IFFBoston returns April 22 with local premieres, filmmaker conversations and a closing-night film from Olivia Wilde
By Dana Barbuto/Boston Movie News
One moment still makes Brian Tamm smile.
Back in 2018, the house was packed for “Eighth Grade,” the coming-of-age film from hometown filmmaker Bo Burnham. Before the screening, Burnham told Tamm he had brought along the film’s young star, Elsie Fisher—but asked him not to introduce her yet.
“He was very clear,” Tamm recalled. “Don’t bring her out in the beginning because no one would know who she is, and it won’t mean anything.”
Two hours later, after audiences watched Fisher carry the film with awkward brilliance and aching adolescent vulnerability, she stepped onto the stage.
“You could feel it,” Tamm said. “People were just so mesmerized by her performance…they just kind of embraced her and fell in love with her on screen and wanted to share that with her when she came out.”
For Tamm, executive director of the 23rd annual Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFBoston), that moment—when a crowd shares the same moment of recognition—captures what he hopes audiences experience throughout the week.
“That is the perfect idea of what the festival should be,” he said.
Between short films, documentaries and full-length features, there are more than 90 screenings during the festival’s eight-day run from April 22-29 across three venues: the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, and the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. Many screenings will be followed by question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers and actors. Panel discussions and parties are scheduled throughout the week.
Tamm and program director Nancy Campbell said those post-film conversations become part of the experience.
“When you’re in a room, and the only light in the room is from a story that you’re all sharing,” he said, “there’s some alchemy that transforms us from strangers into an audience. And then eventually that audience turns into a community.”
Opening night sets the pace for the rest of the week, Tamm said, and choosing the right film matters.
“You want something that signals intention right away,” he said. “Something that says: this is a festival that’s alive.”
This year’s festival kicks off on Wednesday at the Somerville Theatre with the surrealist comedy “I Love Boosters,” directed by Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You”), who will join for a Q-and-A after the screening. The film follows a group of shoplifters targeting a powerful fashion house. Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle and Demi Moore star.
Headliners and highlights
Each year, programming begins with roughly 1,200 submissions, supplemented by films screened at other festivals and recommendations from distributors and filmmakers. The result is a lineup that moves between fiction and documentary, mixing established names with emerging voices.
Among the featured titles this year is “Power Ballad,” starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas, from director John Carney (“Sing Street”). Director Gregg Araki returns with “I Want Your Sex,” starring Cooper Hoffman and Olivia Wilde. Wilde’s third directorial effort, “The Invite,” starring Seth Rogen, Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz, will close the festival. “Late Fame,” featuring Willem Dafoe, Greta Lee and Jake Lacy, follows an aging poet reconnecting with younger artists. The narrative centerpiece is the heist caper “Tuner,” directed by Daniel Roher and starring Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman. The film follows a piano tuner with hypersensitive hearing and a knack for safecracking.
Leading the documentary slate is “Remake,” the latest from Cambridge filmmaker Ross McElwee (“Sherman’s March”), who will appear for a post-screening talk. In “Remake,” McElwee reflects on his relationship with his late son, using decades of home movie footage and an unfinished Hollywood effort to adapt his earlier work as a way to explore memory, filmmaking and loss.
Picks from the programmers
Ask Tamm and Campbell to name films they’re especially excited about, and the list grows quickly.
One documentary Tamm said he “hasn’t shut up about” is “First They Came for My College,” which focuses on political pressure on a Florida college. “It’s kind of blood-boiling,” he said. “It’s not like a fun watch. It’s very aggravating—but I think hopefully it’s energizing.”
Tamm also points to “School for Defectors,” a documentary from “Secret Mall Apartment” director Jeremy Workman, which tells the story of a South Korean school where all the students are North Korean defectors. “It has a really attention-grabbing log line,” he said. “But then he drills down and finds the humanity in these small stories and makes them bigger and universal.”
Another standout is “Everybody to Kenmure Street,” about neighbors in Scotland who banded together to prevent the detention of immigrants. “It’s a great example of the power of collective action,” Tamm said.
For something lighter, Tamm and Campbell recommend “The Big Cheese,” a documentary about competitive cheesemongers. “I love a movie that shows you this world that you didn’t know existed,” Campbell said. “The craziness and delightfulness of humans.”
Tamm adds another crowd-pleaser: “Cookie Queens,” which begins as a portrait of girls selling cookies but evolves into something sharper. “They do a lot of work, and they don’t get to keep the money,” he said. “There’s this issue of class consciousness kind of arising… girls figuring out how capitalism works.”
Campbell also highlighted “Carolina Caroline,” a road-trip crime film she described as “a modern kind of Bonnie-and-Clyde-ish, gun-crazy film… quite stylish and very good,” starring Samara Weaving, Kyle Gallner and Kyra Sedgwick.
Massachusetts filmmakers add some local flavor to the festival lineup. Iranian writer-director Pourya Azerbayjani Dow’s “As I Am” is a drama set in Hingham that follows two former Iran-Iraq War soldiers as they confront their past. “All My Friends,” from Spike Kittrell, tells the coming-of-age story about young creatives leaving Massachusetts for the West Coast. The documentary “Marblehead Morning: 50 Years in Harmony,” directed by Somerville musician (Robin Lane & the Chartbusters) and film critic Tim Jackson, follows New England folk duo Mason Daring and Jeanie Stahl through five decades of making music.
‘Running on fear and adrenaline’
In the final stretch leading up to Wednesday’s opening night, Tamm said he’s mostly running on “fear and adrenaline.” There are last-minute logistics to coordinate, ticket sales to monitor and occasional website glitches to troubleshoot as they come up.
“I try to have as little coffee as possible because I’m barely sleeping as it is,” Tamm said with a laugh.
While audiences experience the festival over eight days, Tamm said he and Campbell have been busy with preparations for nearly the entire year. “We’ve got 51 weeks to plan and then one week to see if the plan works,” he said.
But when the opening night crowd for “I Love Boosters” finally settles into their seats at the Somerville Theatre, Tamm said the pressure begins to ease.
“Once the first movie starts, all of a sudden I feel like there’s a weight off my shoulders,” he said. “Now you can just let go and let the tide take you.”
Go to www.iffboston.org to check out the full lineup and to buy tickets for the 23rd annual Independent Film Festival Boston.
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