Sunday, September 16, 2007

Boston has a Film Festival?!!?

Friday marked the first day of the 23rd Annual Boston Film Festival. It runs for the rest of the week until the 21st at the Boston Common AMC Loews Theater.

First off, I must not be that versed in film festival knowledge. Sure, I know about Venice, Cannes and Sundance, but Boston? For 23 years!?

Regardless, according to the Boston film festival’s website, the past 22 years have premiered such gems as American Beauty, and the film Anna Paquin at a mere 13 years of age, won the academy award for best supporting actress, The Piano.

According to an article from the Boston Herald, the film festival’s executive director Robin Dawson said,

“We looked for movies and documentaries that are emotionally engaging and that dare to push the boundaries of contemporary cinema in a compelling way.”


This week, the festival will premiere over 50 full length feature films, documentaries and shorts. The shortest ones, each at a mere 5 minutes, are entitled, The Bag Lady Diaries and Massacre at Murambi.

The Massacre at Murambi, made by PBS, documents the 1994 massacre at a Rwanda technical school.

Some big Hollywood names appear in the films being showcased. My favorites include Ryan Gosling (Yum!), Dane Cook and Kevin Bacon. And, something great has happened! Freddie Prinze Jr. has perhaps revived his career! Hopefully something like that can happen for his wife, Sarah Michelle Gellar too. Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2 were such bad ideas that they need a revival to save them forever! Prinze stars in the film, New York City Serenade and it premieres this Thursday. The film also features another teen heartthrob from the late 90s, Chris Klein. Perhaps this will be their big break back into Hollywood? We shall see…


According to the Internet Movie Database, (my all time favorite website, which I will be referencing a lot!) the movie follows two down and out friends from childhood. One, an aspiring film maker who breaks up with his fiancĂ©, invites the other a long with him to a film festival and I’m sure a raucous time occurs through out the plot. Sounds like it could be worth 95 minutes of my time.

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