The Woods Hole Film Festival, now in its 22nd year, is heavily seasoned with local flavor.
The festival, which kicks off Saturday and runs until Aug. 3, shows off about 100 independent films — around 30 full-length features and the rest shorts. Many of the movies have Cape Cod connections.
"Our mission is to really try to show films by people who have a relationship to Cape Cod and show films that are important to life on Cape Cod," says festival director Judith Laster.
Woods Hole Film Festival was, according to its website, called "one of the 25 coolest film festivals in the world" by Movie Maker Magazine. Although Laster notes that the festival didn't give itself that designation, she thinks the cool factor stems from the fest's authenticity. It offers opportunities for filmmakers they may not be able to find at other festivals, she says.
"Here, everybody's on the same level," Laster says. "Audiences and filmmakers are accessible to each other and the entire community is within walking distance. There's a real festive feel throughout the festival."
The Woods Hole community, she notes, tends to be rather academic, which leads to compelling Q&A sessions.
This year's opening-night films are: "A Fish Story"; a 120-minute block of short films dubbed "The Truth About Love"; "The Golden Scallop"; and "Birth of the Living Dead."
It's a collection of films designed to attract as broad an audience as possible, Laster says.
"The Golden Scallop," showing at 9 p.m. Saturday in the Redfield Auditorium, was filmed on the Cape by three Nauset Regional High School graduates — director Joseph Laraja, producer Michael Boisvért and writer Kevin Harrigan.
The mockumentary-style comedy is about the fictitious 43rd annual Golden Scallop competition in which the top three fried-fish restaurants in the Northeast face off for the much-vied title of Golden Scallop Champion. The film follows the three finalists from the time they learn they're selected until the eventual winner is crowned.
Laraja, Boisvért and Harrigan all spent their summers on the Cape working at restaurants, fish markets and clam shacks, and drew inspiration from their experiences in the industry.
PR
