Metro Boston’s largest all-documentary festival, the 10th annual Salem Film Fest, swings into a crazy weekend of great films of all shapes and sizes for your filmgoing pleasure. Films to enlighten and inform, films that will make you see the world from the subject’s point of view. They may make you laugh or cry, make you angry or overjoyed, make things clearer or muddier in the world view, but they will DEFINITELY NOT be boring!
Saturday is filled with a variety of diverse films for you to check out and make the difficult decisions of which films you want to see. I don’t envy you your choices either…:-)
As always, screenings take place at CinemaSalem and the Morse Auditorium at Peabody Essex Museum, with select screenings at the National Park Service Visitors Center. Another cool thing about SFF – all three primary venues are a stones’ throw from each other – you can easily walk between the three venues in under five minutes, which is NOT the case for some other local festivals which schedule screenings at venues that are 20 or more minutes apart, so you get stuck in traffic, or get stuck on the T, and risk missing something. With SFF, it’s just NOT possible.
Here’s Saturday’s lineup, in alphabetical order – descriptions of the films are below, and are taken directly from the SFF official website at http://salemfilmfest.com!
ALMOST SUNRISE
Two Iraq veterans suffering from PTSD and pushed to the brink of suicide trek 2,700 miles in a last ditch attempt to find the healing both so desperately seek.
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE PRESENTS OKLAHOMA CITY
A series of violent encounters between American citizens and federal law enforcement leads to the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in our nation’s history, the Murrah Building bombing. (If you missed it’s recent airing on PBS, you NEED to see this film – we’ll have a review of it on this weekend’s edition of Subject:CINEMA, available Sunday 3/5 @ 7 PM ET at http://subjectcinema.com)
THE DOC-A-CHUSETTS PITCH
Join us for a spirited discussion with local filmmakers as they pitch their upcoming documentary films to a panel of industry and media members in a competition before a live audience, in which you have a vote!
FAREWLLL FERRIS WHEEL
The U.S. Carnival industry keeps itself alive by legally recruiting 80% of its laborers from Mexico under the controversial H-2B guestworker visa.
FIRST LADY OF THE REVOLUTION
The remarkable story of Henrietta Boggs, an Alabama Southern belle who takes a life-altering journey through marriage, civil war and audacious democratic reforms to become the First Lady of Costa Rica.
FIVE MINUTE STUDENT DOCUMENTARY CONTEST
Catch a glimpse of the future of documentary filmmaking by watching the work of the best young high school documentarians in Massachusetts.
FRONTLINE PRESENTS AFTER SOLITARY VIRTUAL REALITY
FRONTLINE presents a Virtual Reality experience as they take you inside the Maine State Prison to learn what life was like in solitary confinement for former inmate Kenny Moore.
GOD KNOWS WHERE I AM
A homeless woman’s body and her diary are found in an abandoned New Hampshire farmhouse. As her identity unfolds, a system that fails to protect those who cannot protect themselves is revealed.
KARL MARX CITY
A filmmaker pulls back the iron curtain on her East German hometown to uncover the truth about her father’s suicide and his rumored Stasi (secret police) connections in a chilling look at oppression and surveillance.
LEAGUE OF EXOTIQUE DANCERS
Eight unforgettable Burlesque Hall of Fame inductees share the good, the bad and the ugly about the golden age of stripping with bawdy good humor and moving insight.
THE OTHER HALF OF THE SKY
Four powerhouse Chinese businesswomen create empires that break the economic, political and social glass ceiling erected by the patriarchal Cultural Revolution of their childhood. But at what personal cost?
SANTOALLA
A mysterious disappearance looms over a crumbling Spanish village, notorious for years of hostility between its only residents: a progressive Dutch couple and the native Rodriguez family.
STRAD STYLE
A rural Ohio dreamer with an obsession for ‘Stradivari’ and all things violin, through the magic of social-media, convinces a famous European concert violinist that he can make a copy of the most famous and valuable violin in the world. This year’s MAJOR winner at Slamdance in January; it won BOTH the Jury AND Audience award for best documentary!
WORK IN PROGRESS: MONOLOGUES IN THE ARTISTS STUDIO
An intimate journey into the world, mind and creative process of the Chilean artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz that explores the evolving art scene in New York City, where he now lives.
YARN
Knitting and crocheting are more than conventional crafts practiced by stay-at-home women. YARN introduces edgy, contemporary women whose art is revolutionizing this wooly tradition world-wide. (A personal favorite film of ours; we saw and loved it last year – so here’s your chance to love it too! You can listen to our audio review from last summer here!)
Today’s Schedule looks like this:
CINEMASALEM
Five Minute Student Documentary Context 10:00 AM
First Lady Of The Revolution 11:45 AM
Karl Marx City 2:00 PM
Farewell Ferris Wheel 4:35 PM
Strad Style 6:50 PM
League of Exotique Dancers 9:40 P<
MORSE AUDITORIUM @ PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM
The Doc-A-Chusetts Pitch 10:00 AM
Yarn 11:50 AM
Work In Progress: Monologues In The Artists Studio 1:50 PM
American Experience presents Oklahoma City 3:30 PM
The Other Half Of The Sky 6:10 PM
Almost Sunrise 8:35 PM
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE VISITORS CENTER
Frontline Presents AFter Solitary virtual Reality 10:00 AM
Santoalla 12:00 PM
God Knows Where I Am 2:30 PM
Tickets can be purchased at the Salem Film Fest website, or at CinemaSalem during regular business hours. Make sure you get your tickts early – it is not uncommon for many of the screenings, especially those held at CinemaSalem, to be SOLD OUT. Don’t wait to get your tickets until the last minute – get them as soon as you can!
Saturday Night’s After Party is being held at Salem’s legendary Sea Level Oyster Bar on Pickering Wharf. Live music, great food, fun times with filmmakers and more. Free admission, cash for all items ordered of course, running from 9 PM- Midnight.
And the weekend is only HALF OVER when today’s films are done – Sunday is another full day of great documentary entertainment, and as always, there is bound to be something for everyone’s tastes – we’ll have the complete Sunday line-up rundown tomorrow morning! BE HERE!