Your guide to the 2018 Philadelphia Film Festival

Philadelphia Film Society (PFS) returns for its 2018 festival season, with the 27th annual Philadelphia Film Festival, running October 18 through 28, with a program boasting an impressive 125 films. This month also marks 10 years since PFS took over sole management of the Philadelphia Film Festival, making it an anniversary of sorts for those in the know. Artistic director Michael Lerman says that after a decade of working with PFS executive director Andrew Greenblatt, “I love that we continue to find fresh, unique films that delight and challenge audiences.”

Cracking the guide

With so much to choose from at the 2018 festival, it can be a little daunting trying to pick what to see, so here are some tips for cracking their guide. Aside from the tentpoles (Opening, Closing, and Centerpiece Screenings), which are generally considered to be the strongest films in the festival, the program is organized into 11 sidebar programs that delve into a variety of subjects that cater to a variety of cinephile tastes. Ranging from familiar favorites like World Narratives, American Independents, and Greater Filmadelphia (a section of homegrown films), this year’s program also includes sections on New French Films and Nordic Voices.

With mainstream film festivals, I tend to gravitate towards the genre sections, explored here in the Graveyard Shift. One title in particular worth checking out: on Saturday, October 20, at 10pm at the Philadelphia Film Center (1412 Chestnut Street, formerly the Prince Music Theater), catch Overlord — a survival horror set during World War II as a band of American paratroopers do battle with Nazi zombies in the French countryside amid the D-Day invasion.

The Feast sidebar of food-related programming has also returned this year as a smaller three-film section. On Thursday, October 25, at Ritz East, watch Ramen Shop, the story of a multiethnic Japanese-Singaporean ramen chef who journeys to his late mother’s native Singapore after his father passes away. The story culminates in a culinary coming-of-age as he begins to unlock his family’s history with each dish.

PFS recommends

PFS senior programmer Trey Shields shares some of his not-to-be-missed films. “This year has some of the oddest and most rewarding films we have ever shown,” he says, including Portugal’s Diamantino, in which (according to PFS) a disgraced international soccer star “unknowingly becomes the center of a Portuguese conspiracy to secede from the EU.” Or there is Sweden’s Border, where, as PFS puts it, “an unusual-looking border customs agent with a sense of smell so powerful it can identify criminals meets a suspicious stranger who shares her abilities in this utterly unique mystery.”

Shields says it’s also “an honor to be able to present Bi Gan’s groundbreaking neo-noir Long Day’s Journey into Night in 3D and the late Hu Bo’s epic drama An Elephant Sitting Still.” He adds that this year, you can choose from one of four curated subscription packages, which is like “having your own personal programmer picking out films for you.”

The curated subscription packages offer attendees four options for a guided festival experience. The packages are categorized by World Perspectives (diverse foreign selection), PFF Sampler (varied in genre and subject matter), Dark Shadows (edgier content outside of the Graveyard Shift sidebar), and Festival Circuit (festival darlings from around the world).

Check out the curated subscription packages online, plus the digital festival program guide. You can also take a look at the full schedule, and click through for tickets.

The Philadelphia Film Festival runs October 18 through 28 at the Philadelphia Film Center and two of the usual suspects: Ritz 5 and Ritz East in Old City.