Editor

The Philadelphia Film Society is proud to announce the selection of The Ten and Waitress as this year’s 16th Philadelphia Film Festival’s opening and closing night films. From comedy to drama, these films represent the range and variety of talent highlighted throughout the 14-day festival, April 5-18.

Since the 16th Philadelphia Film Festival falls over both Passover and Easter this year, festival organizers thought it would be apt to choose a film about each of the Ten Commandments. Just be forewarned, this version is less Charlton Heston and more Monty Python’s Life of Brian. The Ten, the brainchild of writer-director-actor-comedian David Wain (“Stella,” Wet Hot American Summer), will kick off this year’s festival on Thursday, April 5 with two screenings at 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St.

With an all-star cast featuring Winona Ryder, Paul Rudd, Adam Brody, Jessica Alba, Liev Schreiber, Justin Theroux and Gretchen Mol, The Ten is an archaic, scandalous, offensive, raucous take on Moses’ tablets. Structured in an omnibus fashion, The Ten is structured as a series of ten vignettes, each attacking one of the Ten Commandments, strung together by the initially genial host Jeff. Director David Wain will be on hand to celebrate this East Coast premiere.

Putting a new spin on the small town girl trying to make it big, writer-director Adrienne Shelly serves a delicious slice of comedy in this film about hope and desire in the Philadelphia premiere of this year’s closing night film selection, Waitress. Waitress, the last movie Shelly made before she was murdered in her Greenwich Village apartment last November, is as visually stunning as it is well-written and promises to be the perfect finale to Shelly’s nearly 20 year involvement in independent cinema. Waitress will close out the festival on Wednesday, April 18 at 7 p.m. at the Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St.

With knockout performances by Keri Russell, Jeremy Sisto, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines and Andy Griffith, Waitress follows the life of Jenna, a poor southern woman stuck in a loveless marriage to a jealous husband as she finds herself pregnant with an unwanted child. Through the relationship that blooms with town-newcomer Dr. Pomatter, the audience watches Jenna find an unexpected love.