When the Boston Film Festival debuts on Thursday, September 9 (the same day as the Toronto International Film Festival wouldn’t you know) it will be a trimmed down, scaled back version. This year’s Boston Film Festival runs only 5 days as opposed to last year’s 10 day event. The Boston Film Festival has always been a disappointment to Chlotrudis members, who would much rather take the trip north to Toronto then see the limp mix of mainstream fare and uninspired indie films that the Boston Film Festival usually screens. That could possibly change in the future. (Not the going to Toronto part, but the lackluster Boston part!)
Robin Dawson, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Film Bureau, took over as Executive Director this year. She’s planning some big changes, including an expansion back to 7 days next year. In a recent Boston Globe article Dawson said, “”You need a full year of fund-raising to produce the type of festival that this board wants to put forth.”
Boston has long needed a world-class film festival. The Boston Film Festival never really lived up to that expectation. Fortunately, many niche film festivals more than made up for the lack. Events such as the Boston Jewish Film Festival, The Boston International Festival of Women’s Film, The Roxbury Film Festival, The Boston Latino Film Festival, The French Film Festival and more, provide a plethora of film opportunities for the cinephile. Then three years ago, a young upstart crashed on the scene and has taken Boston by storm. The Independent Film Festival of Boston has quickly risen to dominate the local film festival landscape, and is positioning itself to become that world-class film festival in Boston.
Whether Dawson can nurse the Boston Film Festival back to some semblance of life remains to be seen, but fortunatley, there’s room enough in this town for all.