Philadelphia Film Festival

By David Greenberg

With a notably doc-friendly program this year, The 17th Philadelphia Film Festival opened this week with, as its opening night selection, “Young @ Heart”, a chronicle of a New England choir made up of senior citizens whose repertoire ranges from punk rock to R&B with energy, spirit and style to burn. Other hot docs on the schedule include “Electile Dysfunction” about the 2006 Senate campaigns of Bob Casey Jr. and Rick Santorum. And, sure to be a hit with a built in fan base, “Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life” about the beloved Phillies star and, later, longtime broadcaster.  The docs even got a boost at the annual Philly Pitch event where aspiring filmmakers get face time with industry hot shots like director Lee Daniels and producer JC Spink. For the first time in the event’s history, a filmmaker was allowed to pitch his idea for a documentary.

But the film most likely to leave audiences talking could be, fresh from its world premiere at SXSW, “In A Dream” which is a portrait of the artist as an aging family man. Jeremiah Zagar turns the cameras on his father, celebrated Philadelphia mosaic muralist Isiah and his mother, artist and gallery owner Julia. What starts out as a simple enough look at a man and his work, soon becomes a chilling, wrenching look at a family being blown apart when admissions of infidelity, mental illness and abuse surface. The film is a must for anyone who loves art and anyone who has a family.    

THANKS DAVID! THESE FILMS TAKING PLACE IN PHILADELPHIA ARE SURE TO BE HITS AT THE FESTIVAL THIS YEAR!

THOSE OF YOU WHO SEE THE FILMS, LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK AT:  INFO@INDIEEXPRESS.COM

SHANE