Indie Memphis Film Festival: 25 highlights for this year's 25th fest

Do people still refer to the movies — the art and industry and culture and theatrical presentation thereof — as the "silver screen"?

If not, perhaps it's time to bring the phrase back.

This year, the Indie Memphis Film Festival — which begins Wednesday, Oct. 19, and continues through Monday, Oct. 24 — celebrates its 25th year. It's what a party planner would call a silver anniversary — a remarkable milestone.

Indie Memphis artistic director Miriam Bale and other festival organizers are pretty much eschewing anniversary hoopla, however. Instead, they're presenting what they say is a forward-thinking slate of films from diverse sources from around the world — some from established artists, other from new talents — augmented by revival screenings of classics and Memphis crowd-pleasers.

In recognition of the 25th anniversary, here is a list of 25 movies-and-more to look for at this year's festival, culled from the online schedule, which offers close to 80 screenings and other events, across six days and nine movie and party venues (including five screening locations: The Halloran Centre, the Crosstown Theater, Playhouse on the Square, Circuit Playhouse and the Malco Studio on the Square).

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This is hardly a definitive list (after all, a good strategy for a festivalgoer is to take a chance, from time to time, on a movie you know nothing about). Nor does it represent, for the most part, my personal recommendations (older movies aside, I've seen few of the offerings). Nor is it a how-to-fest road map (some of the choices listed below conflict with each other on the schedule).

But, perhaps this list might provide a bit of guidance, or a few landmarks, as you set off in your own particular direction.

1. 'The Picture Taker'

Director Phil Bertelsen and others associated with the film will be present to introduce and answer questions about their feature documentary about Ernest C. Withers, the celebrated Memphis photographer who documented Black culture, politics and society for decades but who after his death was revealed to have been an FBI informant. An appropriate opening night selection for a Memphis event, the movie will add fuel to a debate that will last long after the festival. (6:15 p.m. Oct. 19, Halloran Centre; 6 p.m. Oct. 20, Studio on the Square.)

2. 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'

Leave Netflix's grotesque Marilyn Monroe movie "Blonde" at home and come see MM in glorious big-screen Technicolor as showgirl Lorelei Lee, in Howard Hawks' 1953 masterwork of pneumatic anatomy (Jane Russell and a gym-full of bodybuilders), age-inappropriate drollery (you won't forget 7-year-old George Winslow as Henry Spofford III), and intoxicating choreography (Monroe enacts "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," in a number that was the source for Madonna's "Material Girl" video). The movie will be introduced by Marlowe Granados, author of the novel, "Happy Hour." (8:15 p.m. Oct. 21, Circuit Playhouse.)

3. 'The 'Vous'

When was the last time food for thought made your mouth water? According to its producers, this documentary from directors Jeff Bailey and Jack Lofton does more than celebrate the 70th anniversary of Memphis' iconic Downtown barbecue restaurant, The Rendezvous; alongside the ribs, pulled pork, coleslaw, baked beans and cheese and sausage, it also serves up a look at "the culture, politics, music, and societal struggles that embody Memphis' rich history." (2:50 p.m. Oct. 22, Playhouse on the Square.)

4. 'Häxan'

Memphis musician/composer Alex Greene and his Rolling Head Orchestra (complete with Kate Tayler on theremin) will perform a new original score to accompany this 100th anniversary Halloween-season resurrection of Benjamin Christensen's silent film about "Witchcraft Through the Ages" (the movie's original title in America), in which the director himself literally pops up as a leering, tongue-wagging Satan. (6:15 p.m. Oct. 21, Playhouse on the Square.)

5. Live music

Speaking of which, be assured that Indie Memphis' signature tradition will continue, with local musicians of all types performing live before almost every screening at every venue. With some 60 screening events spread over six days, perhaps no other Memphis event presents such a varied showcase and expansive definition of "Memphis music."

6. 'Saint Omer'

Boasting a 100 percent "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a triumphant festival run with stops in Venice, Toronto and New York, director Alice Diop's immigration courtroom drama — France's entry for this year's Academy Award for Best International Film — may be the most highly regarded art/foreign-language film at this year's Indie Memphis. (12:20 p.m. Oct. 22, Playhouse on the Square.)

