EXHILARATING’’

PROVINCETOWN INT’L FILM FESTIVAL
Fresh Summer Screenings
“Strike a Pose,” the documentary
on Madonna’s back-up dancers,
closes the festival.
JUNE 14, 2016 VARIETY.COM
90
Edgy Filmmaking
Meets Cape Cod Cool
Ocean-front fest in historic New England
vacation town holds fast to indie spirit
By PAUL GAITA
Like the Massachusetts seaside town that serves as its
host, the Provincetown Intl. Film Festival has been a
beacon for independent-minded artists who seek to
showcase and discuss their work with a diverse and appreciative
audience. The 18th iteration of the festival, which
takes place June 15-19, is no exception, as evidenced by its
lineup of feature films and special programs. This year’s
schedule includes the Viggo Mortensen starrer “Captain
Fantastic,” fresh off winning Un Certain Regard’s director
prize at Cannes, as its opening night presentation. It
closes with the New England premiere of the documentary
“Strike a Pose,” about the dancers who backed Madonna
on her “Blonde Ambition” tour. The festival will also honor
Ang Lee and Cynthia Nixon and offers a restored presentation
of long-time festival supporter John Waters’
rarely seen sophomore feature, the 1970 cult film “Multiple
Maniacs,” in addition to many other films, panels and
presentations.
COD COMMUNITY
According to the festival’s
organizers, PIFF’s popularity
is informed by the Cape
Cod town itself, which
over the course of three
centuries has counted a
Portuguese-run fishing
industry, an array of
artists, writers and actors,
and a significant LGBTQ
community among its
residents.
“There’s something
very unique about
Provincetown,” says
filmmaker Christine Walker,
who is also the festival’s
executive director. “There’s
a camaraderie among
the filmmakers and the
audiences because we
all feel like we’re in this
inspirational place together.
It doesn’t feel like you’re
running around trying to
secure a deal — it feels like
you’re meeting colleagues
and people who love film.”
Waters, whom festival
artistic director Connie
White describes as PIFF’s
guru, says the town and
the festival draw eclectic
crowds because “it’s still a
beatnik place — a place for
Bohemians, a gay fishing
village that’s also hetero
friendly. [And festival]
audiences are passionate
and crazy and accepting
of almost anything. Who
wouldn’t want to go to
Provincetown?”
HONOREES AND KEYNOTES
In addition to Lee, who
will receive this year’s
Filmmaker on the Edge
award from Waters on June
18, and Nixon, who will be
honored with the festival’s
Excellence in Acting Award
that same day, the lineup
will feature a keynote
speech by producer Effie
Brown [“Dear White
People”] at the Evan
Lawson Filmmakers Brunch
on June 19. Actress-director
Illeana Douglas will speak
about her memoir “I
Blame Dennis Hopper” at a
PIFFtalks panel discussion
June 16, while authors
David Ebershoff and Lisa
Genova will speak at a
June 18 panel about the
transition of their books —
“The Danish Girl” and “Still
Alice,” respectively — into
feature films.
In addition to
interviewing Lee as part
of the Filmmaker on the
Edge Award — a duty he’s
handled since the first
PIFF in 1999 — Waters will
also be present to offer up
a newly restored print of
“Multiple Maniacs,” which
he describes as “training
wheels for ‘Pink Flamingos.’”
Directed in 1970 and
featuring the late Divine as
the owner of a homicidal
carnival act called “The
Cavalcade of Perversion,”
the film originally played
Province-town when Waters
summered there, as he
has for the last 50 years.
“It played there before
Tipsheet
What: Provincetown Intl.
Film Festival
When: Provincetown, Mass.
Where: June 15-19
web: ptownfilmfest.org
it had a distributor,” says
Waters. “I worked at the
[East End] Bookshop, and
the owner let me turn
the display windows into
advertisements for the
film.”
Waters decided to revisit
the film after appearing
with the Baltimore
Symphony for a production
of “Hairspray,” the familyfriendly
musical based on
his 1988 film. “I was the
onstage narrator, and I
thought that the audience
loved it for all the right
reasons,” he says. “But
what if they saw ‘Multiple
Maniacs?’ They would be
horrified!” After working
out some music rights and
sound issues, Waters says
that the film will enjoy
a brief theatrical run
following its debut at PIFF
on June 17.
SCREENINGS
“We’re always looking for
films that are edgy and [of]
quality,” says White. “We
want something crowdpleasing
to kick off the
festival, that will engage
the town, and ‘Captain
Fantastic’ [June 15 and
19] sets the right tone.
Closing night is something
that people can build up
towards, and ‘Strike a Pose’
[June 16 and 19] had the
right flavor to end the
festival — it’s touching and
very interesting.”
Other films screening
include Jonah Markowitz
and Tracey Ware’s
documentary “Political
Animals,” the drama
“Indignation,” which
director James Schamus
adapted from the Philip
Roth novel, and Susanna
White’s film version of
John Le Carre’s “Our Kind
of Traitor” with Ewan
McGregor and Naomi
Harris. Todd Solondz’s new
comedy “Wiener-Dog” will
also screen.