NewEnglandFilm.com

The Eighth Annual Boston International Festival of Women’s Cinema arrives at the Brattle Theatre this April 13-17. This festival has previously premiered or previewed such esteemed independent films as "Sugar Town," "High Art," "Fire," "I Shot Andy Warhol," "Mi Vida Loca," "Olivier Olivier" and "The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love," and welcomed such luminaries as producers Christine Vachon and Dolly Hall, filmmakers Alison Anders, Claire Denis, Mary Harron and Lisa Cholodenko. Not content to rest on their laurels, festival directors Marianne Lampke and Connie White have once again chosen outstanding and challenging work produced during the last year for this spring’s festival.

In a recent conversation with Marianne Lampke, who doubles as a co-director of Running Arts and Beacon Cinema Group, she explained that the Festival of Women’s Cinema is a curated festival. While unsolicited submissions are welcome, most films are pre-selected by Lampke and White. Thus, the festival promotes the works themselves in a non-competitive atmosphere, with the ultimately nurturing goal of bringing an audience to these films. Timing the festival shortly after the Sundance Film Festival allows the curators to use the highlights of that heavily scrutinized event as a launching pad for seeking out films for the Boston festival. This year, two films which attracted attention at Sundance fill the opening and closing night spots. Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut "The Virgin Suicides" opens the festival, with the director in attendance. The Paramount Classics film stars Kathleen Turner, James Woods and Kirsten Dunst. Closing night is reserved for Lisa Krueger’s newest film, "Committed," distributed by Miramax and starring Heather Graham, Casey Affleck and Luke Wilson.

Many award winners fill out the roster. Lampke said that Kimberly Peirce, director of "Boys Don’t Cry," may attend closing night, bringing some of her short films. Director-star Nisha Ganatra is expected at a screening of her film, "Chutney Popcorn." This feature, which examines the expanding possibilities and meanings of "family" for lesbian mothers at the intersection of traditional Indian and American lesbian cultures, was the winner of 1999 Audience Awards at the Los Angeles Outfest, San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and the Newport International Film Festival. Other features not to be missed include the Canadian/French production "Set Me Free" ("Emporte-Moi"), which received a Golden Bear at the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival and was voted best Canadian feature film at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival. Expect another film from Sundance 2000, Valerie Breiman’s "Love & Sex," starring Famke Janssen and Jon Favreau. Also screening are "Me Myself I," directed by Philippa Carmel and starring Rachel Griffiths, and "Jesus’ Son," directed Alison Maclean and starring Billy Crudup, Dennis Hopper, Holly Hunter and Samantha Morton.

Scheduled documentary films include a Sundance Channel presentation of "Living with Pride: Ruth C. Ellis @ 100," another winner of an Audience Award at the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and the Los Angeles Outfest in 1999. Audiences can look forward to "Decline of Western Civilization, Part III"; the third film in Penelope Spheeris’ series returns to the subject of "Part I," the world of punk rock musicians. It was a winner of the Freedom of Expression Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and the Jury Award at the Chicago Underground Film Festival.

The Boston Festival of Women’s Cinema comes close on the heels of the Academy Awards, a time when the press often comments on the apparent continuing absence of good film projects for women. Lampke says that in the throes of putting together a festival of this nature, devoted to projects by women directors and starring women actors, "It sounds really ironic to us when we’re looking at all these new films." She says many films made by women are independent by definition, by virtue of women’s struggle to succeed in the Hollywood system. "I think there’s a trend in women’s filmmaking, especially narrative films," says Lampke, "to pay more attention to complex female characters than many mainstream films."

Regular programming at the Brattle Theatre has long shown the influence of the enduring appeal of "golden age" cinema. As these newest cinematic offerings are screening in a venue associated with the classics, Lampke discussed her vision of the future, addressing examples of independent or women’s cinema she sees becoming classics. "I have no doubt that the gay and lesbian movement of ‘New Queer Cinema’ in the ’90s will go down in history." She also cites the films of Todd Haynes, Alison Anders, Rose Troche and Mike Leigh, alongside Mary Harron’s "I Shot Andy Warhol" — and "anything with Lili Taylor." But she notes that independent and women’s cinema doesn’t have the same cult following in youth culture it did in the ’60s and 70s, when an independently conceived film like "Annie Hall" would go on to win several Oscars. But the attention that the Academy has paid this year to "Boys Don’t Cry" — an independent film directed by a woman, which pushes every boundary usually present in mainstream film — by rewarding Hilary Swank with her much-deserved award for Best Actress shows things are changing in the world of independent film, creating more possibilities for greater viewership and recognition in the future.

The film festival remains the major venue for disseminating works of unique spirit and integrity, independent of the studio system. Attendees of this year’s Festival of Women’s Cinema will undoubtedly look back to this spring’s roster in coming months and years, knowing they were among the first to see many films which will, ultimately, become the independent classics of our times.