The Provincetown International Film Festival, scheduled for June 16-20, enters into its sixth year with another stellar line-up of films, guests and highlights. This year’s program includes fifty-eight new features (32 narratives and 26 documentaries), with 15 countries represented. The annual “Filmmaker On The Edge” award, honoring innovation in filmmaking, will go to director/writer Jim Jarmusch. His most recent release, COFFEE AND CIGARETTES, is gaining widespread critical acclaim as it opens in theatres around the nation. Jarmusch’s cinematic achievements over the past two decades also include STRANGER THAN PARADISE (1984), DOWN BY LAW (1986), MYSTERY TRAIN (1989), DEAD MAN (1995), GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI (1999). His work stands out as a pivotal achievement in the history of independent filmmaking, known for its groundbreaking innovation in storytelling and cinematic style. Previous recipients of the “Filmmaker on the Edge” award at the Provincetown International Film Festival are director Todd Haynes (2003), director Gus Van Sant (2002), producers Ted Hope and James Schamus (2001), producer Christine Vachon (2000), and filmmaker John Waters (1999).
Four festival spotlights are announced.
SAVED!, directed by Brian Dannelly, is chosen as the Opening Night Selection. The upcoming MGM-UA release features a wonderful cast including Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Heather Matarazzo, and Mary Louise Parker. An enchanting subversive comedy, the story follows a group of outcasts at The American Christian High School who find an unlikely bond while struggling with homosexuality, teen pregnancy, high school hierarchies, heavenly visions and a love for Jesus.
The Closing Night Selection is director/producer/actor Campbell Scott’s OFF THE MAP. Scott’s most recent directorial achievement is the story of a home-schooled eleven-year-old girl who lives in rural New Mexico with her eccentric, gardening-in-the-nude mother (Joan Allen) and chronically depressed father. When an IRS agent descends on the homestead in order to investigate why they haven’t paid their taxes in seven years, he discovers a family beyond convention, beyond landmarks, and truly mythical.
The Friday Night Spotlight is MARIA FULL OF GRACE, directed by Joshua Marston and starring Catalina Sandino Morena. In a performance that won the Silver Bear as “Best Actress” at the Berlin Film Festival, Morena plays a cunning and gutsy young Colombian woman who risks everything for a brighter future – by swallowing packets of cocaine as a mule in the international drug trade.
Director Angela Robinson’s film D.E.B.S. is the Saturday Night Spotlight this year. Robinson spent the last year turning this festival favorite short film into a feature-length gem — a bubbly, sexy, fun-filled send-up of secret-agent espionage movies, action thrillers, wild parties, and lesbian kitsch.
Other narrative highlights screened include a sneak of the newest Michael Cunningham adaptation, A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD, directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer and starring Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, Dallas Roberts and Sissy Spacek. The French/Italian/Spanish-produced CALLAS FOREVER, starring Fanny Ardant and directed by Franco Zeffirelli will also screen. So will the Sundance-award-winning BROTHER TO BROTHER, director Michael Burke’s THE MUDGE BOY, the stunning Mongolian feature THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL, and the Canadian-U.K. charmer TOUCH OF PINK (starring Kyle Maclaughlan as Cary Grant). Many visiting directors will be announced shortly.
Documentaries also take center stage this year, as the festival spotlights some wonderful achievements. Two films profile historian/political activist Howard Zinn, who will be on hand to make introductions. HOWARD ZINN: YOU CAN’T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN is a brilliant look into his life and work. In The Corporation, Zinn is joined by colleagues Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, and others in an amazing expose on the failed dreams of corporate America and widespread irresponsible practices. Ross McElwee’s newest personal journey, BRIGHT LEAVES, explores the relationship between the tobacco industry and his family legacy. DIG! , winner of the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, follows the paths of two promising underground bands. The festival also nods to this year’s landmark decision to sanction same-sex marriage (and what better place to celebrate than in Provincetown, Massachusetts) with timely screenings of TYING THE KNOT, a moving portrait of real-life consequences of marriage discrimination.
