The Independent Film Festival Boston launches tonight in Somerville with The Hollars, a comedy directed by Newton native and The Office alum John Krasinski with a cast including Charlie Day, Anna Kendrick and Margo Martindale. It's one of 25 feature films, nearly 40 documentaries, and over 50 short films that will screen over the next week at the Somerville Theatre, the Brattle, UMass Boston and the Coolidge Corner Theatre.
And with more than 100 movies to choose from, it can be a bit daunting to narrow down the selections. We've been sifting through the lineup here at Vanyaland HQ, and have come up with a handful that should make for a good starting point.
High Water Mark: The Rise & Fall of The Pants
Somerville Theatre (Screen 4) — Friday, April 29 at 10 p.m.
The Pants ruled the Burlington, Vermont music scene in the 1990s, combining the lo-fi underground aesthetic of bands like Guided by Voices and Pavement with songwriting chops reminiscent of Pixies and Weezer’s River Cuomo, playing indie rock before it had a name. They could tear the roof off with crunching post punk noise mixed with jazzy chords and rhythms, or tug at the heartstrings with bittersweet ballads. Their singular sound garnered the attention of music labels, as well as the enduring admiration of Vermont contemporaries such as Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hutz, James Kochalka Superstar, and Trey Anastasio of Phish. But as the ’90s came to a close, this buzz band from Burlington seemed to burn out as quickly as it had blown up.
High Water Mark, a decade in the making, picks up in 2006 when the Pants reunited for a sold out show at the Higher Ground Ballroom in Burlington. It explores the band’s history, its lasting footprint on Burlington’s music scene, and the intense, devoted fandom it has inspired. Vermont filmmaker and Pants fan Bill Simmon has compiled interviews, photos, documents, and hundreds of hours of concert audio and video to tell the band’s story.