardly warrants getting two screening, since all the rest have only one.
Many of the films are shown on weekday matinees (who's around?, and, on opening night, one of the festival staffers proudly stated they received slightly over 300 submissions, out of which whey're showing 95. Other festivals, even smaller ones, have between 400-600 ksubmissioins, and show maybe l2-20% of the films. And, much of their program is curated. Here, 5 of the 95 are made by the Festival Director himself.
At the party, there was little talk about the film.\. The Director left shortly after 10 pm. That's the only announced party until Closing Night. IFFB and BUFF has parties every night
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