In addition to the Filmmaker On The Edge celebrations and multiple premieres and sneak screenings, there are many highlights announced. Special events include the second annual A Night at the Wellfleet Drive-In, featuring the 1956 Vincente Minnelli classic melodrama TEA AND SYMPATHY (hosted by special guest Emanuel Levy, author of the upcoming biography of Minnelli, Painting with Light). Also presented at the Drive-In is a late night screening of the anticipated summer release OPEN WATER, described as a cross between THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and JAWS. This year the classic Sing-a-Long film presentation at Town Hall is THE WIZARD OF OZ. The festival will tribute Filmmaker on the Edge recipient Jarmusch with the annual Award Ceremony Program featuring special guests B. Ruby Rich, John Waters, Christine Vachon and other film industry luminaries to be announced shortly. A retrospective of Jarmusch’s work is also included in the festival line-up.
Continuing for a second year is the Breakfast with… series, which will provide additional opportunities for festival-goers to dine with industry professionals who will discuss aspects of their craft. There will be four “Breakfast with…” programs, one each on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The price of admission will include a continental breakfast, and special guests and topics discussed will be announced shortly.
The well-established Youth and Diversity Film Program, which showcases films that encourage young adults to discuss the concerns of today’s world, continues for a fourth year. Featured in the program are four films. OUR HOUSE is an insightful exploration of what it means to grow up with gay or lesbian parents. Last year’s Chlotrudis nominee for Best Documentary O.T.: OUR TOWN profiles the first theatrical production in over 20 years at the Manuel Dominguez High School. DON’T WORRY, IT WILL PROBABLY PASS is an unencumbered look at three teenaged girls who respond to an ad in an Internet chat room. And, PURGATORY HOUSE, written by and starring 14-year-old Celeste Davis, is a groundbreaking film chronicling the after-life journey of a lonely teen, who has abandoned her life of turmoil in search of unconditional love. The Festival attracts attendees from local high schools and youth outreach programs. This event provides an open and safe forum for young adults to explore the messages behind the films and the feelings they evoke.
Special receptions and parties are scheduled throughout the long weekend. The Opening Night Party offers the first opportunity to meet and greet visiting filmmakers and will be hosted at the Crown & Anchor. Sponsored by Bacardi Limon, the festival kick-off features drinks, delicacies and dancing. As a special bonus, famed style queen Brini Maxwell of The Style Network will be sampling Bacardi cocktails. This year the festival adds a new festivity to the roster, the PIFF Clambake. Co-presented with sponsor Sam Adams Beer, the classic New England clambake will be catered by Sumptuous Foods and features the reggae sounds of Shango Axe and beach volleyball. That event is on Saturday, June 19 at 5:30pm at the beachfront Pied Bar. On Friday, June 18 a special Patron/Filmmaker Reception will be hosted at The Schoolhouse Gallery, and later that evening original programming screens at the HBO Video Party held at Crown and Anchor’s Wave Video Lounge. The Festival closes with a Closing Night Party hosted by the Boatslip with cuisine by Bayside Betsy’s, where the HBO Audience Choice Awards will be presented.
The line-up of films, special events, ticket information, venues, and travel/ accommodation suggestions is listed on the Festival Website at www.ptownfilmfest.org. The sixth annual Provincetown International Film Festival is made possible by the generous support of the Festival’s Presenting Sponsors including American Airlines, Bacardi Limon, HBO, Premiere Magazine, The Advocate, The Boston Phoenix, The New Art Cinemas, The Provincetown Banner, and The Provincetown Visitor Services Bureau. Funding also comes from the National Endowment of the Arts, with additional growing support from numerous community-based businesses. For more information on the Festival visit www.ptownfilmfest.org or call 508-487-FILM.
Meanwhile, many of us will be heading to sunny (we hope) Provincetown next week for the 
Once more I’m disappointed that the Harvard Square Theatre is opening a film I am interested in seeing. 
If you’ve already seen THE RETURN, you should definitely consider checking out the FREE sneak preview screening of