Between the schizophrenic weather and the weird playoff showings of the Bruins and Celtics, it’s been hard to be excited about much this April outside of Free Fire and Fate of the Furious hitting theaters.
But fear not, Bostonians: The 15th annual Independent Film Festival Boston is back to give you a week’s worth of stimulating and interesting new movies for you to see and talk about, and a bevy of panels and parties to attend, as well. It runs from April 26 through May 3 at several locations around the city (though mainly the screenings are at the Somerville Theatre and Brattle Theatre).
Over the next few days, we'll be posting about some of our most-anticipated movies at the festival this year. Earlier in the week we covered the first three days of IFFB, and now today, we’re covering the festival’s weekend programming, which features films about blind magicians, bad nuns, behind-the scenes looks at Italian spectaculars and portrait photography, and a breakthrough role for Jessica Williams.
Maineland
IFFB alum Miao Wang returns to the festival with a look at two Chinese “parachute students” who came to boarding school in Maine, and how their expectations conflict with the reality of where they’re at. The subjects, Stella and Harry, are stoked at the prospect of having a high school experience straight out of Degrassi, and also to be getting around the difficult entrance exam that awaits Chinese college students. The film follows them through success and failure, awkwardness and acceptance, and is sure to be relatable to anybody who’s ever left home to do something big and different (that means you, out-of-state college students!). It’s a deeply empathetic look at what it means to be away from home, and the alienation and joy that it brings.
Maineland screens at the Somerville Theatre on April 30 at 2:45 p.m. Advance tickets are available here.
