6 film festivals to check out this summer

This summer, the Cape and Islands beckon with destination film festivals. The Brattle installs new seating. Harvard Film Archive takes a pause for restoration. And a long-time Boston drag entertainer makes her major film debut.

Since wooing fans in an early season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Jujubee has been steadily winning over more fans on all fronts — through live performance, on London and off-Broadway stages, and as a recording artist. This month, she stars as a train stewardess in the drag farce “Stop! That! Train!” that opens at the Provincetown Film Festival on June 10 and nationwide on June 12. If that’s not enough, she also releases an EP and celebrates a birthday in June.

On a day off between film premieres in LA and Toronto, Jujubee explained that the convergence of success at age 42 is “something I’ve prayed for since childhood.” But this movie feels extra special partly for the leading cast made entirely of drag queens, and partly for the style of comedy. “We did not try to be funny,” she said. “I approached DeeDee as an earnest, thoughtful and curious character. Comedy lives in that.”

Known off stage as Airline Inthyrath, Jujubee grew up in Lowell and currently lives in Malden. She traces her no-nonsense approach to her Boston roots. “We’re so honest. Maybe not so nice, but we’re kind,” she said. If a stormageddon threatened her city like the one in “Stop! That! Train!,” she has no doubt the community would come through. “We might complain about helping people. But we’ll be there. Early. With a Dunkin iced.” She’s hoping Bostonians show up for this wild ride of a movie because right now, “Everyone needs and wants an escape.”

They may not serve “buckets” of iced coffee at Cambridge Community Television, but the public access station has been helping people make independent media for almost 40 years. A few years ago, CCTV volunteer-turned-programming and archive manager Tristan Calvo-Studdy started sifting through a closetful of decades of the station’s old VHS tapes. He was searching for “some of the weirdest and wackiest videos” from 1988 through present day.

First he compiled a retrospective reel that includes a ferret film, slides and a conversation about street art, music videos, early animation, and live call-in shows. Then Calvo-Studdy created a timeline of historic CCTV images and memorabilia. The resulting exhibit “CCTV Rewind” is free and open to the public in the station’s Karen Aqua Gallery through Aug. 8. (You can get an at-home peek on YouTube.)

CCTV senior advisor Melina O’Grady said that the retrospective surfaced so many CCTV memories that community members are invited to add theirs to the record by calling 617-401-4008 and leaving a message. A closing celebration with a screening of more “weird and wacky” archival selections is planned for August 1.

Meanwhile, here are several other ways to see movies and celebrate independent filmmaking in Boston and beyond this summer.

When: June 10-14

Where: Provincetown’s Waters Edge Cinema, Town Hall, The Art House, Fishermen Hall and Crown & Anchor

Highlights: Kick off summer with a ferry ride to the Cape for some of the region’s best indie moviegoing with a queer spin. This year’s special guests include trailblazing TV creator Ryan Murphy, multitalented actor Marco Calvani (“High Tide,” “The Four Seasons”), and director/choreographer/producer Adam Shankman all set to attend. Shankman’s zany drag-a-palooza “Stop! That! Train!” opens the fest on June 10 with Massachusetts’ own Jujubee in her first major film appearance. She plays part of a bestie duo who must stop a glitzy train before an Armageddon-style storm tears it apart. As one savvy YouTube user commented, “can’t wait for the 5% critics score and 95% audience score.” This (sometimes) critic agrees — it’s time to have more fun.

Fun can be had throughout this fest: pour latent teen angst into “creative dress” for the “Carrie” prom and disco event on June 13. Before that, learn about body-positive filmmaking icon Barbara Hammer (“Barbara Forever,” June 12 and 14) or sex positive activist Robyn Byrd (“Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story,” June 11 and 14). Of the seven shorts programs, one draws together stories from New England (June 12 and 14) and another from the Cape (June 11 and 12). (This year’s lineup has a particularly strong showing of projects shot around Provincetown or about its residents past and present.) If Jane Schoenbrun makes your TV glow, you can see their latest, “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” (June 11 and 14) and hear from both Schoenbrun and the film’s star Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) in person on June 12. Buckets of blood catch another group of characters by surprise (Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick and their IRL kids) in closing night’s lighthearted “Family Movie.”

Good to know: If you miss this fest’s opening night, “Stop! That! Train!” opens wide release on June 12. Still can’t get enough Jujubee? She and collaborator Ginger Minj (Tess in “Stop!,” and a past winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”) will be in P-Town July 9-26, bringing their “Wicked” parody "Licked: For Gay" to the stage at Red Room. “I play Elphaba, she’s Glinda,” said Jujubee. Counting rehearsals, for her that means, “I have to be green two months straight!”

