6 Greater Boston film festivals to check out this winter

This winter brings new leadership within the independent film exhibition scene as well as an abundance of new offerings through the region’s festivals and theaters.

In December, Boston Jewish Film announced that Joey Katz will take the reins as the organization’s new artistic director. Katz moved to Boston in 2018 after earning a degree in cinema studies from SUNY Purchase. He started with BJF in 2019 as a programming associate, working his way up to festival curator in 2024. In a statement, Katz recalls growing up in Cooperstown, New York, a town with only three Jewish families. Cinema became a way for him to learn about his culture. “In film, we see that Judaism isn’t monolithic. This is comforting for Jewish audiences and illuminating for non-Jewish audiences.” Later this spring, BJF will also resume hosting the Boston Israeli Film Festival after taking a year off.

After 20 years with the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival and 12 years in the lead, Joanne Morris announced she’ll be “taking on a modified supporting role” and Anne Crays has been named the new executive director. Crays has served the festival for many years, most recently as director of community relations. According to Morris, “With a background encompassing the worlds of business, philanthropy, public relations and the arts, Anne has the perfect skill set and experience for her new role.”

In the midst of its own renaissance, the West Newton Cinema has launched several notable ongoing programs. Nearly always the second Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m., beloved Boston film critic Ty Burr hosts his Movie Club with an oldie but goodie film followed by conversation. The beauty here is that you do not have to pretend you read the book to tap into book club comraderie. Show up as a blank slate and leave full of enlightenment (my promise, not his, but I stand firm). Past picks include Jim Jarmusch’s “Paterson” and Werner Herzog’s “Aguirre, the Wrath of God.” Screenwriter and author Brad Abraham hosts a similar monthly gathering. The Gen X Movie Club gives folks who took Ethan Hawke too seriously in their youth a chance to reexamine why they picked him over Ben Stiller. The Behind the Screen program gives Boston’s wicked smaht audiences a chance to watch a movie and hear from a panel of experts. On Jan. 9, I will I (humbly) moderate such a deep dive after “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.” In addition, my colleague (and friend) Anne Marie Stein launches a new program, Producer’s Circle, on Jan. 23, with work-in-progress films looking for community support. Documentarian Stephen Maing (“Union”) will present “The Great Experiment,” a “sweeping cinematic portrait of America.”

Below are additional film offerings to consider this winter.

When: Jan. 17-Feb. 7

Where: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Highlights: The pandemic pushed longtime in-house festivals such as this to the MFA film program’s back burner. But 2025 marks a promising turn, anchored by “The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Dane-ye anjir-e ma’abed),” which topped many critics’ end of year lists, including my own. Director Mohammad Rasoulof fled an eight-year prison sentence in Iran, for making the film there in secret, to attend its Cannes premiere. Framed by an allegory about how rooted fig seeds eventually strangle their host, the story exposes a family patriarch who cannot simulatenously abide his government and protect his family. What got me wasn’t the broad strokes plot moves — show me a thriller not propelled by paranoia and guns — but how the allegiances shifted within the family. Their disagreements over acceptable governance echo those swirling about the United States.

“Seed” leaves much to discuss, yet so do several other titles in this festival, including two from the 1970s. Newly restored and also a vehicle for paranoia, “The Stranger and the Fog (Garibeh Va Meh)” from 1974 exemplifies Iranian New Wave cinema — influenced by the French movement but firmly situated in the cultural norms and geography of Iran’s northern coast. “Dead End (Bon Bast)” from 1977 steps closer into a depiction of “Westernized” Iran, as a young woman living with her mom on a dead-end street falls for a mysterious man.

Good to know: Also a playwright and scholar in Iranian theater, director Bahram Beyzaie (“The Stranger and the Fog”) has written more than 70 books, plays and monographs and directed 14 stage plays. His father and uncle were revered Iranian poets.

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When: Jan. 18-20 and Jan. 26

Where: West Newton Cinema, Brattle Theatre, Regent Theatre

Highlights: Books to screen is the specialty of this child-focused fest, especially for kids ages 3-12. “Alice in Wonderland” inspired the many forms of live action and animation in the Brazilian-made “Teca & Tuti: A Night at the Library” on Jan. 20, for example. Just as here, this fest’s titles encompass more than English language books and movies. Adapted from a Norwegian bestseller, “Lars is LOL,” also on Jan. 20, shows what happens when a girl befriends and betrays a boy who happens to have Down syndrome; a discussion will follow. Also screening is “The Flying Classroom,” based on the 1933 German novel about boys in a boarding school leading up to Christmas (think “The Holdovers” meets “Wayside School”), which gets a modern spin with girls as the lead characters.

Animator and writer David Feiss will be on hand for a conversation after “Hitpig” on Jan. 19, which he co-directed. Kids can ask what drew him to a story about a mercenary pig (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) that saves an elephant. Earlier that day, kids can sign up for a workshop with Feiss on how to draw characters from the films he has worked on, including the “Minions” and “Hotel Transylvania” series. The three programs on Jan. 26 fall under the theme “reclaiming our green spaces” and touch on issues of deforestation, animal habitats and playground preservation.

Good to know: Every program has a suggested age range. Generally, programs for kids ages 3-8 are presented in English and limited to one hour. Headphones are available with an English reading for all subtitled films.

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When: Monthly, February-May

Where: ArtsEmerson’s Bright Family Screening Room

Highlights: In 2021, the Boston Asian American Film Festival, CineFest Latino Boston and Roxbury International Film Festival joined forces to create a series to highlight common experiences across cultures through cinema. This winter’s stories include psychics (“Look Into My Eyes,” Feb. 7), affirmative action activists (“Admissions Granted,” March 21), a presidential candidate (“Igualada,” April 25) and police officers (“Power,” May 16).

