23rd Philadelphia Film Festival ramps up today

THE 23RD PHILADELPHIA Film Festival ramps up today with an assortment of Hollywood sneak peaks and buzzed-about indies and foreign titles.

The festival officially commenced yesterday with opening day screenings of Bill Murray's "St Vincent" and also "Birdman," the latter featuring Michael Keaton's sensational and sure-to-be Oscar-nominated performance as an aging Hollywood star mounting a Broadway comeback.

The festival concludes Oct. 26 with a closing night screening of another likely Oscar contender, "Wild," featuring Reese Witherspoon in an adaptation of Cheryl Strayed's best-seller about a thousand-mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail.

In between are more than 100 films from dozens of countries - highlights include Benedict Cumberbatch in "The Imitation Game," about British codebreakers in World War II. You can catch the Turkish film "Winter Sleep," winner of this year's Palme d'Or at Cannes. More winners at Cannes - "Mommy," Xavier Dolan's story of a mother caring for her wayward son, and "Force Majeure," about the aftermath of a tragic avalanche in the Swiss Alps.

There are a slew of American independents - Lynn Shelton's "Laggies," featuring Keira Knightley as an almost-30 woman whose arrested development finds expression in her decision to move in with a teenage girl. Or the October-appropriate, pre-Halloween feature "Creep," featuring Mark Duplass as a rural weirdo who lures a young man to his estate with an offer of $1,000 for some offbeat film work. In that vein, the festival also has a "Graveyard Shift" section, featuring horror titles "It Follows," and "VHS: Viral," the culmination of the popular USA-Spanish horror franchise.

The indie section also features the third film from Bryn Mawr native Alex Ross Perry, the very well reviewed "Listen Up Phillip," featuring Jason Schwartzman as a talented young writer learning all the wrong lessons at the feet of a Philip-Roth-like recluse, played by Jonathan Pryce.

The expansive line-up of documentaries includes "Happy Valley," from Amir Bar-Lev ("The Tillman Story"), about the complex impact of the Sandusky scandal on Penn State and State College, Pa.

Festival organizers continue to beef up successful programs - free ticketing, student engagement - aimed at making the festival more inclusive and engaging, said Andrew Greenblatt.

Certain programs (this year it's part of the American Independents section) will have blocs of free tickets available.

"Every year, this gets bigger and more popular," Greenblatt said. "And we're very proud of it. It removes any barrier to entry, and provides interested people access to movies they otherwise might not have an opportunity to see."

Organizers have also beefed up efforts to connect students with challenging movies - also for free.

"We've curated a series of films that we feel will have particular appeal to students of varying levels. They get exposed to ideas, maybe something from a foreign country or a different culture, and we have filmmakers there, so the students can have a personal experience and ask questions that go beyond the film," he said.

The 23rd PFF also features tributes to performers who died this year - "Capote," with Philip Seymour Hoffman, and "To Have and Have Not," with Lauren Bacall.

There is a special section featuring the works of David Lynch - "Straight Story," "Wild at Heart," "Mulholland Drive" and "Blue Velvet."

Dozens of actors and directors will be on hand to talk about their work, including Bar-Lev, Perry, and Rory Culkin, star of "Gabriel."

For information about screenings, tickets, and venues, visit filmadelphia.org/festival.