The Independent Film Festival of Boston is a not for profit film festival

Film festival

A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...

 in Boston, Massachusetts.

History

The Independent Film Festival of Boston (also known as IFFBoston or IFFB) was created in 2003 by the non-profit organization the Independent Film Society of Boston. The festival takes place each April in the Boston area's finest art-house cinemas. Over 1,200 films are submitted to the festival each year and roughly the best 90-100 of those are shown. Over 120 screenings take place, most with director Q&A sessions following them. There are also nightly parties for guest filmmakers and passholders as well as weekend panel discussions.

The Independent Film Festival of Boston was named "one of the top five film series in Boston" by the Boston Society of Film Critics in the festival's inaugural year of 2003 and was the only film festival on that list. The book The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide named the festival "the premier film festival in Boston" and the festival has since been recognized by the Boston Globe, Boston Herald

Boston Herald

The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...

, Boston Phoenix, Boston Magazine, Indiewire

IndieWire

indieWIRE is a daily news site for the independent film community. It covers indie, documentary and foreign language films, as well industry news, film festival reports, filmmaker interviews and movie reviews...

, and countless filmmakers as "the premier film festival in Boston". In 2008, MovieMaker Magazine named IFFBoston among "The Top 25 Film Festivals Worth The Entry Fee".

The festival debuted in 2003 with an audience of 10,000 people and has grown in size each year since (2004 - 15,000 people, 2005 - 18,000 people, 2006 - 22,000 people, 2007 - 23,000 people, 2008 - 23,400) making it the largest film festival in New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

.

Special Guests

Special guests of the festival in its first six years have included Steve Buscemi

Steve Buscemi

Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...

, Chris Cooper (actor)

Chris Cooper (actor)

Christopher W. "Chris" Cooper is an American film actor. He became well known in the late 1990s. He has appeared in supporting performances in several major Hollywood films, including The Bourne Identity, American Beauty, Capote, The Town, The Kingdom, Syriana, October Sky, Seabiscuit, and...

, Sir Ben Kingsley, John Waters

John Waters (filmmaker)

John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...

, Will Arnett

Will Arnett

William Emerson "Will" Arnett is a Canadian actor and comedian best known for his role as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II on the Fox comedy Arrested Development. He is also known for his role as Devon Banks on the NBC comedy 30 Rock. Since his success on Arrested Development, Arnett has landed major...

, Lili Taylor

Lili Taylor

Lili Anne Taylor is an American actress notable for her appearances in such award-winning indie films as Mystic Pizza, Say Anything..., Short Cuts and I Shot Andy Warhol, and the acclaimed TV show Six Feet Under....

, Illeana Douglas

Illeana Douglas

Illeana Douglas is an American actress, director, screenwriter, and producer.-Background:Douglas is a granddaughter of the actor Melvyn Douglas and his first wife, artist Rosalind Hightower, and has said that her grandfather's performance in Being There, in particular, was influential on her own...

, Melvin Van Peebles

Melvin Van Peebles

Melvin "Block" Van Peebles is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer.He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African American focused films...

, Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...

, Michael Almereyda

Michael Almereyda

Michael Almereyda is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His most well known work is Hamlet , starring Ethan Hawke.-Early life:...

, Robert Vaughn

Robert Vaughn

Robert Francis Vaughn, , is an American actor noted for stage, film and television work. His best known roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s television series The Protectors, Albert Stroller in...

, Bill Pullman

Bill Pullman

William James "Bill" Pullman is an American film, television, and stage actor. Pullman made his film debut in the supporting role of Earl Mott in the 1986 film Ruthless People. He has since gone on to star in other films, including Spaceballs, Independence Day, Lost Highway, Casper and Scary Movie 4...

, Dylan Baker

Dylan Baker

Dylan Baker is an American actor, known for playing supporting roles in both major studio and independent films.-Early life:...

, Famke Janssen

Famke Janssen

Famke Beumer Janssen is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. She is known for playing the villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye and Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series .- Early life and education :...

, Mary Stuart Masterson

Mary Stuart Masterson

Mary Stuart Masterson is an American film, stage and television actress and director.-Early life:Masterson was born in New York City to writer/director Peter Masterson and actress Carlin Glynn. She has two siblings: Peter Masterson Jr., and Alexandra Masterson, who are both involved in the...

, Project Runway

Project Runway

Project Runway is an American reality television series on Lifetime Television, previously on the Bravo network, which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by model Heidi Klum. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted in time, materials and theme...

s Jay McCarroll, Todd Graff, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney

Cynthia McKinney

Cynthia Ann McKinney is a former US Congresswoman and a member of the Green Party since 2007. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 2008, the Green Party nominated McKinney for President of the United States...

, Ted Hope

Ted Hope

Ted Hope is an American independent film producer based in New York City.As the American Indie wave hit in the early 90’s, Ted was among the first producers to emerge from the pack, and today remains one of the few consistently delivering vital and exciting new work...

, Bob Odenkirk

Bob Odenkirk

Robert "Bob" Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...

