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– BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON selected as Opening Night –

– Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Director of the FBI, named keynote speaker at

Evan Lawson Filmmakers’ Brunch –

The Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) announced today its complete lineup of narrative, documentary, and short films, as well as special tributes. Acclaimed writer/director/actor John Cameron Mitchell (HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES) will be named the 2019 “Filmmaker on the Edge.” Mitchell, who won the PIFF Audience Award for HEDWIG in 2001, will return to Provincetown to accept the festival’s highest filmmaking honor in conversation with resident artist John Waters on Saturday, June 15 at Town Hall. Mitchell’s original musical podcast Anthem: Homunculus is now available on Luminary Media.

“We’re thrilled to honor John Cameron Mitchell as our 2019 Filmmaker on the Edge,” said Andrew Peterson, PIFF’s Director of Programming. “With each new project he surprises and delights us with his singular point of view, style, and skill. His conversation with John Waters is sure to be one for the history books!”

Additionally, actress and producer Jillian Bell (BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON, SWORD OF TRUST) will receive the festival’s third annual “Next Wave Award,” which recognizes those who have exciting and distinctive voices, take artistic risks, and have a passionate commitment to independent film. Bell will be in attendance to accept the award in conversation and in support of her film BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON, which will open the festival.

BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON is a dramatic comedy about Brittany Forgler (Bell), a woman known for being the life of the party finding real friends – and a real life – by taking control of her herself, one city block at a time. The film premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award. Bell and writer/director Paul Downs Colaizzo will be in attendance at the Opening Night Gala on Wednesday, June 12 at Provincetown Town Hall. Amazon Studios will release the film in theaters on August 23.

“Opening our festival with playwright-turned-director Paul Downs Colaizzo’s debut, starring the spectacularly talented Jillian Bell, features an original, smart, and very funny celebration of perseverance,” said Lisa Viola, PIFF’s Artistic Director. “Jillian Bell’s unparalleled comedic timing and empowering presence is precisely why she is so deserving of this year’s Next Wave Award.”

PIFF also announced that author and former Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Andrew G. McCabe will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Evan Lawson Filmmakers’ Brunch on Sunday, June 16. McCabe’s best-selling book, The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump is a searing look into the Trump presidency which The New York Times called “concise yet substantive account of how the F.B.I. works, at a moment when its procedures and impartiality are under attack.”

Said Provincetown Film Society CEO Christine Walker, “Seemingly overnight, Andrew McCabe, a career civil servant, became embroiled in a raging political machine that has transformed American politics. McCabe’s story reveals the importance of truth tellers in an age in which the very concept of truth has been called into question.”

The complete film lineup is below:

OPENING NIGHT

BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON – directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo (Wednesday, June 12)

*Paul Downs Colaizzo and Jillian Bell in attendance

CLOSING NIGHT

BEFORE YOU KNOW IT – directed by Hannah Pearl Utt (Sunday, June 16)

*Hannah Pearl Utt in attendance

SPOTLIGHT SELECTIONS

LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE – directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman (Thursday, June 13)

*Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman in attendance

THE APOLLO – directed by Roger Ross Williams (Friday, June 14)

*Roger Ross Williams in attendance

VITA & VIRGINIA – directed by Chanya Button (Saturday, June 15)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS/EVENTS

JOHN WATERS PRESENTS: MOM AND DAD – directed by Brian Taylor

MODERN LOVE LIVE, presented by WBUR and The New York Times (Friday, June 14)

BABYLON – directed by Franco Rosso

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH – directed by John Cameron Mitchell

STATE OF PRIDE – directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman

SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY – directed by John Schlesinger

NARRATIVE FEATURES

ADAM – directed by Rhys Ernst

AN ALMOST ORDINARY SUMMER – directed by Simone Godano

AUGGIE – directed by Matt Kane

BUÑUEL IN THE LABYRINTH OF THE TURTLES – directed by Salvador Simó

CLEMENCY – directed by Chinonye Chukwu

DOLCE FINE GIORNATA – directed by Jacek Borcuch

DRIVEWAYS – directed by Andrew Ahn

END OF THE CENTURY– directed by Lucio Castro

THE FAREWELL – directed by Lulu Wang

GOOD POSTURE – directed by Dolly Wells

IMAGINARY ORDER – directed by Debra Eisenstadt

OFFICIAL SECRETS – directed by Gavin Hood

ORAY – directed by Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay

SISTER AIMEE – directed by Samantha Buck, Marie Schlingmann

SPEED OF LIFE – directed by Liz Manashil

SWALLOW – directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis

SWORD OF TRUST – directed by Lynn Shelton

TOP END WEDDING – directed by Wayne Blair

WILD ROSE – directed by Tom Harper

YESTERDAY – directed by Danny Boyle

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

ALWAYS IN SEASON – directed by Jacqueline Olive

AMERICAN FACTORY – directed by Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert

CIRCUS OF BOOKS – directed by Rachel Mason

GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH – directed by David Charles Rodrigues

