FILM: A Festival Runs Through It

Looking for a friendly film scene? Get ready for the Sundance of the South: The 2003 International RiverRun Film Festival, co-sponsored by the City of Winston-Salem and the North Carolina School of the Arts, runs from April 24 to 27.

"We want RiverRun to be what Sundance was in the early days," says artistic director Dale Pollock. Translation: great film, minus the formalities. RiverRun encompasses the full range of activities - parties, panels, discussions and a genre-defying collection of some of the year's best new films, but with an emphasis on accessibility. RiverRun was created for students, professional filmmakers and film aficionados alike, as both an educational resource and a celebration of filmmaking.

In keeping with RiverRun's dedication to the universality of film, one of the festival's featured screenings is a documentary/memoir in appreciation of that most universal of experiences: growing up. Dan Klores' new film, The Boys of Second Street Park - part of the 2003 Sundance Festival's American Showcase category - is the story of Klores' experience growing up in the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn.

Through an unscripted series of interviews and original footage, Boys follows the interwoven lives of six of Klores' boyhood friends from the early days of pickup basketball in the park, through the advent of '60s counter-culture, drugs and Vietnam and beyond, telling the stories of their successes, failures, lives and loves. Boys is a story at once uniquely personal and undeniably universal. "All of a sudden," says Klores, "it's not the story of 'Brooklyn' or 'Jewish' or 'basketball;' it really does become a universal story about love and loss."

Founder Gennaro D'Onofrio, Vincent's father, decided to move the festival - now in its fourth year - from Asheville to Winston-Salem in hopes of building a local film community and "stimulating the movie industry in the area."

Of particular local interest are two films about North Carolina history. February One is a story of Civil Rights in the South, as seen through the eyes of the Greensboro Four who staged a sit-in at Woolworth's in the early days of the movement. Tobacco Money Feeds My Family, combination documentary and memoir, is director Cynthia Hill's defense of North Carolina's crucial and often-maligned tobacco industry.

For a complete listing of films and events, consult the festival's website at www.riverrunfilm.com.