Provincetown International Film Festival June 17 to June 21

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Lisa Viola, Senior Programmer for the Provincetown International Film Festival that takes place June 17th to June 21st in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Celebrating its 17th year writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait (Call Me Lucky) will be honored with the 2015 Filmmaker on the Edge Award in conversation with resident artist John Waters at Provincetown’s Town Hall on Saturday June 20th. Actress Jennifer Coolidge (Best In Show) will receive the Faith Hubley Career Achievement Award that same evening in conversation with film critic B. Ruby Rich. The festival will open with Leslye Headland's “Sleeping With Other People” and close with “I Am Michael”, directed by Justin Kelly. Spotlight Films are James Ponsoldt's “The End Of The Tour”, Paul Weitz's Grandma starring Lily Tomlin and Jeffrey Schwarz's “Tab Hunter Confidential”. The festival will also host a double billing of Steven Spielberg's “Jaws” and Noel Marshall's “Roar” at the Wellfleet Drive-In on Wednesday June 17th. Some of the notable filmmakers and guests attending this year's festival include: Alison Bagnall (Funny Bunny); Bao Nguyen (Live From New York!); Barry Crimmins (Call Me Lucky); Brendan Toller (Danny Says); Christine Vachon (Nasty Baby); David Thorpe (Do I Sound Gay?); Jeff Kaufman (The State Of Marriage); Joe Murphy (Yosemite); Joey Kuhn (Those People); Josh Watson (The Daddy); Larry Kramer (LGBT activist and subject, Larry Kramer In Love And Anger) and more. We talked to Lisa about this year’s film festival highlights and her spin on our LGBT issues.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Viola stated, “I feel like through the work that I have been doing at Provincetown for the last 17 years that that is the best work I can do that promotes LGBT civil rights. I feel like giving a voice to filmmakers and making a space where audiences can come and explore and have conversation and talk about new topics and sort of have an assessment of what’s going on right at the moment, that is something I feel very proud of and happy that promotes civil rights for our LGBT community. So I’m very excited about that.”

Lisa Viola has been affiliated with the Provincetown International Film Festival since its inception in 1999. She has also been a programming associate for the Sundance Film Festival since 1992. Lisa graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Communication Arts. The Provincetown Film Society, Inc. (PFS) is a non-profit year-round organization and home of the Provincetown International Film Festival. PFS is dedicated to showcasing new achievements in independent film and honoring the work of acclaimed and emerging directors, producers and actors. This year the 2015 Filmmaker on the Edge Award is sponsored by LithExcel Marketing. Partner sponsors of the 2015 Film Festival include: HBO, a preferred partner sponsor, LithExcel, marketing services producer, XFINITY, Sage Inn and Lounge, Sidewalk Films and WOMR with additional government and foundation support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Mallrd Foundation and the Provincetown Tourism Fund. This is the ninth year we’ll be covering the film festival for OUTTAKE VOICES™.
For Info & Tix: ptownfilmfest.org