The 6th annual Independent Film Festival of Boston takes place next
week, April 23-29, at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, the
Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, and Coolidge Corner Theatre in
Brooklne. 96 of the year's best films will be shown and approximately
100 filmmakers will be flown in to take part in the festival. There
will also be four great panel discussions and five amazing parties at
the festival this year.

Individual tickets for films are on sale now at http://
www.iffboston.org as well as individual tickets to the Sunday night
awards party.

For those of you wanting to enjoy the festival to its fullest, there
are three different pass options available this year:

FILM PASS - $180.
This pass grants priority seating access to every film in the festival.

PARTY PASS - $120.
This pass grants entry into all five parties. Each party includes
free drinks, free food, great DJs, and tons of filmmakers to chat
with. The Sunday night party also includes the IFFBoston Awards
Ceremony, a live performance by MC Frontalot, and DJing by Prince
Paul of De La Soul. That's all of that at less than $25 a party!

CHROME PASS - $300.
This pass grants access to everything. All parties, all films, all
panels. With this pass you can have your run of the festival.


Highlights at the festival this year include:

Opening Night Film: TRANSSIBERIAN, directed by Brad Anderson (SESSION
9, THE MACHINIST) and starring Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, and
Sir Ben Kingsley. Director Brad Anderson, Writer Will Conroy, and a
*very special guest* will be in attendance for the Q&A. 7:30pm at the
Somerville Theatre.

Closing Night Film: ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, directed by
Werner Herzog (GRIZZLY MAN, RESCUE DAWN). See the legenday director's
new masterpiece at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, Tuesday April 29th at
8:00pm.

TURN THE RIVER: Actor Chris Eigeman (BARCELONA, THE LAST DAYS OF
DISCO) makes his directorial debut with this intense drama starring
Famke Janssen (The X-MEN trilogy) and Rip Torn. Chris Eigeman and
Famke Janssen will be in attendance for both screenings.

THE CAKE EATERS: Actress Mary Stuart Masterson (FRIED GREEN TOMATOES,
SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL) makes her directorial debut. Stars Aaron
Stanford and Bruce Dern. Director Mary Stuart Masterson will be in
attendance for both screenings.

MY WINNIPEG: Director Guy Maddin (THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD)
will be in attendance with his new masterpiece. You don't want to
miss this one! Monday April 28th at the Coolidge Corner Theatre.

SAVAGE GRACE: Director Tom Kalin (SWOON) will be in attendance with
this bizarre true-story drama starring Julianne Moore in one of her
best performances to date.

AMERICAN TEEN: Director Nanette Burnstein (THE KID STAYS IN THE
PICTURE) comes to the festival with year's "buzz" film from Sundance.

WOODPECKER: Director Alex Karpovsky (THE HOLE STORY) returns to the
festival with this mix of fiction and documentary, and delves into
the world of birdwatchers and follows one man's quest to find the
until-recently thought to be extinct Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.
Director Alex Karpovsky will be in attendance for both screenings.

ELEVEN MINUTES: Directors Michael Selditch and Rob Tate follow
Project Runway Season One winner Jay McCarroll as he tries to live up
to the post-PR expectations as he develops his first real fashion
show. Both directors and Jay McCarroll will be in attendance for the
Monday April 28th screening.

THE GREENING OF SOUTHIE: Director Ian Cheney's documentary about the
construction of Boston's first-ever completely "green" building, from
start to finish. Director Ian Cheney will be in attendance for both
screenings.

MOMMA'S MAN: Director Azazel Jacobs (THE GOODTIMES KID) brings one of
the best reviewed films from this year's Sundance Film Festival to
IFFBoston, starring his father, legendary experimental filmmaker Ken
Jacobs.

THE NEW YEAR PARADE: Director Tom Quinn will be in attendance with
this Altmanesque film that won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008
Slamdance Film Festival.

And that's just a sampling!

There are 96 films in all to choose from so look over the website,
read up and take your time, and get your tickets soon. Things are
starting to sell out!

[READ MORE]

The Independent Film Festival of Boston is upon us, and, just like last year, their schedule is jampacked with all sorts of goodness. Here's a few titles you won't want to miss: the nerd-rap docu Nerdcore Rising, the Harry Potter fandom docu We Are Wizards, with Wizards of Warcraft docu Second Skin, the British thriller Jetsam, the mock-doc Woodpecker, the horror flick Blood Car, director Brad Anderson's Transsiberian and (definitely a Must See) My Effortless Brilliance.

Here, I'd like to draw some special attention to My Effortless Brilliance. I watched it this past weekend, and can tell you I was transfixed. It's a riveting film, and yet little happens in it. So answer me this, Batman: how is it a film can be truly riveting when there's so little dramatic action? My guess is, as viewers, we give characters we like our extra, super-scrutinizing attention. And, well... the characters in My Effortless Brilliance might be jerks, but they're certainly likeable.

So here's the set-up: in My Effortless Brilliance the camera follows a successful, self-involved thirty-something novelist, Eric (played by Sean Nelson, lead singer of Harvey Danger), attempting to repair his relationship with his best friend, Dylan, an idealistic journalist. While on a book tour for his novel ("My Effortless Brilliance" - a title that's possibly a nod to Dave Eggers' "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius"), Eric takes a side-trip to visit Dylan at his remote cabin. There they awkwardly re-connect over beers (and, just for the hell of it, while hunting a cougar). In mostly casual conversation, Eric and Dylan' egos clash over what it means to be authentic and shallow, and the different directions their careers have taken.

My Effortless Brilliance has a mublecore feeling to it, but I don't think it completely belongs to the genre, mostly because production value looks one step above. But it has that improvisational element; that sort of thoughtful hesitancy in every line Eric and Dylan deliver. It's not effortless, it's just nicely awkward and funny. All 90 minutes of it.

My Effortless Brilliance plays Thursday, April 24th at 7:30pm at the Somerville Theatre, and Saturday, April 26th at 2:45pm at the Somerville Theatre.