One of the shining standouts of the 21st Philadelphia Film Festival and of the whole year was David O. Russell’s ‘Silver Linings Playbook’. Set in Philadelphia, last year’s opening night film starring Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro, and Jennifer Lawrence follows a bi-polar man who recently gets released from a mental hospital and befriends a mysterious girl with her own baggage who agrees to help him reconcile with his estranged wife. But through a series of events that involves dancing and the Philadelphia Eagles, the pair grows closer together despite all their problems.
The month of February celebrates a number of things for different groups of people. In the United States and Canada, it’s Black History Month. In the UK, it’s LGBT History Month. For fans of the NFL, it marks the end of their season as the two top teams in the NFL battle it out in the Super Bowl. Finally, for cinefiles all over the world, this February is all about Hollywood looking back at the past year’s praiseworthy films in order to honor them at the 85th Academy Awards.
However, I have a confession to make: I’m not too huge on award shows, especially the Academy Awards.
If you recall, after each movie in the Philadelphia Film Festival, you were asked to rate the film on a ballot. Well, the numbers are in and we’ve determined some of the standout, award-worthy films of PFF21!
This year’s Philadelphia Film Festival has come and gone, and after a few days to rest/deal with a natural disaster, we’re all back at work here at the Film Society. And though festival season has passed, the great films that we all got to see won’t soon leave our minds.
Over the course of the eleven-day festival, I saw a total of 25 films. In an effort to relive the awesome movies that I got to see at this year’s festival, I’d like to share with you my top 5 favorite films of the festival.
11 days, 103 films and 18 shorts-How many did you see?
We’ve received great feedback on the 2012 Festival and are amazed with the number of films our members and guests were able to view this year! Thanks for all your support and we hope you enjoyed PFF21!
Here are some of our top attendees and their favorites from the Festival:
Phil McCarty - 50 Films:
1. Three Worlds
2. Atomic States of America
3. Lore
4. A Royal Affair
5. Simon Killer
Keith Lyons – 46 Films:
1. Diaz: Don’t Clean Up this Blood
2. Holy Motors
3.
If you missed out on ‘Silver Linings Playbook’, the opening film of the 21st Philadelphia Film Festival from director David O. Russell starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, or if you just want to see it again, you have another chance to see it before it hits theaters by becoming a member of the Philadelphia Film Society!
We’re having a members only screening of the film on November 1st, so if you want in on what many festival goers consider to be the best film of the festival thus far, and one of the best films of the year, be sure to look into getting a membership.
In just a few short hours, the 21st Philadelphia Film Festival kicks off this year’s festivities with a screening of David O. Russell’s ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert DeNiro.
If you managed to get tickets or snag a badge (since that’s the only way you’ll get into this SOLD OUT event), you’ll be rubbing elbows with ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ author Matthew Quick, producers Donna Gigliotti and Bruce Cohen, and director O. Russell since they’ll all be making appearances right here in Philly for the festival.
Last Friday, the whole line up for this year’s Philadelphia Film Festival went live. Hopefully in the week that it’s been available, you’ve noticed that there’s a great selection this year, but for you newbies (or even some of you veteran festival goers), it might be a little overwhelming when you’re trying to decide which films to see.