All documentaries, the films touch on the overlap between privilege, class, identity, race and access to power. In “Admission Granted,” those categories get spelled out and adjudicated through the race-based admissions lawsuit filed against Harvard. Sublter questions come up elsewhere, such as how people manage loneliness in “Look Into My Eyes” and director Yance Ford experiments with form to reassess the formation of American law enforcement in “Power.” Because festival leaders want to foster community conversation, a discussion (and often a reception) follows every screening.

Good to know: Prior to directing “Admissions Granted,” Miao Wang made the feature documentary “Maineland,” about a group of wealthy Chinese students who attend a boarding school in Maine. Both “Maineland” and “Admissions” played IFFBoston; the former won the fest’s special jury award in 2017.

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When: Monthly, February-June

Where: ArtsEmerson’s Bright Family Screening Room

Highlights: This series is chock full of great pairings of shorts with features plus old and brand-new films. The region’s premiere of the documentary “The Truer History of the Chan Family” on Feb. 9 kicks things off with song and dance; its contemporary vaudeville act merges anti-Asian U.S. history and family history told over generations. It’s  preceded by the short “Ten Times Better.” “Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement” played the 2024 Boston Asian American Film Festival and returns on Feb. 22 to mark the Day of Remembrance for Japanese Americans incarcerated during WWII. The documentary celebrates the titular singer-songwriter and activist for her far-reaching influence on Asian American cultural visibility.

Ursula Liang’s 2014 volleyball documentary “9-Man” captures the essence of this series by uplifting a unique sport devised and played in cities throughout North America, including Boston. This instant classic screens on March 22 as do two other films about Asian American athletes. Showing in advance of its PBS broadcast, the documentary “Home Court” follows a standout Cambodian American basketball player through the college recruitment process. In the 2004 short “Yellow Brotherhood,” basketball becomes a form of self-help.

Good to know: Ursula Liang (“9-Man”) grew up in Newton. In 2021, she talked to me about making her second documentary “Down a Dark Stairwell,” which captured the largest Asian American public protests to date and examined the overlap between Asian American and Black Lives Matter social movements.

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When: Feb. 12-17

Where: Somerville Theatre and online

Highlights: Film festival years are like dog years (just ask those volunteer organizers) so a tip of the Chex box to the folks at Boston Sci-Fi for making it five whole decades! We knew this group had stamina — not just anyone can watch movies for 24 hours straight. Plus, they know how to party. There’s a gala this year, of course, along with the famed 24-hour movie marathon. Kids have started to bring their kids, says founder and director Garen Daly. “It’s the original binge view.” To mark the half-century, there’s also a new book on the fest’s history, a documentary in the works, and a bunch of “Boston Sci-Film Festival Podcast” episodes to catch up on and talk about in the popcorn line.

If you’re looking for specifics, the fest will open with the documentary “Small Town Universe,” about the strange realities of a small West Virginia town with a highly-sensitive radio telescope and where Wi-Fi and cell phones are banned. Daly appreciates how in the film a young girl finds “her nerd side.” The film also raises timely questions about the precariousness of science funding. Because of the incoming Trump administration, Daly says that sci-fi lovers share this worry as well. For him, the most pertinent question of this year’s fest is “Why science?” For 50 years, this fest has been a gathering place in celebration of answers known and unfathomable.

Good to know: In addition to hearing local musician Jeff Rapsis accompany the 105-year-old “lost” German silent film “Algol: Tragedy of Power,” sci-fi enthusiasts can hear from astrophysicist Avi Loeb on “The Science of Hunting Aliens.”

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When: Feb. 28-March 17

Where: ArtsEmerson’s Paramount Center and online

Highlights: With a population of just under two million, the tiny nation of Latvia is pretty psyched about the global adoration of “Flow,” the animated survival story that finds a cat, capybara, lemur and other animals sheltering on a boat after a flood. Though Academy Award nominations will not be announced until Jan. 17, the Latvian-made film will likely receive a Best Animated Feature nomination and may even win. “It is a huge achievement for my little country to even have gotten this far,” said Aija Dreimane, chair of the Boston Baltic Film Festival. She’s thrilled that “Flow” will screen at this year’s festival, with a member of the creative team invited to attend.

She’s quick to point out several other recent triumphs for Latvian filmmakers. Opening night features the 2024 documentary “Podnieks on Podnieks. A Witness to History," about the life of Latvian director and cinematographer Juris Podnieks. His landmark, widely viewed 1986 documentary about young people living under Soviet rule, “Is It Easy To Be Young?,” will screen virtually. The life and defiance of Latvian silent movie star Maria Leiko takes center stage in “Maria’s Silence,” a black-and-white drama principally set in a Latvian theatre in Moscow. Director Dāvis Sīmanis, a festival alum (“The Mover” in 2019), will be present for a post-film conversation. The Baltic Fest, of course, also includes the latest from Estonia and Lithuania. Estonia’s Academy Award entry for Best International Film, “8 Views of Lake Biwa,” also screens. Dremaine calls it a “poetic film that interestingly combines Estonian culture and Japanese haiku.”“Drowning Dry” is a Lithuanian drama that uses a fragmented timeline to shed light on a traumatic experience shared by sisters summering on a lake. The complete schedule will be online in January.

Good to know: Last year, the festival nearly sold out its in-person screening of the series “Soviet Jeans.” Set in Soviet Latvia in the 1970s, when a pair of Levi’s had massive monetary and counter-cultural cred, the series has since gained additional awards and acclaim. While not yet available in the U.S., Dremaine says she had audiences ready and waiting for season two.

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