UPDATED, Oct. 29: The Arlington International Film Festival (AIFF) returns to Arlington on Thursday, Oct. 27, and continues through Sunday, Oct. 30, at the Capitol Theatre in East Arlington. Some of the Sunday, Oct. 30, programs are below.
See the complete schedule of films >>
Ticket information >>
Executive Director April Ranck said in a release that the festival is excited to be back to town after one year in Cambridge. J. Alberto Guzman and she have organized the festival since 2010.
“Our growth has been exponential, evidenced with the number and quality of film submissions received as well in audience attendance,” she said. ” Last year was a tremendous success at the Kendall Square Cinema. We are delighted to be welcomed home by the Capitol Theatre management and hope to bring along the audience we garnered in Cambridge.”
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Student award winners
Gayatri Sundar Rajan, at right, a junior at Arlington High School, is master of ceremonies for the student filmmaker’s program, set for noon Saturday, Oct. 29, at the Capitol.
The event for student filmmakers from around the globe offer opportunities to network, additional screenings and chances to win a Camera HR24 Glidecam Industries. They are from Massachusetts, New York, California, South Africa, Italy, Iran, Russia and Canada. The awards are:
Best of Festival: “Attached At the Soul”
A film about the bond between two kind souls, of different backgrounds. Beginning when they first met, their meaningful journey, and ending with their departure from this world, together. The film promotes friendship, diversity, equal rights, compassion, love and acceptance. Director, William Leon
Best Short Documentary: “Todo Tiene su Tiempo” (“Everything Has Its Time”)
A woman opens up about her struggles and how her hard work manifests into her life’s accomplishments. Michael Mahin said he chose the film as Best Short Doc for its simplicity, technical efficiency and pertinent message. In an age of growing anti-immigrant sentiment, the film acts as an important reminder that these are people, families, human beings that we’re discussing. Without pretension or artifice, “Todo tiene su Tiempo” explores what it means to make a new home in a new place with those closest to us. Director, Marylys Merida.
Best short Narrative: “Teach Me Fish”
A lonely boy obsessed with geology gets more than he asks for when he goes out on one of his daily rock hunts. Director, Asa Minter.
“It tells a cohesive visual story and is also very funny and likable,” said Kevin Wetmore. “All of the performances work well, especially that of the alien visitor. The sound production, sound editing, and music choices all work wonderfully. The cinematography is also a highlight. All the shots seem carefully composed and there is a consistent style throughout the film. Overall this film is an accomplishment to be proud of, and the filmmakers should not hesitate to create new work.”
Best Short Experimental: “I don’t Need U”
A girl who grew up without her father writes a letter about her deepest most sincere feelings about him. Director, Alyssa Peguero.
Mahin said: “With simple but elegant camerawork and effective voice-over narration, ‘I Don’t Need U’ subtly but powerfully underscores the primordial bond between parent and child – and the pain that can be caused the absence of this bond.”
Additional highlights for this year:
A Way Out (3 min)
Ayanna Marte, Director | Experimental | 2015 | Massachusetts
The way dance makes your heart go boom. boom. boom.
Breath (3 min)
Sara Test, Director | Experimental | 2015 | Massachusetts & Group POV Massachusetts.
Drowning in the stress of a busy life, in this visual poem, a girl remembers the beauty of her experiences to keep herself above water.
Colour (2 min)
Taryn Birkett, Director | Experimental |2015 | Canada
In 2015, Reel Youth and the Nia Centre partnered with filmmaker and facilitator, Ella Cooper, to create Visual Eyes. This project offered a unique, Afro-centric film and video camp for young Black women based in the Greater Toronto Area. This film is one of nine created by the young women in the program to celebrate their individual life stories and the issues most pertinent them.
Dancing Machine (3 min)
Linwood Giles III, Director | Experimental | 2016 | Massachusetts
A dancer tells his story through motion against the Boston backgrounds.
Electric Love (3 min)
Isaac Eliot, Megan Faretta, Micah Richardson, Ethan Crain and Akai Fitzpatrick, Directors | Experimental | 2016 | Massachusetts
A man has a great relationship with his IPhone. What happens when he gets too close? Students: Isaac Eliot, Megan Faretta, Micah Richardson, Ethan Crain and Akai Fitzpatrick
Fruition to Frustration (2 min)
Angaer Arop, Director | Experimental | 2015 | Canada
In 2015, Reel Youth and the Nia Centre partnered with filmmaker and facilitator, Ella Cooper, to create Visual Eyes. This project offered a unique, Afro-centric film and video camp for young Black women based in the Greater Toronto Area. This film is one of nine created by the young women in the program to celebrate their individual life stories and the issues most pertinent them.
The Great Robbing of Randall Cobb (15 min)
Lorenzo Rugerio, Director | Nar | 2016 | Massachusetts
Two high schoolers attempt to rob the school teacher’s pet when they discover he’s selling illegal substances. However, like all great heists, it does not go as planned
Livin The Lies (11 min)
Annmarie Soba | Nar | 2015b | Maysles Doc Ctr NY
An unflinching portrait of a conflicted Jamaican teenager struggling to be honest to his true identity.
