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Spotlight On: Upcoming Boston Area Film Festivals

Lights, camera, action! Film buffs will have their fill of great movies in the next few months. From shorts and documentaries to international offerings and horror flicks, check out our roundup of some of Boston's upcoming film fests.
8/29 Boston Film Festival - Keith Dorrington
(credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Boston Film Festival

September 16 - 22
Stuart Street Playhouse
200 Stuart Street
Boston, MA
Website

Now on its 27th year with a rich history of premiering some of Hollywood's best films, the Boston Film Festival showcases features films, documentaries and shorts and honors filmmakers and actors. Last year's honorees included Melissa Leo, Edward Burns, and Sam Rockwell. And this year, as it returns to the Stuart Street Playhouse, the fest will also feature a symposium called "From Script to Screen" to be led by Keith Dorrington, writer and executive producer on last year's The Fighter.

8/29 Arts & Culture - SNOB Film Festival
(credit: SNOB Film Festival website)

SNOB Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival

September 15 -18
Multiple venues throughout Concord, NH
Website

So this fest is not exactly held in Boston, but the SNOB Film Festival, a grassroots, volunteer-run event, gets props for its cheeky name, and its mission to give residents of Concord, NH a chance to enjoy smaller, independent films that don't usually show at the major cineplexes. Aside from showcasing the best in indie films, the fest is also holding a "Filmmaker's Challenge" for a 30-second film on the courtesy of silencing your cellphones before the featured film starts.

8/29 Arts & Culture - Bicycle Messengers
(credit: still from Bicycle Messengers by Joshua Frankel)

Boston Bike Film Festival

October 14 - 15
Brattle Theater
40 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA
Website

In this festival, the little two-wheeled mode of transportation is the star. The Boston Bike Film Festival, now on its seventh year, supports cycling advocacy in greater Boston and proceeds from the fest have been donated to Hub on Wheels, Mass Bike and Bikes Not Bombs. The BBFF features animated shorts, narrative stories, and feature length documentaries. Films from last year's festival ranged from a movie about a sad little trike looking for love, to a film that offered a cycling view of Copenhagen, and a tricked out tour of Wales.

Love-during-Wartime2
(Photo Credit: Palestine Film Festival)

Boston Palestine Film Festival

October 21 - 29
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Avenue of the Arts
465 Huntington Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts
Harvard University
Harvard Law School
Langdell North, Room 225
Other venues TBA
Website

Celebrating its fifth-year anniversary, the Boston Palestine festival returns to bring Palestine-related cinema, narratives and culture to New England audiences. The festival has featured over 200 films, documentaries, dramatic features, video art pieces and new films by emerging artists. Like last year, guest filmmakers will be present to add contextual depth to the films themselves. And look out for related programming such as concerts by Palestinian musicians, art exhibits by Palestinian artists.

8/29 Arts & Culture - Boston Jewish Film Festival
(credit: Boston Jewish Film Festival website)

Boston Jewish Film Festival

November 2 - 13
Multiple venues in Boston and Brookline
Website

Every year, the Boston Jewish Film Festival presents features, shorts, documentaries, and conversations with visiting artists on the Jewish identity, the current Jewish experience and the richness of Jewish culture in relation to a diverse modern world. Last year's fest featured such buzzed-about films as Tango, A Story With Jews, and Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story, and this year promises to bring the best in contemporary cinema, so stay tuned for schedules and ticket info by visiting the BJFF website.

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