NINTH SEASON TO RUN OCTOBER 25-NOVEMBER 4

NEW INDIE TITLES FEATURE BURNS, CRUZ, CUSACK, DAFOE,
DeVITO, KLEIN, PALTROW, QUINN, STREEP, WILSON, WOOD

Eleven features, 30 shorts, numerous guest artists, seminars, parties. That's the profile of the Williamstown Film Festival's ninth season, running Thursday, October 25 through Sunday, November 4.
 
Titles include world, American, and New England premieres, with works ranging from strong drama to mystery to uproarious comedy. Seven filmmakers are making their feature directorial debuts, with all expected to attend.    
 
"It's the most diverse lineup we've ever had," notes WFF executive director Steve Lawson. "I can't imagine a spectrum of films spanning a greater range of tone and subject, or one that demonstrates more sheer talent among the artists involved."
 
The New England premiere of DAY ZERO kicks off the season at 8 p.m. on Thursday, October 25 at Images Cinema in Williamstown. In this cautionary fable about war and honor, Elijah Wood and Chris Klein are friends forced to evalute their lives when the draft is reinstated and they face induction in thirty days.
 


On Friday at 2 p.m., the documentary STAY AWAY... A LITTLE CLOSER will have its East Coast premiere at Images. Prolific off-Broadway playwright John Ford Noonan - recovering alcoholic, loquacious talker - is the focus of this fascinating look at a truly unclassifiable man. At 8 p.m., horror, comedy, and sexual empowerment interweave in WFF's Opening Night film: TEETH, Mitchell Lichtenstein's wickedly funny story of a teenager devoted to abstinence who learns she's anatomically unique. (These first three titles on the schedule are all designated "for mature audiences only".)
 
Saturday, October 27 starts at the Williams Inn with a breakfast seminar called "Theater into Film." Twenty years after it premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Charles Evered's play RUNNING FUNNY has made it to the screen. Playwright, director, and actors will discuss the intricate process of transposition. The film will then screen at Images at 12 noon, followed by the always-popular All-Shorts slot at 3 p.m. (New this year: a different All-Shorts slot each weekend.)

At 6 p.m.,  WFF will hold its first-ever Benefit with a dinner at Cafe Latino in North Adams followed by the New England premiere of GRACE IS GONE at MASS MoCA's Hunter Center. This double award-winner at Sundance, features an extraordinary performance by John Cusack as a father unable to share some devastating news with his young daughters.
 
The first weekend wraps up with another New England premiere: PURPLE VIOLETS, the latest film from Edward Burns (The Brothers McMullen). This funny, trenchant look at yuppies wondering where they're headed in life features Burns, Selma Blair, Debra Messing and Patrick Wilson, and will screen at Images at 11 a.m. with brunch served at 10:30.      
 
Weekend II begins with the world premiere of ANAMORPH, directed by Williams College graduate H.S. Miller. Willem Dafoe plays a detective tracking a killer who arranges his victims into strange works of art. Blow-Up meets Silence of the Lambs in this eerie psychologial thriller (for mature audiences), which shows at 8 p.m. on Thursday, November 1. The following night WFF returns to MASS MoCA for a joint presentation of NOSFERATU, the first and greatest vampire flick,  with the beloved Alloy Orchestra live onstage playing a new original score.
 
The second All-Shorts slot takes place at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 3 at Images, followed by a lunch seminar Tribeca: From Idea to Juggernaut at the Orchards. Craig Hatkoff, who co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival with Jane Rosenthal and Robert DeNiro, will talk about TFF's origins after 9/11 and its explosive growth into one of the most significant festivals around. At 3 p.m., the action shifts to Williams' '62 Center for Theater and Dance with ANITA O'DAY: THE LIFE OF A JAZZ SINGER, a delightful musical documentary about a genuine American original whose up-and-down (and up again) career is matched by her tumultuous life.
 
Saturday at 8 p.m., the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute plays host to WFF's New England premiere screening of DARK MATTER, winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Award at Sundance. Meryl Streep and Aidan Quinn appear in this riveting exploration of a gifted Chinese student who endangers his relationship with his mentor. Ego, science vs. instinct, and the clash of cultures coalesce in Chen Shi-Zheng's remarkable first feature, which is followed by WFF's annual champagne and desserts party in the Clark courtyard.
 
The season concludes on November 4th with THE GOOD NIGHT, the tale of a discontented musician caught between dull waking life and a vivid nighttime dream affair with Penelope Cruz. How can he get more sleep? Jake Paltrow's bittersweet film features his sister Gwyneth, Martin Freeman, and Danny DeVito. Brunch is served at 10:30 a.m., with the screening at 11.

 
Individual tickets as well as discounted Passes to either weekend or the entire festival are available on this website, through the coupon in the season brochure, or by calling the ticket line at (413) 458-9900.