The Roxbury International Film Festival officially launches its 22nd year on Wednesday, Sept. 30. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, festival organizers moved the dates from summer to fall and pivoted to a virtual format.
“We felt like it was really important to move forward with the festival,” says RIFF Director Lisa Simmons, speaking to the Banner by phone, “because filmmakers deserve that, and they need to move on to their next project … and not giving the opportunity to share the work they created for this year, I think that would be just awful.”
Continuing its mission of celebrating films by, for and about people of color, the festival will showcase more than 70 films, including documentaries, features and shorts by filmmakers representing the countries of India, Egypt, Italy, Namibia, New Zealand, Dominican Republic, Cape Verde, the Solomon Islands and the United States.
The festival will also include multiple shorts programs this year, including “Next Generation Shorts” by local youth filmmakers from Boston Arts Academy and Raw Art Works in Lynn.
Opening night on Sept. 30 features the short films “Charles Coe: Man of Letters” directed by Roberto Mighty and “Betye Saar: Taking Care of Business” directed by Christine Turner, followed by the documentary feature, “The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show,” directed by Yoruba Richen. The documentary recounts when Belafonte took over “The Tonight Show” for one week in February 1968, and featured Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, Lena Horne, Sidney Poitier and Aretha Franklin — during a week where racial tensions were inflaming the U.S. and a divisive presidential election campaign was underway.
Richen and Gina Belafonte, executive director of Sankofa.org, a social justice organization founded by Harry Belafonte, will hold a live post-screening conversation on art and activism. The Q&A will be followed by a virtual music program with local DJs after the screenings.
Over the years, the Roxbury International Film Festival, or “RoxFilm” as it’s known, has established itself as a “filmmaker’s festival” by creating panels, workshops, and hangouts for directors to receive feedback from audience members, engage with festival-goers and network with other directors.
Deborah Riley Draper COURTESY PHOTO
Deborah Riley Draper, who directed the 2016 and 2012 documentaries “Olympic Pride, American Prejudice” and “Versailles ’73: American Runway Revolution,” will appear virtually at the festival for the first time. The critically acclaimed director understands the importance of film festivals. “I can’t think of any place that I’d rather be after having made a film — not just screening a film but to enjoy other films, see everybody in that ecosystem,” says Draper by phone. “The chatting, the conversation, the learning, the big exchange of information, the exchange of creativity — it’s very powerful.”
Draper’s short, “Illegal Rose,” starring Jasmine Guy, tells the story of a disengaged nurse who accidentally kidnaps a 9-year-old ICE detention center runaway. The film screens on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 5:30 p.m., with a post-screening live Q&A with Draper and Guy.
New to the festival is the “Lunch Hour Daily Script Read” from 12-1 p.m., a collaboration with New Repertory Theatre in Watertown, Massachusetts. In each lunchtime session, local Black actors will read a script from local screenwriters, followed by a Q&A where viewers and actors can give feedback to the writers.
According to Simmons, creating this event was a way to incorporate more local participation. “We have a number of local filmmakers, but it’s also an opportunity, if we’re doing virtual, to add some other components,” she says, “some other element around the filmmaking world and writing and actors, not just film screenings. It seemed a good fit and a really good way to celebrate these local writers.”
Filmmaker Daniel Callahan PHOTO: Ashleigh Gordon
Closing out the annual festival on Oct. 5 is Daniel Callahan’s first feature film, “Come On In.” The psychological thriller follows a failed artist’s return home and his struggle to come to grips with his life as his grip on reality loosens.
Callahan, who graduated from Emerson College in 2018 with an MFA in Film and Video, says he couldn’t be more excited to have been selected by the festival. “Movies are made to be seen, and without the venues that film festivals like RoxFilm provide, it is near impossible for independent filmmakers (especially ones of color) like me, to get our films in front of people,” Callahan says in an email. “The crazy thing is, audiences are actually hungry for films from new and diverse filmmakers, it’s just the mechanics of the industry (how money is made and who is making it) are resistant to change.”
He adds, “It’s festivals like RoxFilm that are really at the cutting edge of cinema, because they are the ones creating the spaces for new voices.”
At a glance
• The Roxbury International Film Festival
• When: Sept. 30 – Oct. 5, 2020
• Tickets: All-access passes are $125. Individual event ticket prices will be $13 for opening and closing night and $11 for individual film passes.
• For a complete calendar of films and events, visit www.roxfilmfest.com.