, Bernie Worrell

Bernie Worrell

George Bernard "Bernie" Worrell, Jr. is an American keyboardist and composer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic...

, Ryan Fleck

Ryan Fleck

Ryan K. Fleck is an American film director, cinematographer, editor, and screenwriter best known for directing and writing the 2006 film Half Nelson and the 2008 film Sugar. He is known for his collaborations with fellow filmmaker Anna Boden.-Life and career:Fleck was born in Berkeley, California...

, Anna Boden, Alexandre Rockwell

Alexandre Rockwell

Charles Alexandre Rockwell is an American film director, producer and screenwriter.-Personal life:...

, Eliza Dushku

Eliza Dushku

Eliza Patricia Dushku is an American actress known for her television roles, including recurring appearances as Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff series Angel. She starred in two Fox series, Tru Calling and Dollhouse...

, Danny Huston

Danny Huston

-Early life:Huston was born in Rome, Italy. He hails from the illustrious Huston acting and filmmaking dynasty. He is the son of legendary director John Huston, half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston and screenwriter Tony Huston, uncle of actor Jack Huston, stepbrother of Allegra Huston, and...

, Jesse Eisenberg

Jesse Eisenberg

Jesse Adam Eisenberg is an American actor. He made his screen debut with the comedy-drama television series Get Real from 1999 to 2000...

, Doug Pray

Doug Pray

Doug Pray is an American documentary film director, cinematographer, and editor who often explores unique subcultures in his films. His work includes Surfwise a portrait of the nomadic, 11-member Doc Paskowitz family ; Big Rig , a documentary about truck drivers; Infamy , a documentary about...

, Albert Maysles, Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

's Fred Armisen

Fred Armisen

Fred Armisen is an American actor, comedian and musician best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and portraying off-color foreigners in various comedy films such as EuroTrip, Anchorman and Cop Out...

, the Daily Show

The Daily Show

The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...

's Rob Corddry

Rob Corddry

Robert William "Rob" Corddry is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a former correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and for his starring role in the comedy film Hot Tub Time Machine...

 and Michael Cera

Michael Cera

Michael Austin Cera is a Canadian actor best known for his roles in Arrested Development, Youth in Revolt, Superbad, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Juno. Cera received the 2008 Canadian Comedy Award for best male performance for his work in Superbad.-Early...

.

Notable films

Films that have shown at the festival in the first six years have included Half Nelson

Half Nelson (film)

Half Nelson is a 2006 American drama film directed by Ryan Fleck and written by Anna Boden and Fleck; it stars Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps and Anthony Mackie. The film was scored by Juno Award winning Canadian band - Broken Social Scene. Gosling received an Academy Award nomination for lead actor...

, Murderball, The Corporation, The Proposition

The Proposition

The Proposition is a 2005 western film directed by John Hillcoat and written by screenwriter and musician Nick Cave. It stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt, Danny Huston and David Wenham. The film's production completed in 2004 and was followed by a wide 2005 release in...

, The Saddest Music in the World

The Saddest Music in the World

The Saddest Music in the World is a 2003 Canadian film directed by Guy Maddin. It stars Mark McKinney, Isabella Rossellini, Maria de Medeiros, David Fox and Ross McMillan....

, Ivans XTC

Ivans XTC

Ivansxtc is an independent film directed by Bernard Rose shot on digital camera about the last day in the life of LA agent Ivan Beckman, played by Danny Huston. It is based on Leo Tolstoy's novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich. The film also stars Peter Weller as Beckman's megastar client Don West...

, Lonesome Jim

Lonesome Jim

Lonesome Jim is a 2005 American comedy/drama film directed by Steve Buscemi. Filmed mostly in the city of Goshen, Indiana, the film stars Casey Affleck as a chronically depressed aspiring novelist who moves back into his parents' home after failing to make it in New York City...

, The Puffy Chair

The Puffy Chair

The Puffy Chair is a 2005 comedy film written and directed by Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass. It screened at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the 2005 SXSW Film Festival. It is considered part of the mumblecore movement...

, Fay Grim

Fay Grim

Fay Grim is a 2006 film written and directed by Hal Hartley. The film is a sequel to Hartley's 1997 film Henry Fool, and revolves around the title character, played by Parker Posey, the sister of Simon Grim . The plot revolves around Fay's attempt to unravel an increasingly violent mystery in Europe...

, Hannah Takes the Stairs

Hannah Takes the Stairs

Hannah Takes the Stairs is a 2007 independent mumblecore film by Joe Swanberg.-Synopsis:The movie tells the story of Hannah, a recent college graduate living in Chicago who works as an intern at a production office, as she begins to develop crushes on Matt and Paul, two scriptwriters she works with...

, Mutual Appreciation

Mutual Appreciation

Mutual Appreciation is an independent film by Andrew Bujalski who previously directed Funny Ha Ha . The script is primarily dialogue between a group of young people as they try to determine where they fit in the world. It is considered part of the mumblecore movement.-Plot:The principal characters...

