The fourth annual Arlington International Film Festival (AIFF) — set for Wednesday, Oct. 15, through Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Regent Theatre — will take moviegoers on a cinematic journey with films from these countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, England, France, Greece, Germany, Haiti, Hawaii, India, Malta, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Syria, Taiwan, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, Venezuela, Ukraine and the United States.
Here are the festival’s jury awards:
Best of Festival
Elena
Petra Costa, Director | Brazil | 2012
The title character of Petra Costa’s poetic, intensely personal documentary essay, Elena, is her older sister, a Brazilian dancer and aspiring actress who settled in New York City and eventually committed suicide when Petra was 7.
Years later, Petra, also an aspiring actress, moves to New York to study theater at Columbia. The film explores the transcendent nature of the sisterly bond, fusing memory and mystery in a dreamlike mix of artful images and sounds, a collage of accumulated fragments from home movies, newspaper clippings, diary entries and excerpts from letters and current day images shot in Manhattan, narrated by Ms. Costa in a tone of dreamy sadness.
Best Documentary
Botso: The Teacher from Tbilisi
Tom Walters, Director | USA | 2013
Wachtang “Botso” Korisheli, musician, sculptor, and beloved teacher to generations immigrated to America with nothing but hope, fleeing his homeland, The Republic of Georgia after the execution of his father. Now he is revered as a beloved musical educator and has touched generations, inspiring some of the world’s premiere musical artists. Filmed partly in the Republic of Georgia, this documentary captures the rich culture of an ancient country that has shaped Botso’s unique way of teaching. “Botso” is truly an inspirational film!
Best Narrative
The Forgotten Kingdom
Andrew Mudge, Director | USA | 2013
Atang Mokoenya leaves the slums of Johannesburg to return to his ancestral land of Lesotho, where he must bury his estranged father in the remote, mountainous village where he was born. Stirred by memories of his youth, he falls in love with his childhood friend, Dineo, now a radiant young school teacher. Through her, Atang is drawn toward the mystical beauty and hardships of the people and land he had forgotten, and faces his own bittersweet reckoning.
Best Narrative Short
The Man Who Fed His Shadow
Mario Garefo, Director | Greece | 2012
A man intrudes upon a formal dinner party claiming that he can collect the food from their table and feed his shadow which, curiously enough, is a female figure.
Best Documentary Short
Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution
Matthew VanDyke, Director | USA | 2013
The story of the Syrian struggle for freedom as experienced by a 32 year old rebel fighter, Mowya, and a 24-year-old female journalist, Nour, in Aleppo, speaks to why the Syrian people are fighting for their freedom, told through the emotional words of two powerful characters whose lives have been turned upside down and torn apart by war.
Local filmmakers
Festival organizers have also announced the following screenings by local filmmakers:
Early Morning
Harlan Bosmajian, Director | Cambridge
Power to the Pedals
Bob Nesson, Director | Boston
Unorthodox
Anna Wexler & Nadja Oertelt, Directors | Cambridge
The AIFF is an award-winning organization with its mission being to foster appreciation for different cultures by exploring the lives of people around the globe through independent film. Last year, AIFF was feted with the following awards: the Alan McClennen Community Arts Award by the Arlington Center for the Arts, the Gold Star Award by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Person of the Year award by the Arlington Avocado blog.
Through the founding of AIFF, the mission has also focused on enriching the community and broadening the view of our world and ourselves. Utilizing the power of collaboration, AIFF has engaged and involved students, volunteers, businesses and town leaders, fellow arts organizations, and of course, filmmakers from around the world. AIFF believes that the arts are here to connect us, to communicate across boundaries, and touch our common humanity.
AIFF has offered screenings in various community settings, Boston, Winchester, Somerville, Arlington, Cambridge, Watertown, Waltham and Medford. In conjunction with the Visual Art Department of the Arlington High School AIFF brought Winfred Rembert for a five-day artist residency. AIFF has partnered with the Boston Environmental Film Festival, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Irish Film Festival and worked with the producers of Voices Across the Divide as well as the Regent Theatre.
AIFF organizers also announce the upcoming collaboration with the Boston Palestine Film Festival to co-present GIRAFFADA at the Museum of Fine Arts this coming Oct. 24 and 25.
For more information, visit www.AIFFest.org or call 857-209-1122.
This announcement was published Monday, Sept. 29, 2014.
