Open Your Mind with a Flurry of Film Festivals
With film festivals underway this week in New York, San Fran, Washington, DC, Champaign, Illinois (“Ebertfest”) and other cities, movie-watching is definitely in the air. But, if you weren’t able to swing by these festivals, other screening opportunities are on the horizon! Why not check out some of these hidden gem film events coming soon?...
1968: An International Film Perspective, New York City, April 29 – May 14, 2008
Lincoln Center honors the 40th anniversary of the historic and tumultuous year of 1968 through features, shorts, documentaries, newsreels and panel discussions. Catch the return of “KING: A FILMED RECORD…MONTGOMERY TO MEMPHIS,” a documentary about Martin Luther King rarely seen since its first release in 1971; “DIONYSUS IN 69,” Brian De Palma’s film of a controversial and highly influential performance of The Bacchae; “A TIME TO STIR,” a work-in-progress screening of Paul Cronin’s upcoming film on the 1968 Columbia University strike, and more.
Location: Film Society at Lincoln Center, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza (at 62nd St. and Columbus), Manhattan. Click here for more details.
Rooftop Films Summer Series, New York City, June – September 2008
Warm summer nights are perfect for viewing more than 250 cutting edge new films in parks, on boats, and on rooftops in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Rooftop Films offers comedies, dramas, animation, short and feature documentaries, political films, and home movies and found footage. The series features films that take an interesting look at where and how people live through original ideas.
Location: Broooklyn and Manhattan venues. Click here for more details.
Traverse City Film Festival, July 29 - August 3, 2008
Make plans to hit this Midwest film fest in the beautiful resort region of Grand Traverse Bay in northwest Michigan. In 2005, Academy Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore founded the Traverse City Film Festival, which now offers more than 98 screenings of over 66 feature films. Catch top independent, foreign, and documentary films shown in the recently restored State Theatre, the City Opera House, the Old Town Playhouse and Lars Hockstad Auditorium. The fest also presents classic movies free of charge on a giant outdoor screen overlooking Grand Traverse Bay in the Open Space Park at dusk. And, take advantage of daily panel discussions with directors, writers, actors, and other film industry members.
In between screenings, explore the breathtaking wineries of Traverse City’s Old Mission Peninsula. Click here to read PV’s article about the vineyards.
Location: Traverse City, Michigan (250 miles northwest of Detroit) Click here for more details.
Wine Country Film Festival, July 24 - August 3, 2008
Try another spot for pairing great wine with great film -- the Wine Country Film Fest -- offering more than 100 films from around the world, plus seminars and food and wine events. Films are screened outdoors in picturesque settings, as well as in theaters in Napa and Sonoma Valleys. The fest presents features, documentaries, shorts and animation in six categories: World Cinema, Latin Cinema, U.S. Cinema, The Arts in Film, Cinema of Conscience (films on social issues) and Eco Cinema.
Location: Napa and Sonoma Valleys, California. Click here for more details.