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7. 'Daisies'

In making a list of my top 10 movies of all time, I'd have to at least consider this 1966 gem of the Czech "New Wave," newly re-polished (remastered), the better to illuminate the anarchistic antics, surreal flights of fancy, lepidopteral peek-a-boo and skewering of buffoonish male arrogance put on display here by director Věra Chytilová and her twin "daisies," Ivana Karbanová and Jitka Cerhová. Pouty, zany and exuberant, the two actresses come across like behind-the-Iron Curtain predecessors to "Laugh-In"-era Goldie Hawn. (8:30 p.m. Oct. 21, Studio on the Square; 6 p.m. Oct. 23, Playhouse on the Square.)

8. '50 for Da City'

The Grizzlies' regular season starts the same day as the film festival, so it's appropriate that Indie Memphis hosts Michael Blevins' documentary look at 6-9, 250-pound Grizzlies power forward Zach "Z-Bo" Randolph, a once unruly player whose no-bluff attitude him a hero in his new Bluff City hometown. (1:30 p.m. Oct. 23, Studio on the Square.)

9. 'Armageddon Time'

Perhaps the most high-profile film at the festival, this semi-autobiographical drama from esteemed writer-director James Gray ("The Immigrant," "The Lost City of Z") brings together Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain — who is cast as Donald Trump's sister, Maryanne. The setting is 1980s New York. (11 a.m. Oct. 23, Crosstown Theater.)

10. Virtual festival

Don't forget, if you can't make it to the festival in person or if you remain wary of crowds or enclosed indoor spaces due to COVID-19, multiple films are available for viewing online. Generally, an online "ticket" provides access to a film for several days. For options, visit indiememphis.org.

11. 'Show Business Is My Life — But I Can't Prove It'

Writer-director G.B. Shannon's documentary offers an in-depth look at the struggles, triumphs and non sequiturs of the pride of Spearfish, South Dakota, workaholic comedian and former cocaine addict Gary Mule Deer, the once surreal Smothers Brothers associate and Steve Martin roommate who now golfs with Alice Cooper and Johnny Mathis and warms up the crowd at the Grand Ole Opry. Apparently, Mule Deer is so highly regarded by his peers that nobody said no to Shannon: Onscreen interviewees include David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno; meanwhile, the director's offscreen collaborators represent a who's who of longtime local filmmaking talent, including editor Edward Valibus and co-producer Billie Worley. A real winner, this is one movie by Memphians that is likely to have a healthy festival run and a long streaming-service shelf life. Mule Deer himself is scheduled to join the filmmakers for the post-movie Q&A. (1:30 p.m. Oct. 23, Crosstown Theater.)

12. Hometowner category

The Z-Bo, Mule Deer and Rendezvous documentaries mentioned above are just three of the many feature and short films that belong to the festival's unique "Hometowner" category, devoted to work created in the Memphis area, generally by Memphis-area filmmakers. For especially personal, unusual and even experimental work, check out the various programs devoted to "Hometowner" shorts; subcategories include documentary, music video and "After Dark" (weird and scary). Most notable filmmakers, from Steven Spielberg to Memphis' own Craig Brewer (whose debut feature, "The Poor & Hungry," encores at the festival), cut their teeth on shorts, so it's possible an influential image-maker of tomorrow is among the Hometowners of today.

13. 'Butterfly in the Sky'

Described by RogerEbert.com as "an utterly euphoric tribute to the glorious long-running television show," director Bryan Storkel's documentary — a sort of successor to the beloved Mr. Rogers doc, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" — revisits "Reading Rainbow," the LeVar Burton-hosted PBS series that "introduced millions of kids to the wonders of books." (5:15 p.m. Oct. 22, Studio on the Square; 11 a.m. Oct. 23, Circuit Playhouse.)

14. 'The Inspection'

This A24 release from writer-director Elegance Bratton stars Jeremy Pope as a young gay Black man who turns to the military to escape his disapproving family. The cast includes Gabrielle Union and Bokeem Woodbine. (7:30 p.m. Oct. 23, Playhouse on the Square.)

15. 'Ghostwatch'

Boo! In the tradition of Orson Welles' infamous 1938 "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, this Halloween 1992 BBC production presented itself as a live documentary investigation of a haunted house, creating a furor among viewers who thought they were watching real-time poltergeist terror. Praised as ingenious and condemned as irresponsible, the film has never been rebroadcast in the United Kingdom. (10:45 p.m. Oct. 21, Circuit Playhouse.)

