The Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival returns Tuesday through Sunday, with 12 feature films from as many countries and a program of shorts representing half a dozen nations.
“Even during this pandemic year, there’s not been a loss of good art-house films,” said Richard Paradise, executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society, who programs the annual festival. “There’s a wealth of films available.”
While big Hollywood productions have seen their releases delayed this year, Mr. Paradise said, independent movies have largely stayed on track.
“The smaller films were already in the pipeline,” he said.
This year’s festival will take place both online and at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center in Vineyard Haven, with theatre audiences limited to 25 people and masks required throughout the screenings.
“We decided to do it as a hybrid festival,” said Mr. Paradise, who has been operating the film center under state Covid-19 guidelines for more than a month while also making movies available online and hosting free outdoor screenings at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs.
“We’re doing safe, socially distanced cinema,” he said.
“We’re one of the few cinemas that are open in Massachusetts,” Mr. Paradise added, noting that the film society has 2,500 members and other supporters of its mission to provide films and film education to the Island audience.
“We’re not doing it because we’re making money. I want to tell people that given the right protocols, which we follow with the state, it is safe to come back to the theatre.”
Film Center patrons who purchase a festival pass good for all the in-theatre screenings will also be able to arrange some home streaming as well, Mr. Paradise said. An online-only pass is also available.
The festival begins Tuesday with a French comedy, My Dog Stupid, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg.
“It’s a fun kind of film about a mid-life crisis and marital ups and downs, with this big hulking dog—some people might call him ugly, but he’s cute to me—in the middle of it,” Mr. Paradise said.
Screening Wednesday, The Perfect Candidate is about a Saudi Arabian physician who runs for local government because the roads to her hospital are never paved.
“This is what we would normally consider our opening night film, when we would have the big tented outdoor party with music,” Mr. Paradise said.
Covid restrictions have ruled out such gatherings this year, and no special guests will be traveling to the Island to take part in the festival as in past years.
“We will do some Zoom interviews with various filmmakers and other people, to supplement the films,” Mr. Paradise said.
The festival line-up also includes The Donut King, a documentary about a Cambodian immigrant who became bigger than Dunkin’ in southern California, and a drama set in Singapore titled The Ramen Shop.
Last year’s closing film, Parasite, by Korean director Bong Joon-ho, went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. This year, Mr. Paradise is returning to his earlier tradition of ending the festival with an Italian film. Screening Sunday, Daughter of Mine (Figlia Mia) is a drama about the birth and adoptive mothers of a young girl on a Mediterranean island.
“It’s set in Sardinia, with lots of seascapes and sun. It’s a beautifully shot film.”
Though the usual closing-night feast at La Soffitta can’t take place this year, Mr. Paradise continues to list La Soffitta, along with Tilton Tents and other Island partners, as festival sponsors.
“I just made them sponsors this year, with no obligation to financially support us,” he said. “I felt like this is a gap year. This is a year that’s weird and strange. They can’t support us this year, but that’s okay.”
“We’re going to survive this,” he added. “We’re going to continue our mission.”
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