by Geoffrey Morris
›› Thrillers, dramas, animated shorts, and documentaries make up the 30-plus films in this year’s Ridgefield Independent Film Festival. With films from New York City, Los Angeles, The UK, Canada, Austria, Korea, Mexico, and Iran, RIFF’s highly curated festival has a local flavor this year as well. A highlight of the festival will be Ridgefield filmmaker Joanna James’ A Fine Line, a documentary feature that explores why fewer than 7 percent of head restaurant chefs are women, when traditionally women have influenced the greatest male chefs in the kitchen. And Ridgefielder Ellie Gravitte brings us a touching short film that features music, heartbreak, and more. And the father of Ridgefield-based writer Rich Cohen stars in a ten-minute documentary about his lifelong friendship with TV personality Larry King. The Saturday-night marquee film is How to Stop a Recurring Dream, in which a family’s older daughter, faced with a custody split, kidnaps her hostile younger sister to embark on a journey to reconnect before they part.
Friday’s Psych Night, at the Ridgefield Theatre Barn, has proved popular in the past, and consists of an entertaining feast of shorts exploring the bizarre, the creepy, the fun, and fantastic. Resilience is the prevalent theme running through this year’s three-day festival. Last Call is a documentary about Queens, New York, bar owners and workers fighting to stay afloat during Covid. After Antarctica follows an adventure-seeker as he follows his own 1970s trip to the South Pole. An Iranian filmmaker brings us Red Lipstick, the tale of a woman deciding whether or not to marry. This year’s festival takes place October 8-10 at the Ridgefield Theater Barn and the Ridgefield Library. To learn more and to purchase tickets, visit RIFFct.org.
