Films from around the world will be represented in the 2019 Arizona International Film Festival.
The 101 movies that will be screened come from 22 countries, including Albania, China, Iraq, Australia and Switzerland.
“It’s incredible,” says Mia Schnaible, who handles marketing for the fest, now in its 28th year. “Overall, in the festival’s history, over 100 countries have been represented.”
The theme of this year’s event, which runs through April 21, is “Words Matter, Indie Film Matters,” she said. All but one film will be at the Screening Room, 127 E. Congress.
The offerings are eclectic, from documentaries to dramas to animation to comedies.
There will be filmmakers at many of the screenings.
“We’ll easily have 50 filmmakers this year,” says Schnaible.
Among the movies you can see is the world premiere of “Apple Seed,” about a man driving cross country to rob his hometown bank (6 p.m. April 14). The late Rance Howard plays an ex-con hitchhiker who gets picked up by the would-be-bank robber, played by Michael Worth, who directed the film and shot it in Arizona. After the film, Cory Chisel and Alana Sweetwater will perform the original music from the movie at Hotel Congress.
Kai Carlson-Wee returns to the festival with his short film, “Cry of the Loon,” an elegy to his grandfather (7 p.m. April 11). Carlson-Wee, a published poet, will read some of his poetry.
The Loft will host the screening of the documentary “The Meaning of Vanlife” directed by Jim Lounsbury (2:30 p.m. April 21). It takes a look into the lives of people and communities who travel the roads and live out of their vans.
And Tucson native Carr Cavender returns to his old stomping grounds with “To Hell and Gone” which he stars in and produced (7 p.m. April 13). Filmed in Arizona, it’s about deadly criminals and other miscreants who converge on a woman’s ranch.
