Philadelphia Film Festival comes to campus

For Penn students weary of typical blockbuster offerings, the Philadelphia Film Festival has long provided relief. This year, the antidote to box-office boredom became even more accessible as screenings have moved closer to campus.

Tony Sorrentino, spokesman for the Office of the Executive Vice President, estimated that 40 percent of film screenings are taking place in the University City area this year.

This can be attributed to Penn’s sponsorship of the festival, which Sorrentino described as being the University’s biggest contribution to the festival ever.

In addition to film screenings, the Penn Bookstore is playing host to several “Cine Cafes” this week, in which cinema studies professors will lead discussions on themes in filmmaking.

Cinema Studies Associate Director Nicola Gentili hopes that these events, as well as the shift in the location of the festival, will attract more students to the festival, which lasts until Sunday.

“I personally know that for my students it is an important event, and that their reason for going is to see movies that are most likely not going to make it to a large distribution,” he said. “It’s a unique experience.”

Jake Stock, a College sophomore and Cinema Studies major, echoed this sentiment, saying that though he probably would have gone to events in years past, he may not have been able to convince his friends to join him.

“The fact that it was on campus convinced a lot of my friends who aren’t as in to film to go,” he said. “That was the main drawing point — the convenience.”

The University’s sponsorship benefits both the Philadelphia Film Society, who organizes the festival, and University City itself.

Sorrentino cited a desire to build University City’s reputation as a destination for people interested in the arts, as well as possible revenue for area businesses, as defining factors in Penn’s decision to contribute this year.

So far, the partnership has yielded positive results. The festival’s opening night screening of Black Swan, followed by a question and answer session with Director Darren Aronofsky, attracted almost 1,000 people to the Annenberg Center’s Zellerbach Theater.

Stock, who attended the opening night screening, has been impressed with the festival’s line-up thus far, and is already looking toward next year.

“I thought that it was really exciting that such a big event was so close and so convenient, and that a lot of Penn students were able to hear [Aronofsky] speak,” he said.

College senior Sabrina Benun appreciated that the festival gave her access to a high profile film like Black Swan, which is getting Oscar buzz. “The affiliation with the film festival reflects very positively on the Cinema Studies department,” she said.

Sorrentino added that he hopes “this is the beginning of a long association with the festival and the University.”

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