“An American Ascent” will be featured on the opening night of the Roxbury International Film Festival.
Fledgling auteurs from Madison Park High School will see their creations projected on the very same screen at the Remis Auditorium at the Museum of Fine Arts as works by celebrity filmmakers from around the world as part of the greatly expanded17th annual Roxbury International Film Festival (RIFF), which starts next week.
The big news this year is that RIFF is expanding to ten full days of events, with all screenings at the MFA. The lioness’s share of the credit for the continued growth and success of RIFF must be accorded to Lisa Simmons, the founder of RIFF and president of the Color of Film Collaborative, which produces the film fest.
Simmons explains the rationale for spreading out the schedule: “We have never done this before so we are hoping that this will help folks to not have to choose between films because they won’t be overlapping as in years before.”
From Wed., June 17, through Sun., June 28, RIFF, New England’s largest film festival celebrating people of color, will show a broad range of feature-length films, documentaries, shorts, and animation, with special preference to screening works by filmmakers with a connection to the New England area.
The inspirational Opening Night feature at the MFA is “An American Ascent” (2014, 67 min.), a feature documentary about the first African-American expedition to tackle North America’s highest peak, Mt. Denali in Alaska. In June 2013, nine African Americans set out to become role models for inner city kids and people of color all over America by encouraging them to get outside. They did so by taking on the grueling trek to the 20,320-foot summit of the continent’s biggest mountain. Following the screening there will be a discussion with the picture’s directors, Andrew Adkins and George Potter.
On June 19, RIFF will present the documentary “Obama Mama” by Vivian Norris (2014, 83 min.). More than the mother of the first black US president, Stanley Ann Dunham was an anthropologist with a PhD and a lifelong globetrotter. Through interviews with high school friends and colleagues, film clips, and archival footage, “Obama Mama” explores Dunham’s travels from small-town Kansas to Seattle, Hawaii, and Indonesia as well as her work in civil rights and the feminist movements and her dedication to raising awareness of global poverty.
The next morning, the first shorts program, entitled “Youth, Identity, and Consequences,” will begin a series of three-to-five-minute films with titles like “Bullied,” “Labels” and “Punchgirl PSA,” all by those Madison Park teens.
The festival’s closing film is “Shake the Dust” by journalist-turned-filmmaker Adam Sjöberg (2015, 85 min.). This documentary chronicles the far-reaching influence of breakdancing, exploring how it strikes a resonant chord in the slums, favelas, and ghettos of the world. While each culture adopts and adapts hip-hop music, blending it with its own traditions, breakdancing moves act as a universal language.
Moving between breakdance crews in the poorest urban neighborhoods of Colombia, Yemen, Uganda, and Cambodia, Sjöberg weaves together the stories of rappers, DJs, and b-boys across three continents, revealing how breakdancing today acts as a positive force for social change.
RIFF also includes workshops, panel discussions, networking opportunities, receptions, parties, and a Q&A with filmmakers and special guests. Previous guests have included Billy Dee Williams, Robert Townsend, Ernie Hudson ,and Victoria Rowell.
To purchase festival passes, go to brownpapertickets.com. For information on the festival, workshops and special guests, please visit roxburyinternationalfilmfestival.org.
