It’s that time of year again, folks! For the next eight weeks, film lovers in Metro Boston will be on an amazing trio, the ultimate film fan celluloid high also known as the Spring 2015 Film Festival season!
Kicking off tonight with the all-doc Salem Film Fest in Salem (of course), the next eight weeks are about to be filled with incredible films of all kinds. The nice thing about the spring festival season is that no matter where you live in MetroBoston or what kinds of films you enjoy, there’s something you will probably like not that far from you. Between now and May 11, there are EIGHT annual Festivals and regular film series to choose from. For us, it’s both a blessing and a curse – a blessing because we get to see so many great films, a curse because it’s so busy and our transportation is limited.
So here we go – here’s the lineup of festivals about to dazzle the Metro Boston Area:
March 5-12, 2015
Salem Film Fest
CinemaSalem, Peabody Essex Museum, and the Salem Visitors Center, Salem
As usual, we are on the ground for the next several days in Salem, and this year, we’re actually able to co-sponsor two films, which is fantastic. Now in it’s 8th year, this all-documentary festival always has something for everyone. Two films which screened here last year, Maidentrip and Rich Hill, made my 2014 Baker’s Dozen list.
March 19-22, 2015
Irish Film Festival
Somerville Theater, Somerville
Small, homey, and always feeling like there’s a touch of the Irish all around you, the Irish Film Festival has been home to many great films, both narratives and docs, over the years. I always keep my mouth shut at this festival, though – I don’t have the beautiful Irish brogue that many audience members have…have to keep a low profile…heh heh heh…
March 19-April 25 2015
Boston Turkish Film Festival
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Boston Turkish Film Festival is now in it’s 14th year, and runs a full weekend schedule three weekends in a row. Plus you just can’t beat the Remis Auditorium at MFA for this kind of show…it’s awesome.
March 22- May 11 2015
Belmont World Film Series
West Newton Cinema, West Newton – the film series’ usual venue, StudioCinema in Belmont, is presently closed due to technical issues
BWF runs a different film each week, alternating between Sunday and Monday evenings. They gather a unique mix of world cinema to screen and it’s always worth the wait.
March 25-29 2015
Boston Underground Film Festival
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge
If subversive, outlandish, or crazy is your thing, then BUFF is your destination – BUFF has consistently pushed the cutting edge when it comes to current cinema, and the last several years has been home to the Boston area premieres of such films as I Declare War, John Dies At The End, Big Ass Spider, The Congress, Manborg, and the critically acclaimed Blue Ruin. This year should be no exception; they are planning to announce their schedule for this year early next week (still hoping for Turbo Kid, guys..come on come through for me, ok?) . And they have the COOLEST event associated with a local film festival, hands down – Cereal And Cartoons, showcasing vintage cartoons from the past and free cold cereal on the Saturday morning of the festival…it’s awesome!
April 2-12 2015
Boston LGBT Film Festival
Bright Family Screening Room/Remis Auditorum @ MFA/Brattle Theatre
Last year was our first year being able to cover LGBT in person and they always have a terrific lineup of LGBT friendly programming. One of the BEST films we saw last year (and possibly of all time) had it’s world premiere at LGBT last year, the just-released Boy Meets Girl – trust me, keep an eye out for this film, it has Awards potential and could be a major sleeper as it spreads across the country…
April 9-19 2015
Boston International Film Festival
AMC Boston Common, Boston
BIFF is unique in the MetroBoston festival scene in that they program “series” screenings – some have a feature and a short, others all shorts, and they only show each series once during the festival.
April 22-29 2015
Independent Film Festival Of Boston
Somerville Theatre, Somerville; Brattle Theatre, Cambridge; Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline; additional venues possible
This is THE big festival in the spring, and the capper on the season – IFFB is our local version of SXSW, with amazing quality films, tons of special guests, and often some of the biggest titles from the January fest season – you can bet that if it was hot at Sundance, chances are good it will be at IFFB.
As you can see, that’s a TON of quality festivals out there…and that’s just Metro Boston proper. The spring season is also home to one other film festival that is just outside of our coverage area:
March 19-22, 2015
Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival
Chilmark Community Center, Chilmark
MV’s primary festival each year, it usually pulls in it’s share of big name titles and super guests as well.
Stay tuned to eCinemaBoston all season, as we provide extensive coverage of all the major festivals – this year, we’ll be having both blog coverage AND video coverage as well, our first year for this. And of course, the “Boston Springs A Fethival” edition of our long-running Subject:CINEMA podcast will be coming along in early May with coverage of EVERYTHING!! So don’t miss a minute of it – check eCinemaBoston regularly during Boston Springs a Fehtival season!