Black Bear Film Fest Fare, Picked by New Curator
A gritty film about love among outsiders, “Port Authority,” will be shown in the newly remodeled Milford Theatre tonight, opening night of the Black Bear Film Festival. Matt Bechtold, of Brooklyn—but increasingly a Milford insider—chose the film from 160 submissions and 20 that reached him through other channels, he said.
“It was a learning experience, a new skill, discovering great films,” said Bechtold. “So many great films don’t get exposure,”.
Of “Port Authority,” he said, “It’s a film about how people fall in love, regardless of who they are. The director will be interviewed on Zoom after the screening. A cocktail party in a tent by the theater will follow. Documentation of Covid-19 vaccination is required.
Among the features and short films, five documentaries are in the festival mix over the weekend, including several on the main stage on Saturday, as the film lineup dramatizes aspects of this historical moment.
On Saturday morning, the documentary, “Life with Layla,” shows a family troubled by drug addiction in their midst through the eyes of a seven-year-old, who, now 10, will appear with her family for a question and answer session after the film.
The other main stage film on Saturday is also a documentary. “Not Going Quietly” follows a young public interest lawyer, recently diagnosed with fatally paralyzing Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He confronts Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who is on his way to vote down the health care benefits that pay to treat the disease.
Main Stage Saturday evening fare will include the documentary, “My Brother, My Hero Forever,” executive produced by William Rosado, the new owner of Milford Theatre, about very different twin brothers who grew up in Milford. On Sunday, Main Stage fare includes one documentary about a ‘60’s “boy band” and one about a jazz saxophonist, plus a drama about a boy who refuses to come down from his treehouse.
Meanwhile, the free Salon film program will offer short films, with their creators there to provide commentary. On Saturday morning, emphasis will be on Covid-19 experiences and climate change, from “High Risk,” about an older couple gardening for sanity in isolation, to “Circle of Moose,” about the Alaskan moose and their relationship with Alaskans. Horror films will follow in the afternoon. On Sunday, the theme of Salon films early in the the day will be “fuel for life,” spiritually as well as nutritionally. Beyond that, subject matter varies widely.
Bechtold is new to curating films for the festival. His Milford involvement began with frequent visits to friends with a cottage by the Delaware River, he said. They connected him with Friends of Marie Zimmerman, among whom he met Max Brinson, who presides over the festival board of directors. Bechtold began volunteering with the festival in 2019, but he had long been caught up in dramatics of one kind or another.
He had been modeling since he was 15, on runways and for Ralph Lauren and such magazines as Esquire and GQ, he said. He had come to New York to act in film and television but was intrigued by the “raw emotion” in theater when he saw Philip Seymour Hoffman in Sam Shepherd’s “True West.” He then began training to act in theater and writing his own theater pieces, including a series of monologues based on the Bruce Springsteen album, Nebraska. His sensibility inevitably pervades the festival.
For more information on festival films, their times and locations and tickets, see https://blackbearfilmfestival.squarespace.com/.