Two Philly film fests announce line-up, including one that is all anti-Trump
Two popular Philadelphia festivals have announced details of their pending line-ups, including The Awesome Fest, which this summer will offer programming "confronting, defying and trolling Donald Trump."
Organizer Josh Goldbloom said he found inspiration for this year's slate watching Meryl Streep at the Golden Globes, advising people to heed Carrie Fisher and "take your broken heart and turn it into art." It will be a guiding principal of this year's Awesome Fest that will commence sometime in June.
"Awesome Fest has always been a binge and purge situation for me. I've been binging on quite a lot of politics, so this summer, I'm going to purge," Goldbloom said.
The programming line-up – which always includes free live music, free outdoor screenings and speakers at various locations around the city — has not been finalized. But Goldbloom, taking a cue from President Trump's pledge to expel "bad hombres" in the U.S. illegally, is planning a Bad Hombre slate of Mexican cinema. He's also mulling a retrospective of the best Saturday Night Live send-ups of the Trump administration. Programming details will be announced in late April or May.
Will the festival find room for content that might appeal to supporters of President Trump, who carried the state?
"Absolutely" Goldbloom noted. "We're here to entertain, and I'm confident the program will reflect that and have events/screenings that hopefully everyone can enjoy."
The fifth annual Cinedelphia Film Fest, running April 13-29 and presented by PhilaMOCA (531 N. 12th St.), has finalized its programming. The opening night selection is Blue Velvet Revisited, a documentary about the making of the David Lynch movie. The closing night film is On the Sly: In Search of the Family Stone, a documentary about the search for Sly Stone.
The festival also includes an appearance by Alex Cox, director of Repo Man, following a screening of the movie Saturday, April 15. (Cox is also known for directing Sid & Nancy, about Philadelphia's own Nancy Spungeon and her volatile relationship the Sex Pistol's Sid Vicious.) Cinedelphia will also host the Philadelphia premiere of his new film Tombstone Rashomon, also April 15. Details on the full slate here.
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