16th Annual Philadelphia Film Festival

Coverage by Rich Drees

     As Irv Slifkin’s book Filmadelphia clearly illustrates, the city of Philadelphia has a rich tradition of film history. (And no, we’re not throwing the book a plug because he mentions The Blob Site in its entry on The Blob.) This year’s Philadelphia Film Festival taps into that history, as well as continuing to present some of the widest variety of both foreign and American cinema being produced today.

     This year the festival debuted some new categories in addition to the several programming tracts – International Masters, World Focus, Spanish And Latin America Cinema, Cinema of the Muslim World, American Discoveries, Festival of Independents, Documentary Tradition and Danger After Dark – that make up the Fest. Asian Gangsters seems to be a breakout from the Danger After Dark programming tract, where these types of stylized and oft-times violent films were usually placed before. There also appears to be an additional emphasis on comedy this year with opening night film The Ten, closing night film Waitress and the inclusion of the new programming tract “The Language of Comedy.”

     For the film history buff, the Festival had several treats to offer, most notably its salute to Roy Disney which will include a screening of the animated classic Fantasia, a pair of rare Disney animated shorts programs and a live discussion with Disney himself, hosted by well-known film historian Leonard Maltin. Maltin will also be on hand to present a collection of rarely seen Our Gang silent shorts. The aforementioned Irv Slifkin was on hand to present a screening of the rarely seen, shot-in-Philadelphia film noir The Burglar (1957) while noted author Camille Paglia will conduct a discussion of one of her favorite films The Philadelphia Story (1940).

     Check out all of our coverage at the links below.

News

Roy Disney Talks SONG OF THE SOUTH

April 8, 2006- Walt Disney's nephew calls for release of controversial classic film from Disney's vaults.

Reviews

Day Night Day Night- A taut and harrowing look at a young woman who prepares to kill herself as a terrorist suicide bomber.

Diggers- Paul Rudd is a clam digger hitting hard times in this ensemble comedy/drama.

Exiled- Hong Kong director Johnny To's latest examination of honor and friendship among hit men.

Fracture- Anthony Hopkins stars as a man whose nearly perfect crime is only as flawed as the film's screenplay.

In The Shadow Of The Moon- A fascinating look at the Apollo lunar program told by the astronauts themselves and utilizing never-before-seen NASA archive footage.

Invisible Waves- What is the secret that forces a man to take a trip to Thailand about a decrepit old cruise ship?

The King Of Kong- A fascinating look inside the competitive and insular world of arcade games.

The Kovak Box- Timothy Hutton stars as a writer who finds himself drawn into a mystery concerning a series of mysterious suicides which runs far deeper than he imagines.

Severance- A weekend teambuilding retreat turns life and death when a group of office workers are attacked by knife-wielding maniacs in this riotous dark comedy.

Sisters- An independently-produced remake of Brian DePalma's 1973 thriller doesn't offer much new.

Swedish Auto- Lucas Haas stars as an introverted auto mechanic who gets into a relationship with a troubled young woman.

The Ten- Comic actor/director David Wain takes on the Ten Commandments with this hilarious anthology of sketches.