Greenpoint Film Festival returns with its ‘most daring lineup yet’ on Aug. 6

The Greenpoint Film Festival is back on Aug. 6 with its “most daring lineup yet.”

The five-day celebration of cinema is set to feature more than 100 independent films from around the world, telling stories rooted in both fact and fantasy.

Programming starts with a bang on the afternoon of Aug. 6, with a screening of “Outrider,” a “fiery ode” to Greenwich Village artist and activist Anne Waldman. Directed by Alystyre K. Julian and produced by Martin Scorsese, the film chronicles Waldman’s life, her impact, and her relationships with artists like Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, and Meredith Monk.

Screening “Outriders” is “an honor,” said festival director Anthony Argento.

Waldman speaking at Housing Works in 2011. Image courtesy of Alystyre Julian/Greenpoint Film Festival

“We were looking at all these films, and [Julian] eventually submitted her film, and we caught sight of it right away,” he said. “We were just so happy to open our festival with the film.”

He was also excited about the closing night feature, “Ravens,” a feature inspired by the life of photographer Masahisa Fukasa and starring “Shōgun” actor Tadanobu Asano.

But the festival’s bookends aren’t its only highlight. Its wide-ranging lineup includes internationally-acclaimed films like Venice Film Festival selection “The Poison Cat,” a “poetic masterpiece” set in the forests of southwest China and directed by Tian Guan; and “Washhh,” an acclaimed Malaysian film.

“It’s a very female-driven film,” Argento said of “Washhh.” “It’s a film that you have to come and watch. Every explanation that I can give you would never really explain it.”

Actor Tadanobu Asano in “Ravens.” Image courtesy of Greenpoint Film Festival

To honor Greenpoint’s roots, the festival will screen more than a dozen Polish films. Four Polish short films — “Warsaw Story,” “Border,” “The Power of Resistance,” and “Call me Lala” will screen together on Aug. 6 at a program titled “Life’s Choices.”

“Border,” a narrative short about a woman who brings her children from Ukraine to Poland after five years apart, is “really amazing,” Argento said, as it chronicles the difficulty of immigrating across borders.

The festival will also offer some lighter fare. The short “Am I Still Beautiful?” which follows a 14-year-old tomboy as she proves herself in an effort to defend her best friend and secret crush at her birthday party. In “The End,” a surrealist noir comedy, an aging mystery writer attempts to finish his first detective novel as the lines between his real world and his fictional one begin to blur.

Most of the featured directors will attend the festival and many will take part in Q&A sessions. Photo courtesy of Greenpoint Film Festival

Three new films are making their global debut in Greenpoint: “Artfully United,” a documentary feature that follows Los Angeles muralist Mike Norice; “The Silence in Between,” a narrative feature about friendship, loss, and memory in the Himalayas; and “Sunset Somewhere,” which follows a drifting writer who finds unexpected purpose with a ragtag bunch of artists.

Most directors featured in the festival will be in attendance, Argento said, and some films will be followed by Q&A sessions with the creative teams. This year’s festival will be hosted entirely at Broadway Stages on Green Street.

The Greenpoint Film Festival runs from Wednesday, Aug. 6 to Sunday, Aug. 10 at Broadway Stages, 259 Green St. in Greenpoint. Showtimes and ticket prices vary, check online for a full schedule and tickets.