HONEYLAND – directed by Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska

MAIDEN – directed by Alex Holmes

MAKING MONTGOMERY CLIFT – directed by Robert Clift, Hillary Demmon

MIKE WALLACE IS HERE – directed by Avi Belkin

MOONLIGHT SONATA: DEAFNESS IN THREE MOVEMENTS – directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky

MUSEUM TOWN – directed by Jennifer Trainer

SEA OF SHADOWS – directed by Richard Ladkani

SEAHORSE – directed by Jeanie Finlay

WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL – directed by Rob Garver

WIG – directed by Chris Moukarbel

SHORTS

AWUMBUK – directed by Dylan Gillah

THE BLACK MAMBAS – directed by Bruce Donnelly

BUBBLE – directed by Alyssa Lerner

BURNING MY TONGUE – directed by Murphy McCann

CARLOTTA’S FACE – directed by Valentin Riedl

CATHERINE OPIE B. 1961 – directed by Erin Wright

CLASS OF 84 – directed by Alex Salsberg

THE COCOA FONDUE SHOW – directed by Andrew Wyatt Arnold

CURE FOR INSOMNIA – directed by Jay Critchley

DOCKING – directed by Trevor Anderson

FAITHY, HEY – directed by Emily Hubley

FRAN THIS SUMMER – directed by Mary Evangelista

GIRL TALK – directed by Erica Rose

THE HIGH BRIDGE – directed by Benedict Campbell

HOW I CAME OUT – directed by Mark Jones

I KNEW ANDY WARHOL – directed by Marc Saltarelli

LADIES DAY – directed by Abena Taylor-Smith

LAVENDER – directed by Matthew Puccini

THE LINE – directed by Melisa Resch

LOCKDOWN – Celine Held, Logan George

MADE PUBLIC – directed by Foster Wilson

MILLER & SON – directed by Asher Jelinsky

THE MURALIST – directed by Eric Forman

PUT YOUR FEET UP – directed by Peter Horgan

THE RACE – directed by Dina Rudick

RENOVATION – directed by Fábio Leal

SOMETIMES, I THINK ABOUT DYING – directed by Stefanie Abel Horowitz

TIME TO GO – directed by Rio Contrada

TWO BALLOONS – directed by Mark C. Smith

UNDER COVERS – directed by Michaela Olsen

YOU SAY HELLO – directed by Lovell Holder

The Provincetown International Film Festival runs June 12 – 16, 2019 in Provincetown, MA. Purchase festival passes at www.ptownfilmfest.org. Individual tickets go on sale on May 31. America’s oldest artist colony, Provincetown has been home to the likes of Jack Kerouac, Kurt Vonnegut, Jackson Pollock, Norman Rockwell, Anthony Bourdain, John Waters, and Ryan Murphy.

Major sponsors of the 2019 Provincetown International Film Festival include HBO, Here Media TV, Edge Media Network, the Boston Globe, the Provincetown Banner, Seaglass Inn, Bubula’s By the Bay, the Crown and Anchor Inn, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Provincetown Tourism Fund.

Press Materials (including biographies, headshots, and film stills): www.tinyurl.com/PIFF19

*please do not post this link

About The Provincetown Film Society & The Provincetown International Film Festival:

The Provincetown Film Society is an advocate for diverse representation in film, providing programming and platforms that allow voices of all kinds to be heard via film. We realize our mission through our three primary initiatives: our annual showcase of independent film, the Provincetown Film Festival; our year- round Waters Edge Art House cinema; and the Provincetown Film Institute. Locally, PFS’s work positively impacts the cultural and economic vitality of Provincetown. Nationally, its work helps shape industry discussions around parity in film. Through PFS’s work, we have an ability to better understand and appreciate human struggles and triumphs, showcasing our similarities and differences in today’s changing society. 

Facebook: facebook.com/PtownFilm

Twitter: @PtownFilm

Instagram: @PtownFilm

“Filmmaker on the Edge” Award

PIFF’s “Filmmaker on the Edge” Award is the festival’s premier filmmaking award, presented to celebrated filmmakers who push the boundaries of their craft. Previous recipients of the award include Greg Araki, Darren Aronofsky, Sean Baker, Sofia Coppola, David Cronenberg, Mary Harron, Todd Haynes, Jim Jarmusch, Harmony Korine, Ang Lee, Guy Maddin, Todd Solondz, Quentin Tarantino, Christine Vachon, Gus Van Sant, and John Waters. The award’s polysemic title is an ode to Provincetown’s location at the outermost point of Cape Cod.

John Cameron Mitchell

John directed, starred in and wrote, with Stephen Trask, the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), for which he won Best Director at the Sundance Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor. His recent Broadway production of Hedwig garnered him Tony Awards for his performance and for Best Revival. He directed Shortbus (2006), Rabbit Hole (2010) and How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2018) both starring Nicole Kidman. Recent TV roles include Hulu’s Shrill, HBO’s Girls and Vinyl, CBS’s The Good Fight, and Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle. He is starring in, writing and directing his new musical podcast series Anthem: Homunculus featuring Cynthia Erivo, Glenn Close, Patti Lupone, Denis O’Hare and Marion Cotillard now playing on Luminary Media.