The 15th Annual Philadelphia Film Festival

Our fine local film festival is totally under-rated and under-the-radar, but it ROCKS. Due to my family obligations, I was only able to get to 5 feature length films during the 11 day festival, but they were all terrific:

* The Boynton Beach Club -- with the help of her mom, who executive produced, Susan Seidelman, famous for Desparately Seeking Susan, created a delightful romantic comedy set in an "active senior" housing development in Florida, with Joseph Bologna, Len Cariou, Brenda Vaccaro, Dyan Cannon, Michael Nouri, and Sally Kellerman.

* Our Brand is Crisis -- James Carville's political consulting group has repeatedly worked internationally (see the film Spinning Boris for another example); this documentary follows the group's work on the 2002 Bolivian presidential election.

* Romeo and Juliet Get Married -- utterly adorable reworking of the classic Shakespeare tale (though no one dies!) from Brazil, with the lovers coming from families who root for competing local soccer teams

* This Film is Not Yet Rated -- if you care about movies you should see this searing yet humorous documentary about the MPAA film rating system (the film is actually rated NC-17 for graphic sexual content); includes interviews with (among others) David Ansen (film critic for Newsweek), Allison Anders (Gas, Food Lodging), Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry), Kevin Smith (Clerks), and John Waters.

* Tapas -- fun Spanish film about how love conquers all at any age; a festival favorite that I saw at an added showing on the final night of the festival