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16. 'EO'

With an onomatopoeic title that suggests a bray (see also Winnie-the-Pooh's friend, Eeyore), 84-year-old director Jerzy Skolimowski of Poland rejiggers Robert Bresson's French masterpiece of 1966, "Au Hasard Balthazar," to depict the life of a donkey, from energetic circus attraction to weary pack animal. We can relate. (5:30 p.m. Oct. 22, Playhouse on the Square.)

17. IndieTalks

Rest your eyes but keep your mind active by eschewing a screening or two to attend one of the festival's panel discussions, which bring together film festival programmers, writers and filmmakers to explore such topics as "Darlings of Fan Culture" (stardom, in the social media age) and "After Weinstein" (the impact of #MeToo and more on film culture).

18. 'Antenna'

Directed by Chris McCoy of the Memphis Flyer, this documentary celebration of Memphis' famed but now extinct Antenna nightclub — a punk-rock mecca whose performers thrashed guitars, spit lyrics and flung feces — returns on its 10th anniversary to the festival where it debuted. (8:45 p.m. Oct. 21, Playhouse on the Square.)

19. 'The Return of Tanya Tucker'

With singer Brandi Carlile as onscreen guide, Kathryn Horan's documentary examines the influential history and don't-call-it-a-comeback reemergence of the hell-raising trailblazer who was one of the top country artists of the1970s. (5:30 p.m. Oct. 21, Studio on the Square.)

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20. 'Ready! Fire! Aim!'

Not a war film (or is it?), Memphis filmmaker Melissa Sweazy's documentary presents, according to producers, "the story of Kemmons Wilson, the country-boy genius who founded Holiday Inn and transformed the way the world travels." In other words, one of those Memphis innovators, like Sam Phillips and Clarence Saunders, who changed the world. (11 a.m. Oct. 23, Studio on the Square.)

21. 'Paper Moon'

In my opinion, "Paper Moon" is to movies as "True Grit" is to books — to experience them is to love them (intriguingly, they're both stories of precocious "tomboyish" young girls who attach themselves to reluctant men on picaresque journeys across a sometimes hostile American landscape). Ten-year-old Tatum O'Neal set a record for youthfulness when she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in this 1973 film, opposite her real-life father, Ryan O'Neal, who plays a Depression-era con man; the director was Peter Bogdanovich, who died in January at 82. (12:45 p.m. Oct. 22, Circuit Playhouse.)

22. 'Will-o'-the-Wisp'

Ever see a musical fantasy romance about gay firefighters? This Cannes Film Festival premiere from Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues was described by Manohla Dargis of The New York Times as "delightful, absurd, fiercely political." (10:30 p.m. Oct. 21, Studio on the Square.)

23. 'Corsage'

Another relatively major release, this elaborate costume drama from writer-director Marie Kreutzer stars Vicky Krieps ("The Phantom Thread") as Empress Elisabeth of Austria, whose reign was beset with scandal and tragedy. (8:45 p.m. Oct. 20, Playhouse on the Square.)

24. 'Is That Black Enough for You?!?'

A longtime friend of Indie Memphis (remember when he introduced a screening of "The Blues Brothers" at the Overton Park Shell?), film critic Elvis Mitchell hosts the regional debut of his new documentary, a personal yet panoramic exploration of the Black revolution in filmmaking in the 1970s, from "Shaft" (which screens after the doc) to "Sounder" to "Killer of Sheep" and seemingly a thousand radical, sexy, funny, violent, tender other titles. (6 p.m. Oct. 24, Crosstown Theater.)

25. Kimel Fryer

Hired less than six weeks before the festival, former FedEx senior financial analyst Kimel Fryer, 35, is the new executive director of Indie Memphis — the fourth in the organization's history. The festival should offer a good opportunity for arts-minded Memphians to make her acquaintance.

Festival passes and ticket packages, which provide different levels of access, range from $250 to $30. Tickets to most individual screenings and virtual screenings are $12. For advance tickets, a full festival schedule and more information, visit indiememphis.org.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Indie Memphis Film Festival 2022: A guide to movies, music, more