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Where: Nantucket Dreamland Film and Cultural Center, Nantucket Performing Arts Center, Nantucket United Methodist Church, Sconset Casino, Ten Easy Street and The Gaslight

When: June 17-22

Highlights: Executive director Mystelle Brabbée wants Bostonians to know that Nantucket can make a great day trip. “You could get off the ferry at 8 or 9 a.m., go to a morning coffee, see four films throughout the day, and get on a ferry by 9 p.m. at night… just pack it in and have a fun day,” she said. All venues are within short walking distance from the ferry landing. Plus, more than most, this fest offers chances to hobnob with A-list talent, especially writers. Rashida Jones will be picking up a screenwriting award with Will McCormack; actor Rose Byrne presents a storytelling award to Paul Feig; and Chloë Sevigny appears on screen and in person for a closing night (world premiere) episode of “The Five-Star Weekend,” a series adapted from the Elin Hilderbrand novel set on Nantucket. (For those particular stars, I am seriously considering that day trip.)

Films with “Deep Dive” conversations include a first look at a forthcoming three-part HBO docuseries with an origin story that takes place on the island, circa 1970s. Using archival footage and contemporary interviews, “Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult” recounts how teen Hoyt Richards fell prey to a cult just as his super modeling career took off. Now 64 years old, Richards will attend to discuss his experience. Another “Deep Dive” is slated with Boston filmmaker Mary Mazzio and crewmembers from the first all-female sail team to compete in the America’s Cup. They’ll screen and discuss “Mighty Mary,” the documentary that charts their ambitious attempt to break 144 years of male dominance in the sport. Festival lead programmer Anita Raswant points people between the ages of 18 and 35 to titles in the “Next Wave” program; folks in that age range can get discounted tickets. There are also shorts programs, including one for kids. “You can bring the whole family,” says Raswant. (Though I can say from experience that prospect makes the day trip sound more daunting.)

Good to know: Nantucket is one of the film fests increasingly programming streaming series (what I still call TV) alongside the 90-plus-minute format some call movies. (Shout out to Sean Burns who likes to call them “pictures.”) “For me, those boundaries are becoming blurred,” said Brabbée, acknowledging that’s especially true for writers. As a result, she said, “We are weaving in more and more episodic.”

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When: June 18-26

Where: Hibernian Hall, MFA Boston, MassArt, JustBook-ish, Shaw-Roxbury Library, Lucie, and online

Highlights: RoxFilm enters year 28 as the region’s go-to fest of films by and about people of color. More than 100 titles will screen, from fiction to nonfiction, features and an abundance of shorts (there are 15 thematically organized shorts programs this year). The fest opens on June 18 with the documentary “Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story” with the titular subject present for a Q&A. Recruited from Bermuda to play for West Ham United in the late 1960s, Best became the first Black football (soccer) player to rise to fame in England. The short doc “She Dared to Dream” profiles powerhouse politician Ayanna Pressley as part of the “Dreamers” shorts program on June 21; it also screens at a free community event on June 22.

On June 23, one of the fest’s newer features, “senior lunch,” invites older persons for a free meal followed by movies and conversation. This year, Karen Somers’ documentary “Pursuing Light: The Bill Strickland Story” (with scenes that involve the nonprofit New England Culinary Arts Training) will screen along with two shorts, “Black History Begins with Love” by Boston children’s book author Irene Smalls, and a fictional retelling of an Ella Fitzgerald recording session, “Ella” by Nikki Taylor-Roberts. A panel that delves into mental health issues and caring for family members with Alzheimer’s follows “Finding Your Laughter” on June 25. Comedian Arlieta Hall will screen a fine cut of the documentary about how she uses stand-up and improv to face those issues in her own life. Karen Craddock of The Wellness Collaborative will moderate a conversation with Hall and co-director Brittany Alsot.

Good to know: Audience members can hear works-in-progress written by RoxFilm alumni and read by actors at “The Daily Script Read,” held live from noon to 1pm, June 18-30 (though on June 21, an actor’s improv workshop will be held instead). Each installment allows time for audience questions.

