These days, in the world of “theatrical” movies — films screened in theaters — surviving and thriving are challenging at best. That’s certainly true for the Provincetown International Film Festival, which will have its 26th season from Wednesday, June 12 through Sunday, June 16. It’s a time when those of us who love the medium and its communal experience get to immerse ourselves in a cornucopia of curated films that are not yet in circulation. (Tickets, passes, and a full schedule are at provincetownfilm.org/festival/).
“This year, we were a little muted in our expectations,” says the festival’s artistic director, Lisa Viola. “Financially, it’s gotten harder and harder. Corporate sponsorships are scarcer. There were the writers’ and actors’ strikes last year and so many issues. It’s a really tricky time.”
But, as in the past, an impressive lineup of work and talent was amassed: narrative films, documentaries, shorts, and honorees from around the world. “Filmmakers are finding a way to get things made,” Viola says. “They want to tell stories, and they have a lot to say.”
An obstacle the festival confronted this year was the potential loss of the Art House as a screening venue. In the end, one of the Art House’s twin theaters will show festival films, and Fishermen Hall, the auditorium at the Provincetown Schools, will be the venue for shorts programs over the weekend, when school is out.
“I think it’s going to be great,” says Anne Hubbell, executive director of the Provincetown Film Society, the nonprofit behind it all, which owns and operates the Waters Edge Cinema in town. “Once again, we’re leaning into the local as much as possible. We had John Dowd design our poster this year. Lise King is doing a trailer.”
One of the narrative films being screened, High Tide, was written and directed by Italian actor-filmmaker Marco Calvani while he was a resident here. It’s the story of an undocumented Brazilian immigrant who works odd jobs in Provincetown as he awaits the return of his American lover. “High Tide is a full-blown Provincetown story,” Viola says. “It was completely shot here. And the acting is great.”
The biographical drama The Featherweight, about real-life boxer Willie Pep from Connecticut, costars Ruby Wolf, daughter of Cape Air founder and former state Sen. Dan Wolf, as Pep’s young wife. “It’s a faux documentary that got rave reviews at the Venice Film Festival,” Viola says. “Dan is very excited. It’s a hometown screening.”
Viola points out that besides the usual programs of “New England Shorts” and “Ptown Stories” are a short film (A Chair for Her) with part-time resident and White Lotus star Murray Bartlett (see story on page C6) and one written and directed by former Provincetown Film Society CEO Christine Kunewa Walker (The Ali’i King) about her Mormon father’s reconnection with his Native Hawaiian roots.
Viola says that though she doesn’t tend to look at the festival lineup thematically there are some notable trends. “These films are international,” she says. “About half of the directors are women, and there are a lot of first-time features.”
One of the films directed by a woman is My Old Ass, which stars Aubrey Plaza as the older self of a high-school grad who — traveling through time and consciousness while tripping on mushrooms — learns about the pitfalls of dating. Another is The Queen of My Dreams, in which a queer young Canadian-Pakistani woman journeys through Bollywood-style memories of her own and her religious mother’s coming of age.
There are intrepid performances. In Thelma, 93-year-old June Squibb (Oscar-nominated for Nebraska) searches for a phone scammer in Los Angeles to reclaim what’s hers. The festival’s Excellence in Acting honoree, Colman Domingo, stars in the drama Sing Sing as a prison inmate who finds redemption in a theater arts program.
Viola, whose background is in documentaries, is especially proud of this year’s lineup of nonfiction films, including two world premieres (Recovery City, about women in Worcester dealing with addiction; and The Little Pageant That Could, about a drag benefit in Los Angeles), and the festival’s opening night selection, Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution, a history of queer stand-up that features everyone from Lily Tomlin to Eddie Izzard. Other doc highlights cited by Viola are Copa ’71, about a historic Women’s World Cup in Mexico that was mostly overlooked, and several biographical portraits — of Liza Minnelli, Noël Coward, Luther Vandross, songwriter Allee Willis, and the filmmaking couple Ismail Merchant and James Ivory.
As for the festival’s annual Filmmaker on the Edge honoree, Viola says she’s thrilled to have British queer icon Andrew Haigh (Weekend, HBO’s Looking) join John Waters in conversation this year. “Even though All of Us Strangers came out last year, it’s great to celebrate him. It’s his first time coming to Provincetown.”
Executive director Hubbell adds that she’s excited to have producer Christine Vachon, a longtime supporter of the festival, back to interview acting honoree Colman Domingo. “And it’s great to screen Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion at the Crown & Anchor on Thursday night,” she adds, hyping the 1997 comedy starring Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow, Janeane Garofalo, and Alan Cumming. The festival is all about turning the movie screening experience into an event, after all.
“We’re competing with people’s iPhones,” Hubbell says. “It’s not just movies — it’s everything.”