, Me and You and Everyone We Know

Me and You and Everyone We Know

Me and You and Everyone We Know is a 2005 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Miranda July and stars July, John Hawkes, Miles Thompson, Brandon Ratcliff, Natasha Slayton, Najarra Townsend, Carlie Westerman, and JoNell Kennedy.-Plot:The structure of the film consists of...

, Transsiberian, My Winnipeg

My Winnipeg

My Winnipeg is a feature film directed by Guy Maddin. Starring Ann Savage, the film is a surrealist-inflected pseudo-documentary about Winnipeg, Maddin's home town...

, Medicine for Melancholy, Ballast

Ballast (film)

Ballast is a 2008 film directed by Lance Hammer. It competed in the Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography...

, Encounters at the End of the World

Encounters at the End of the World

Encounters at the End of the World is an American documentary film by Werner Herzog completed in 2007. The film studies people and places in Antarctica...

, The Story of the Weeping Camel

The Story of the Weeping Camel

The Story of the Weeping Camel is a 2003 German docudrama distributed by ThinkFilm. It was released internationally in 2004. The movie was directed and written by Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni. The plot is about a family of nomadic shepherds in the Gobi desert trying to save the life of a...

 and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster as well as the U.S. premier of Azumi

Azumi

is a Japanese manga series created by Yū Koyama in 1994. The manga was originally published by Shogakukan and serialized in Big Comic Superior, and was later adapted to two feature films starring Aya Ueto, a video game and a stage play. Azumi received an Excellence Prize at the 1997 Japan Media...

.

The festival shows narrative features, documentary features, short films, animation, and experimental works.

Judging

The Independent Film Festival of Boston awards Grand Jury, Special Jury prizes, and Audience Awards in the categories of narrative feature, documentary feature and short film. The juries are composed of top film industry professionals.

Year-round activities

The Independent Film Festival of Boston also holds monthly screenings throughout the year. The main hub of the festival is the Somerville Theatre

Somerville Theatre

The Somerville Theater is a movie theater and concert venue in Davis Square, located just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, in the city of Somerville in the United States of America. It is currently the only operating movie theater in Somerville since the closing of the theater complex at Assembly...

 in Davis Square

Davis Square

Davis Square is a major intersection in the northwestern section of Somerville, Massachusetts where several streets meet: Holland Street, Dover Street, Day Street, Elm Street, Highland Avenue, and College Avenue.- Location :...

, Somerville, Massachusetts

Somerville, Massachusetts

Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...

. Other venues used by the festival in its first seven years include the Coolidge Corner

Coolidge Corner

Coolidge Corner is a neighborhood of Brookline, Massachusetts, centered around the intersection of Beacon Street and Harvard Street. The neighborhood takes its name from the Coolidge brothers' general store that opened in 1857 at that intersection on the location of today's S.S...

 Theatre, the Brattle Theatre

Brattle Theatre

The Brattle Theatre is a repertory movie theater located in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States of America. The theatre is a small movie house with one screen. It is one of the few remaining movie theaters, if not the only one, that use a rear-projection system; the...

, the Museum of Fine Arts

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...

, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Jimmy Tingle

Jimmy Tingle

Jimmy Tingle is an American comic and occasional actor.-Life and career:Tingle was the American correspondent for Sir David Frost’s show for PBS and the BBC, The Strategic Humor Initiative. He completed two seasons with 60 Minutes II on CBS as the humorist / commentator in the Andy Rooney spot...

 Theatre.

IFFBoston testimonials

"The Independent Film Festival of Boston has become the major game in town: a smartly programmed and risk-taking festival that balances "big" indie films with the best in local filmmaking."
- Ty Burr, Boston Globe

"IFFBoston has redefined the term 'filmmaker friendly' for every producer, director, editor, cinematographer, composer and actor that has been lucky enough to experience the festival. The audiences are passionate and intelligent, which is every filmmaker's dream."
- Joe Swanberg

Joe Swanberg

Joe Swanberg is an American independent filmmaker. He is a member of the "Mumblecore" movement. His films include Kissing on the Mouth , LOL , Hannah Takes the Stairs , Nights and Weekends and Alexander the Last...

, director of Hannah Takes the Stairs

"The annual Independent Film Festival of Boston has accomplished more in its five-year history than some festivals do with twice as much time and resources."
- Matt Dentler, Indiewire

"Definitely one of the best-run film festivals I have been to."
- Bob Odenkirk, director of Melvin Goes to Dinner

"Though the word 'independent' sometimes connotes 'small', its clear that the Independent Film Festival of Boston is THE premiere film festival in the Boston area. From a distributor's standpoint, it's important that a festival handle a film with a certain degree of professionalism and attention to detail. IFFBoston's focus on presenting dynamic, quality films and treating each screening as an event both meets and exceeds those expectations."
- Brad Westcott, Magnolia Pictures

Magnolia Pictures

Magnolia Pictures is an American film distributor, and is a holding of 2929 Entertainment, owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban. Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films....