The Philadelphia Film Festival is a

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

founded by the Philadelphia Film Society held in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The annual festival is held at various theater venues throughout the

Greater Philadelphia Area The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...

Overview

The annual festival lasts for two weeks in October. The festival also holds a three day "springfest" in June. Venues have included the

Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is a theatre, dance and world music venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It helped to popularize the works of composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass; the Center has also hosted shows by performer ...

, the PFS Roxy Theater

Prince Theater The Prince Theater is a non-profit theatrical producing organization located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and specializing in music theatre, including opera, music drama, musical comedy and experimental forms. Founded in 1984 as the American Mu ...

, and Landmark Ritz Theatres, the Philadelphia Film Center, PFS Bourse Theater, and the PFS Drive-In at the Navy Yard. Screening categories hosted by the festival include Centerpieces, Spotlights, Special Events, Masters of Cinema, World View, Non/Fiction, After Hours, From the Vaults, Made in USA, Cinema de France, Green Screen (

Environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

films), Visions of Iran, "Sights and Soundtrack" and short films. Its Filmadelphia category, previously known as "Festival of the Independents," promotes local filmmakers. Notable members of the Festival Advisory Board include

Aubrey Plaza Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She starred as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom '' Par ...

and Adam McKay.

History

Until 2009 it was held during the first weeks of April. In 2009 the film festival shifted its dates from the spring to the fall. There were about 35,000 tickets sold in the 20th annual Philadelphia Film Festival to over 250 screenings. Notable films at the festival have included

Silver Linings Playbook ''Silver Linings Playbook'' is a 2012 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by David O. Russell. The film was based on Matthew Quick’s 2008 novel ''The Silver Linings Playbook''. It stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawre ...

(set in Philadelphia),

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

Burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combusti ...

, Green Book, The Guilty,

Happy as Lazzaro ''Happy as Lazzaro'' ( it, Lazzaro felice) is a 2018 Italian drama film written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where Rohrwacher won the award for Best Screenpla ...

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

Shoplifters Shoplifting Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters ma ...

Parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

JoJo Rabbit ''Jojo Rabbit'' is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Taika Waititi, adapted from Christine Leunens's 2008 book ''Caging Skies''. Roman Griffin Davis portrays the title character, Johannes "Jojo" Betzler, a ten-year-old Hitler You ...

Portrait of a Lady on Fire ''Portrait of a Lady on Fire'' (french: Portrait de la jeune fille en feu, lit=Portrait of the Young Lady on Fire) is a 2019 French historical romantic drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma, starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haen ...

, Beanpole,

Knives Out ''Knives Out'' is a 2019 American mystery film written, directed, and co-produced by Rian Johnson. It follows a master detective, Benoit Blanc, investigating the death of the patriarch of a wealthy, dysfunctional family. The film stars an ense ...

, Blue Velvet (1986),

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

(1999),

Nomadland ''Nomadland'' is a 2020 American drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Chloé Zhao. Based on the 2017 nonfiction book '' Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century'' by Jessica Bruder, it stars Frances McDormand ...

Ammonite Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...

Black Bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

, Minari,

Sound of Metal ''Sound of Metal'' is a 2019 American drama film directed and co-written by Darius Marder. It stars Riz Ahmed as a metal drummer who loses his hearing, and also features Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, and Mathieu Amalric. ''Sound of M ...

, Philly native

Questlove Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ), is an American musician, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thou ...

's directorial debut Summer of Soul,

The Sparks Brothers ''The Sparks Brothers'' is a 2021 British-American documentary film about Ron and Russell Mael, members of the pop and rock duo Sparks. The film, directed by Edgar Wright, and produced by Wright, Nira Park, George Hencken and Laura Richards ...

and

Werewolves Within ''Werewolves Within'' is a multiplayer Social deduction game, social-deduction Virtual reality, VR game for Oculus Rift, Microsoft Windows, Windows, and PlayStation VR, developed by Red Storm Entertainment, published by Ubisoft, and released on 6 ...

, In 2017, M. Night Shyamalan and David Plaza (father of Aubrey) joined the Philadelphia Film Society's board of directors. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the PFF screened most of their films virtually in October 2020. Other films were shown via a drive-in format at the

Philadelphia Navy Yard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the cit ...

. In October 2021, the 30th anniversary festival will screen such notable films as

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain ''The Electrical Life of Louis Wain'' is a 2021 biographical film, biographical comedy-drama film directed by Will Sharpe, from a story by Simon Stephenson, and screenplay by Stephenson and Sharpe. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch (as the ecce ...

, King Richard,

The French Dispatch ''The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun'', or simply ''The French Dispatch'', is a 2021 American anthology comedy drama film written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson from a story he conceived with Roman Coppola, Hugo Guin ...

Encounter Encounter or Encounters may refer to: Film *''Encounter'', a 1997 Indian film by Nimmala Shankar * ''Encounter'' (2013 film), a Bengali film * ''Encounter'' (2018 film), an American sci-fi film * ''Encounter'' (2021 film), a British sci-fi film * ...

and Spencer.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Philadelphia Film Society

Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival
Film festivals in Philadelphia Film festivals established in 1991 1991 establishments in Pennsylvania

Overview

History

See also

References

External links