When: July 25-Aug. 1

Where: Clapp Auditorium, Meigs Room at the Swope Center, Redfield Auditorium and Woods Hole Community Hall in Woods Hole; Falmouth Academy in Falmouth

Highlights: A prime summer destination festival (walkable, beach-able), each year this crew culls about 100 titles from more than 1,000 submissions. It does so with help from young programmers-in-training on fellowship. The result is a robust and diverse line-up (dramas, docs, features, shorts), with a strong showing in science topics, and always friendly to the region’s indie film community. Several documentaries by Massachusetts filmmakers (or with Boston ties) screen: Robb Moss’ “The Bend in the River,” Stephen Maing and Eric Metzgar’s “The Great Experiment,” Allison Argo’s “Forever Home,” Andrew Kukura’s “Leaving Angola,” Beth Harrington’s “Our Mister Mastura” and Alice Stone’s “Make a Joyful Noise,” to name a few. An entire shorts program captures “The Spirit of Massachusetts” with the dramatic “Late Fall” by Abigail Jean Lucas and Alecia Orsini Lebeda, comedic “Comedy Damage” by Woods Hole alum Mark Kiefer, and triumphant “Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage” by Liz McGregor — again, all set in Mass. or created by Mass. filmmakers. In so many ways this fest, now in its 35th year, embodies the many spirits of Massachusetts, past, present, future. Self-governed.

Good to know: Watertown-based filmmaker Abigail Jean Lucas cast her own toddler in her debut fictional short film “Late Fall,” which meant directing and performing while also mothering her son on set. Lucas said the story about the pressures of early parenthood will resonate with anyone who “wants to be a parent, is a parent, or is looking back on their early parenting years.” The principally all-female crew shot at the Houghton Chemical Corporation in Allston among other familiar locations. “We are a bunch of local professionals who came together for a project they believed in on a shoestring budget,” she said. Now 7 years old, her son just traveled with her to Ireland for the film’s world premiere. They are hoping to attend Woods Hole together as well.

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When: Aug. 7-15

Where: Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center, Oak Bluffs

Highlights: Happening a week later than in years past, MVAAFF continues to deliver the best new film and TV projects by Black filmmakers, entertainers and leaders at large. (Yes, the Obamas have attended.) Maybe that’s why the six and nine-day premiere passes were sold out in May. Since it’s an Oscar qualifying festival for Best Short Film, this writer got early word on one title — the animated short “Apart,” written by Spike Lee, Tim Jones, Jeff Leisawitz and Lubabalo Mtati, and directed by Pola Maneli — that will screen on Aug. 8. Set in 1989 South Africa, this “tale of two zebras” confronts a childhood friendship that tests the bounds of race during apartheid. The rest of the fest’s line-up, which always includes industry events and conversations, will trickle in closer to go time. Past years have included screenings of titles like “Highest 2 Lowest,” “American Fiction” and “Sing Sing,” often with talent in attendance. Are tickets still available? Yes, but act fast. It’s the Vineyard in August, and you’ll need a ferry, a place to overnight, and your all-white outfit for the annual “summer whites” blowout party.

Good to know: “Apart” made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 6 in a program curated by Whoopi Goldberg. Goldberg, Spike Lee and Palo Maneli attended. It wouldn’t surprise me if all three attended MVAAFF too.

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When: Sept. 14-21 in person; Sept. 22-Oct. 11 online

Where: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brattle Theatre and online

Highlights: My brain does not want to think about September yet, either. But keep this fest on your radar, because it brings together some films you may have forgotten (a restoration of Hou Hsiao-hsien’s “Dust in the Wind” on its 40th anniversary) and some films you may not otherwise see (“Marching Boys,” about a marching band in 1990s Taiwan). Plus, these organizers know how to celebrate. Run by volunteers since 2019, this fest began as a way to circulate contemporary Taiwanese cinema amidst attempts to shut those voices down. Last year, I learned of a fishing community’s stance against unfettered solar development in the short doc “Solar Power Revelation.” It’s the kind of story that might play (and stay) hyperlocal. But lessons from the complicated “preservation” battle can be applied far beyond. Expect to see films like that, and some Golden Horse award winners (considered the top film honors in Taiwan) from the previous year, like “Deep Quiet Room,” about the consequences of holding a family secret too long. A complete line-up will be announced later this summer.

Good to know: “Dust in the Wind” explores themes director Hou Hsiao-hsien takes up in several films: coming of age, transitions between rural and urban life, nostalgia and loss. Released in 1986, the film captures the gentle sadness of high school sweethearts who leave their mining town for jobs in Taipei. There, they face the inevitable unraveling of growing up and apart. See it for lingering landscape shots that slyly work against the frequent trains and their unstoppable, industrialized, forward motion.

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