The 28th Annual Provincetown International Film Festival runs June 10-14 with more than 80 movies, including documentaries on Provincetown icons: painter Anne Packard and poet Mary Oliver.
There are also films on the Cape Cod commercial fishing fleet; a Provincetown-based exploration of erosion; and “Desperate Living,” the third title in John Waters’ “notorious trash trilogy.”
The new biopic “Tony,” filmed partly in Provincetown restaurants where chef and TV travel host Anthony Bourdain got his start, is in town for a June 12 preview and discussion with director Matt Johnson and actor Dominic Sessa, who plays the young Bourdain.
Sessa is one of a score of celebrities expected in town for the festival, including: Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Hannah Einbinder, Jane Schoenbrun, Marco Calvani, Adam Shankman, John Early, Chloë Sevigny, John Waters and more.
Waters, who helped found the festival in 1999 and was named the first “Filmmaker on the Edge,” will present that award for this year to Ryan Murphy. Murphy is credited with creating many of the shows (“American Horror Story” and “Glee”) and movies (“The Normal Heart,” “Running With Scissors,” “Eat, Pray, Love”) that helped move queer culture into mainstream American art. Murphy also created and produced the limited series “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.”
The Hollywood Reporter’s chief film critic David Rooney will present the Festival Tribute award to Adan Shankman, director and choreographer of musicals including “Hairspray,” “A Walk to Remember” and “The Wedding Planner.” as well as a “So You Think You Can Dance?” fixture.
Shankman’s latest film, “Stop! That! Train!” will open the film festival. “Family Movie,” directed by Kevin Bacon, is the closing film.
Fans looking for film with a local touch may want to check out: “Anne Packard: An Artist’s Resolve” about a Provincetown artist who earned international recognition for her expressive seascape paintings while raising five children on her own and “Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World,” a documentary directed by Sasha Waters and featuring, according to a community announcement, “interviews with Oliver’s close friends, including John Waters, never-before-seen personal photos, notebooks, and correspondence from her archive, and recitations of her work by Stephen Colbert, Lucy Dacus, Steve Buscemi, Maria Shriver and Oprah Winfrey,”
Also up from local filmmakers: “The Hand That Holds the Line: The Incredible Stories of Those Who Fish on Cape Cod,” a documentary from Kim Roderiques and Geoffrey Bassett about Cape Cod’s commercial fisherman, and “Erosions,” part documentary and part dance film, this Provincetown-set film explores the inevitability of a changing landscape and people’s response to it.
How to get Provincetown International Film Festival tickets
Provincetown International Film Festival passes range from $110 for six movies to $1,500 for an all-access option. Individual tickets are available online. Visit the festival website, https://www.provincetownfilm.org/, for schedules and tickets.
Gwenn Friss is the editor of CapeWeek and covers entertainment, restaurants and the arts on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Contact her at [email protected].
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