Continuing its tradition of featuring exciting new movies across to audiences across the city, the 31st Boston Film Festival is set to show diverse projects in five different venues this weekend. Starting tonight and running through Monday, the festival will spotlight two local features and five world premieres.
Among the talent expected to appear during the 31st Boston Film Festival are Shaun Toub, Adrian Sparks and the Medal of Honor recipients featured in the gripping new documentary, ‘No Greater Love.’ Other noted actors who will be present at the festival are Sam Trammell, Annika Noelle, Tom Beardwell, Robyn Coffin, Robert Cannon, Justin Lee and James Molinari.
The official schedule for the 31st Boston Film Festival include:
Opening Night:
Thursday, September 17
Loews Theatre Boston Common – 175 Tremont Street:
7:30pm: ‘Papa,’ drama, world premiere, 116 minutes
Director: Bob Yari
Writer: Denne Bart Petitclerc
Stars: Joely Richardson, Giovani Ribisi, Minka Kelly, James Remar, Shaun Taub, Adrian Sparks, James Molinari and Muriel Hemingway
‘Papa’ is a true story that follows journalist Ed Myers (Denne Bart Petitclerc) on his adventures to Cuba in the late 1950’s after Myers’ childhood idol, the legendary Ernest Hemingway, responds to his fan letter. Hidden away at a private estate with his wife Mary, the elusive author mentors Myers in fishing, drinking, and finding his voice, while the Cuban Revolution boils around them.P In this turbulent landscape, beholding an icon in his declining years, Myers discovers his strength, while recognizing that all of our heroes are human.
Friday, September 18
JFK Library Theatre – Columbia Point:
7:00pm: ‘All Mistakes Buried,’ drama, 84 minutes
Director: Tim McCann
Writers: Tim McCann, Shaun S. Sanghani and Sam Trammell
Stars: Vanessa Ferlito, Sam Trammell and Missy Yager
Heartbroken, drug addicted, and living in squalor, Sonny (Sam Trammell) becomes obsessed with returning a necklace to his estranged wife for their anniversary. When the necklace is stolen by a gang of criminals led by a tough small-town madam named Franki, he risks his life navigating the seedy underbelly of his Louisiana town to get it back.
9:15pm: ‘You Belong to Me: Sex, Race and Murder in the South,’ documentary, 88 minutes
Writer and Director: John Cork
A compelling documentary that revisits the 1952 murder case in which Ruby McCollum, a black woman, fatally shot a white doctor, state Senator-elect Clifford Leroy Adams in Florida. The film compiles research and interviews about the murder and subsequent court trial of Ruby McCollum in which she testified that Adams, the son of a powerful political family, had forced her into a long sexual relationship that resulted in an unwanted child, and that she shot him in self-defense. The slaying and ultimate trial stirred race relations in the southern town, and brought to light a left over legacy from the slavery era of a white man’s right to a black woman’s body, known in today’s lexicon as ‘Paramour Rights.’
Saturday, September 19
Boston Aquarium Imax Theatre – 1 Central Wharf:
6:45pm: ‘No Greater Love,’ world premiere, documentary, 94 minutes
Director: Justin Roberts
‘No Greater Love’ explores a combat deployment through the eyes of an Army chaplain, as he and his men fight their way through a hellish tour in one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan and then as they struggle to reintegrate home.
9:15pm: ‘Evan’s Crime,’ world premiere, drama, 94 minutes
Director: Sandy Tung
Stars: Douglas Smith, David Arquette and Annika Noelle
‘Evan’s Crime’ is about a college student, Evan White, who is unjustly accused of selling marijuana and cocaine and is threatened with up to 28 years in jail by an ambitious Federal prosecutor. The movie is a dramatic portrayal of the inequities of the American justice system and one young man’s struggle against it.
Sunday, September 20:
Revere Hotel, Theatre 1 – 200 Stuart Street
12:20pm – 2:15pm: Shorts Program 1
2:30pm – 4:25pm: Shorts Program 2
5:00pm: ‘Aside From That’
Writer and Director: Richard Tilkin
Star: Stephen Wright
‘Aside From That: A Film About Everyone’s Least Favorite Topic’ follows how people know that we’re going to die, and most of us are disturbed, not to say terrified, at the prospect. Haunted by existential dread, we yearn for a bit of wisdom that might ease our path through life and our passage to whatever – if anything – lies beyond. Is there, to borrow a phrase from the corporate world, a best practice for thinking about our own mortality? How should we live, knowing we are going to die? We pose these questions to random pedestrians ambushed on their lunch hour with intimate inquiries about death. Seeking expert perspective, we also probe the minds of prominent
philosophers, spiritual leaders, academics and one stand-up comic.
7:00pm: ‘We the People: The Market Basket Effect,’ Documentary
Director: Tommy Reid
Writer: Jeff Pinilla
Narrator Michael Chiklis
‘We the People: The Market Basket Effect’ tells the epic story of the wildly successful Demoulas Super Market family empire that was rapidly pushed to the brink of collapse by greedy shareholders and their representative Directors and was ultimately saved by an inspiring groundswell of employee and community support. The chain of events leading up to and including the summer of Market Basket cut to the heart of the 30 year share holder battle, held the livelihoods of 25,000 employees hanging in the balance, and effectively resolved the volatile and emotional family feud in a way that courts never could or would.
9:20pm: ‘The Life and Death of an Unhappily Married Man,’ dark comedy, 85 minutes
Writer and Director: Josh Hope
Stars: Tommy Beardmore, Rusty Schwimmer, D’arcy Fellona, Robyn Coffin, Sean Patrick Leonard and Kurt Conroyd
A man disillusioned with his failing marriage and dead end career abruptly decides to visit his past to figure out where it all went wrong.
Closing Night
Monday, September 21:
The Boston Aquarium IMAX Theatre
6:45pm: ’30-Love,’ world premiere, comedy, drama, romance, sport, 96 minutes
Writer and Director: Robert Cannon
Stars: Robert Cannon, Brenda Vaccaro, Justin Lee, Mark Gagliardi and Robert Craighead
When his wife dies giving birth to their first child, a man starts playing tennis in an effort to hold onto her memory. He neglects his newborn daughter and focuses on winning tennis tournaments. Soon, his family intervenes and they begin a tug-of-war for control of his daughter.
8:40pm: ‘Dead of winter: The Richard Donner Party,’ world premiere, drama, history, 84 minutes
Director: Douglas Glover
‘Dead of winter: The Donner Party’ tells the story of weather’s most-infamous tale. What starts as a call to the West quickly turns to a deadly journey for three families and their compatriots on a quest for the American Dream. Trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, they fall prey to sub-zero temperatures, torrential rainfalls, floods and ten foot snow drifts, and are eventually forced to turn on each other in order to survive.
The 31st Boston Film Festival is one of America’s longest-running and best-recognized celebrations of film with a rich history of premiering some of Hollywood’s most-revered films. Dedicated to supporting evolving filmmakers, the festival provides a forum in which to showcase their artistic vision. The event presents a spectrum of awards with new and unusual categories being recently added to showcase the best talent. The Mass Impact Award is given to a filmmaker whose movie illustrates a social issue that most positively affects humanity. The BFF also provides first-hand access to the filmmakers and panel discussions with the creative talent following every screening.
The presenting sponsor of the 31st Boston Film Festival is Southfield. The event’s supporting sponsors are NBC Universal, A&E and the Hollywood Reporter. Filmgoers can access the festival’s official website to purchase tickets, as well as stay updated on the latest details. Filmgoers can also find more information on the festival on its Facebook and Twitter pages.
Written by: Karen Benardello