Misstropolis

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

IFFBoston - Five Years and Counting

by Rebecca Dorr

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Jason Redmond and Adam Roffman are trying to explain how their brainchild, the Independent Film Festival of Boston (IFFBoston), has become the beacon of the Boston film world. They’re thinking out loud, in that sort of humble, collegial way that defines them — and makes people want to hang out in their presence.

“I honestly think it was a little bit right place right time, a little bit of momentum,” says Jason, the festival’s executive director. But is it an onerous weight for them to carry on their shoulders? “I wouldn’t say it’s a weight,” says Adam, who programs the festival’s films. “I mean, it’s to our advantage. It motivates us to always take it up a few notches.”

There’s just something about the IFFBoston that has local audiences clamoring for more. Maybe it’s the lineup of thoughtful, non-formulaic films. Maybe it’s the screenings at neighborhood art house theaters. Maybe it’s the fact that everyone who works for the festival is just so darn nice.

When they got started, Jason and Adam (both in their thirties) had never run a festival before, but they followed their instincts and ended up with just the right mix of homegrown charm and top-notch international allure. “That first year we thought, ‘You know, if I was going to attend a festival, what would I want it to be like?’” says Jason. The mission became “to program films that the average moviegoer wouldn’t get a chance to see at the Loews Cineplex.”

That was 2003. Boston’s film community held its breath and waited, hoping that the IFFBoston might get folks revved up about independent film again. “Let’s face it,” the Boston Globe’s Mac Daniels wrote that year, in a tentatively positive pre-festival review, “Boston has never been known as a city that throws a killer film festival.” But all that has changed. Now celebrating its fifth anniversary, the IFFBoston is on a roll, and Boston is on the map again as a film destination. The fest still channels the kind of hip, fun, interactive environment that originally gave it such stand-alone spunk, but the number of films has swelled from 40 to 75, and the crowds just keep getting bigger; if audience numbers top last year’s records, they’ll be pushing 23,000.

Highlights of the festival’s outstanding six-day schedule include Opening Night film Fay Grim, by Hal Hartley; the New England premiere of young Canadian director Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, starring Julie Christie; and The Ten, from David Wain of Wet Hot American Summer fame.

The IFFBoston also has a knack for compiling a lineup of provocative documentary and short films, and this year is no exception: Expect to be amazed by Robinson Devor’s Zoo, a doc that stirred controversy at Sundance, and the buzz-worthy The Back of Her Head, a short from local filmmaker Josh Safdie. Audiences will also get to talk with select directors and actors in post-screening Q&A sessions, as well as at the festival’s much-beloved after-parties.

Even more amazing than the lineup, perhaps, is the fest’s dedicated, all-volunteer staff. A core of seven organizers toil year-round with Adam and Jason to make sure the festival goes off without a hitch. They juggle the work with day jobs; most say they don’t sleep much when the screenings are in full swing. But there’s no rest for the weary. Now that the IFFBoston has attracted a strong following among Boston audiences, the team is trying to build the festival’s reputation nationally. The group is also keen to give Boston some cred as a stomping ground for working filmmakers: “The festival’s trying to create more of an awareness about Boston being a great place to shoot film,” says Adam, who spends eight months of the year doing set decoration on features. “We want to make Boston not just a great film festival city but a great film city.”

The Independent Film Festival of Boston runs April 25-April 30 at the Somerville Theatre, Coolidge Corner Theatre, and Brattle Theatre. See www.iffboston.org for a full line-up and festival passes.