Magical (8 min)
Jack Kelly, Liam Mulcahy, Lizzy Embick, Alayna D’Amico, Taryn Osborne, Directors | Nar | 2015 | Canada
When Will can’t seem to get a girlfriend, his fairy godmother decides to help. Sure enough, they get into wacky hijinks. But, when push comes to shove, can Will still manage to win the heart of Anna and keep his friendship with his fairy godmother intact?
Park Bench (3 min)
Thaisha Belis, Jack Eliot, Beatrice Jackson, Danajae Jones, Paul Vekiarides and Johnathan Yannis | Experiemntal | 2016 | Massachusetts
A man with a special gift finds a piece of himself in one the strangest places.
Students:
The Tree of Me (2 min)
Experimental | 2015 | Canada
In 2015, Reel Youth and the Nia Centre partnered with filmmaker and facilitator, Ella Cooper, to create Visual Eyes. This project offered a unique, Afro-centric film and video camp for young Black women based in the Greater Toronto Area. This film is one of nine created by the young women in the program to celebrate their individual life stories and the issues most pertinent them.
Looking Through the Lens. (3 min)
“A short but thoughtful rumination on the nature of filmmaking, delicately and poetically marrying striking imagery with effective voice-over narration,” said Kevin Wetmore.
Jury members for the contest include Mahin, writer, marketing coordinator for special events at the Arlington Center for the Arts and film critic; Wetmore, filmmakers and youth coordinator at Arlington Community Media inc; Jonathan Barbato, production manager at ACMi; and Naythen Lowe, editor and creator of the DIYDS.
The annual festival, held in Arlington, from Oct. 24 through 30, gathered a diverse group of industry professionals from all fields of the business to participate in a panel and Q&A discussions on several topics about the film, television and digital media business.
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Mt. Ida senior wins poster design for 6th film festival
Wood
Artwork by Tyler Wood, a senior in the design and digital media department at Mount Ida College, has won the 2016 Arlington International Film Festival (AIFF)poster competition.
Wood’s poster — the face of this year’s festival, the sixth annual, to be held at the Capitol Theater in October — was unveiled at an April 21 reception at Arlington Center for the Arts. He was presented with a $500 check, thanks to award sponsor Watertown Savings Bank.
“The winning poster this year displayed attention to detail, and a thoughtfully chosen palette that conveys a modern, yet earthy tone,” Jennifer Cheng DesAutels, contest judge, said in a news release.
“The text employs appropriate visual hierarchy and legibility to communicate important event details. This satisfies the most important goal of the project, i.e. the viewer doesn’t have to hunt around to figure out (a) what this poster is about and (b) how to participate. In addition, the main graphic invites the viewer to explore, with its rhythmic shapes and lines. The composition of the entire layout is balanced and implies movement.”
This year AIFF invited the students from Mount Ida College exclusively to participate in the poster competition.
Festival founder Alberto Guzman said: “We recognize all the students who submitted designs and we honor their work.” They are Alexandra Battaglia, Noel Campbell, Anthony Ricketts, Damian Santamaria, Troy Wade and Wood.
He thanked Alison Poor-Donahue, chair of Mt. Ida’s design department for her support of the partnership. He also thanked Fran Berger, Mt. Ida’s associate vice president of marketing and communications for her efforts in promoting the competition.
Judges involved were:
Cheng DesAutels, illustrator, logo designer and plein air artist;
Marc Gurton, owner of 13Forest Gallery in East Arlington, a contemporary art and craft gallery;
Stephen Jurgensmeyer, professor of strategic branding and identity systems and advanced typography;
Jeannet Leendertse, owner of jldesign and mooizeg.jkdesign, providing services to the publishing industry and those who look to publish independently;
Niloufer Moochhala, principal of Nymdesign, a multidisciplinary graphic design studio specializing in print, web and interactive media; and
Ingrid de Aguiar Sanchez, who creates prints, drawings and installations that examine cultural and linguistic hybridism as a method of adaption and survival.
At the ACA reception, Slow Boat Home entertained the guests, while Ciders of Spain and numerous Arlington restaurants catered the event.
The evening was the official launch of the 2016 festival, to be held Oct. 27-30.
The poster submissions will be on display in the Gibbs Gallery at the ACA through Friday.
Movie-Blogger.com a partnerFounded in 1899, Mount Ida College is a small, private college in Newton. Mount Ida provides career-focused programs built upon a strong foundation in the social sciences, humanities and the arts, to prepare students for success in their chosen fields of endeavor.
Festival organizers announced April 7 Movie-Blogger.com is a partner of the 2016 festival.
“Proof that AIFF is not marginalized to Arlington, Massachusetts,” a news release says, “it is receiving global market attention reinforcing its persistence to bring the best of Independent films to Arlington and the Greater Boston area.”
Public relations, communication and reaching out to community comprise the implemented offensive strategy of bringing together moviegoers, students, businesses, colleges and universities with sponsors and media to promote AIFF’s mission, “to foster appreciation for different cultures by exploring the lives of people around the globe through independent film.”
AIFF partners with artscope magazine
The Arlington International Film Festival is partnering with artscope Magazine, a New England culural publication. In its 10th year of publication, artscope aims to take art to the public and provide readers with an understanding of the process, while also reviewing local and international artists exhibiting/screening throughout the Northeast.
This announcement was published Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, and updated Oct. 29.
