AND THE WINNER IS...

I just received my credentials from the Independent Film Festival of Boston (April 25-30) and the Tribeca Film Festival (April 25-May 6, though I'll only be in New York from May 2 on) and I'm very much looking forward to both. In just five years, the IFFB has grown into a formidable showcase for indie film. Having now looked into the slate of films for this year’s festival, here is my synopsis of what to look for:

• Away from Her, d. Sarah Polley (feature)--the great Julie Christie (Dr. Zhivago, Darling, Don't Look Now, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Shampoo, Heaven Can Wait, Afterglow, etc.) plays a married Alzheimer's patient who forgets about her husband and falls in love with another man after being institutionalized)
• Brooklyn Rules, d. Michael Corrente (feature; world premiere)--longtime television writer and Emmy and WGA winner Terence Winter (The Sopranos) writes about what he knows best, the mob, and three friends who come of age alongside it in 1985 Brooklyn; with Alec Baldwin, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Scott Caan (apparently reminiscent of his dad James), and Mena Suvari
• Fay Grim, d. Hal Hartley (feature)--ten years ago, writer-director Hal Hartley won the Best Screenplay Award (and was nominated for the Palm D'Or) at Cannes for Henry Fool, starring Parker Posey and Jeff Goldblum; now, the cast is back for a sequel set in a post-9/11 world in which Goldblum's CIA agent coerces Posey's title character (the wife of fugitive Henry Fool) to head to Paris to try to locate some of her husband's notebooks that could compromise U.S. national security
• The Sensation of Sight, d. Aaron J. Wiederspahn (feature)--rookie Wiederspahn guides Oscar nominee David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck) as an English teacher experiencing a mid-life crisis who decides to start selling encyclopedias door-to-door; also features indie-staple Jane Adams (Happiness, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Little Children), who alone is usually worth the price of admission
• Zoo, d. Robinson Devor (docu)--if you thought documentaries couldn't get weirder than last year's The Bridge, which was a no-holds-barred portrait of Golden Gate Bridge jumpers, think again; Devor looks into the shocking case of Kenneth Pinyan, a Boeing engineer by day who led a secret life as a bestiality porn star by night, and who died as a result of having his colon perforated by a horse
• The Unforeseen, d. Laura Dunn (docu)--Variety has called the director's debut effort "astonishing" and "the kind of transformative viewing experience that has made the current period a golden age for nonfiction film"; produced by Terence Malick and Robert Redford, the film examines a real estate development in Barton Springs, Texas (near Austin) and the shocking implications it has had on the health and safety of the area
• The Cats of Mirikitani, d. Linda Hattendorf (docu)--the filmmaker encounters an elderly Japanese artist on the streets of New York hard at work; she returns to rescue him from the chaos of 9/11 and invites him to live with her in her home, where he begins to reveal the story of his past at a World War II era Japanese internment camp, to which he returns in the film
• The Killer Within, d. Macky Alston (docu)--fifty years ago, a Swarthmore College undergraduate who felt bullied planned a shooting spree, but managed only to kill one fellow student, who was asleep at the time of the murder; the killer, Bob Bechtel, is now a Professor of Youth Psychology at the University of Arizona who warns about the effects of bullying; his victim's brother is outraged, arguing that Bechtel was not bullied by his brother
• A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar..., d. Eric Chaikin (docu)--an examination of how different law students deal with the stress of the bar exam, the make-or-break test that they must pass in order to become a lawyer; features commentary from Alan Dershowitz, Robert Shapiro, Nancy Grace, and other prominent legal experts
• Lake of Fire, d. Tony Kaye (docu)--Tony Kaye, the director of American History X (1998), offers a graphic look at the national debate over abortion in recent years

It's too early to do a thorough preview of Tribeca, but I'm already hearing good things about a number of the films, including Numb, a dramedy starring Matthew Perry (Friends) as a chronically-depressed screenwriter. More to come as we get closer...