For 12 years, the Philadelphia Film Festival (formerly the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema) has been carving out a niche as a topnotch place to catch independent and international films. Though not as well known as other high profile festivals, the Philly festival is one of the best, most diverse and most fun, festivals around.

Here's a small sampling of the 300 films they showcased this year:

Eternal Blood (Jorge Olguin, Chile) - Notable as the first-ever horror film produced in Chile, Olguin's nifty genre film is remarkably well-crafted, considering it's the young director's second film. Concerning a group of teens who role-play as vampire, the film soon becomes an exploration of madness and suspicion, as one of the youths begin to suspect that there may be actual vampires living amongst them. The shocking finale is played out to dizzying effect, and the film's conclusion allows for multiple readings on what has just transpired. Olguin shows great promise as a craftsman.

Women's Prison (Manijeh Hekmat, Iran) - A by-the-numbers account of a tough female prison warden in Iran and the tempestuous relationship she has with her inmates. Well-acted, but ultimately very episodic and not very emotionally engaging.

Trinity (Gary Boulton-Brown, UK) - Aiming to be a thinking person's sci-fi yarn, this miserable failure winds up being something closer to the Idiot's Guide to Mundane Genre Filmmaking. In the near future, two agents descend upon a desolate camp to respond to a distress beacon. Suspicious that a former criminal doctor is there, we find out from the female agent that she was a former victim of his cloning experiments. The man at the camp claims to be a clone of the doctor, rather than the doctor himself. A game of wits begins, with outrageous plots twists and head-scratching platitudes, the film resolves itself in one of the most distasteful ways possible: by turning the victim of systematic abuse into a mere object of lust by the two male characters. Simplistic and banal, Trinity is an unqualified disaster.

A House Built on Water (Bahman Farmanara, Iran) - Farmanara's moderately successful film is about a middle-aged man lost in his loneliness and drowning in his past mistakes, who sets forth on a kind of spiritual quest. A bit heavy-handed at times (and not in a good way), it goes too far overboard at the end for my tastes. Still, a very strong central performance by a terrific Iranian actor, Ezzatolah Entezami.

Sweet Sixteen (Ken Loach, UK, Germany, Spain) - Possibly Loach's strongest film to date, Sweet Sixteen follows an idealistic teenager as he experiments with different get-rick-quick schemes to help his mother escape her abusive boyfriend when she gets out of prison. A tragedy of Greek proportions, Sweet Sixteen is harrowing and bittersweet, with amazing performances and cold, deft humor at every turn. The ending is painfully heartbreaking, as the boy's wrong choices come back to haunt him, and a short lifetime of rage rushes upon him in the final moments before he turns sixteen.

Edi (Piotr Trzaskalski, Poland) - Sugary tale of a sadsack loner and his best friend takes a turn for the worst when Edi is wrongfully accused of rape and a course of action is set that belies anything resembling truth or pathos. Becomes a kind of Bergman-esque Three Men and a Baby. Fractured and less than engaging.

The Good Old Naughty Days (Michel Reilhac, France) - A compilation of French porn from the '20s and '30s, I was stunned to be watching it with a sold-out audience, because it was porn with a capital P. Very hardcore, very playful. Somehow, it seemed much less degrading and violent than contemporary porn (largely because the women weren't treated as objects in these films, but rather as the stars of the show). A very interesting social artifact.

The Good Thief (Neil Jordan, UK, France, Canada, Ireland) - Neil Jordan's latest treasure is one of the most confident, assured efforts of his career, and Nick Nolte's performance is possibly the best of his. Concerning a retired thief who has become addicted to gambling and heroin, Nolte kicks his habit and sells a forged Picasso to finance one last, monumental score. Twists and turns abound, and Jordan seemingly has the most fun he's had in years behind the camera. The Good Thief delights with its whimsical, yet gritty tone and Jordan's craftsmanship is immaculate. Sure to be one of 2003's best films.

2LDK (Yukihiko Tsutsumi, Japan) - A sadistic film from Japan about two warring female roommates who are auditioning for the same role in a film. Brutal, violent and hysterically funny. A real must-see. Part of the "Duel" project, which also includes Ryuhei Kitamura's Aragami (see below).

Second Name (Paco Plaza, Spain) - Terrible thriller about a young woman trying to find the truth about her father's suicide. The plot is too convoluted to describe. Needless to say, there weren't many thrills.

Turning Gate (Hong Sang-Soo, South Korea) - Another Korean home run, a masterpiece of understatement. The Koreans consistently shine at melodrama, this one a tale about a young man who's terrible at love. Beautifully realized, expertly crafted. (also of note, this is the fourth film I've seen in the past two years to use Arvo Part's "Spiegel Im Spiegel").

Ghost River (Olivier Dahan, France) - Film about a prostitute (Isabelle Huppert) who goes on a quest to find her long-lost son and ex-husband, after her daughter stabs a john to death. Meandering and pointless, it felt like a bad American movie that would have starred Ashley Judd or Charlize Theron. Apparently, the French hated this film. Everyone else probably will, too.

Aragami (Ryuhei Kitamura, Japan) - A film about dueling samurais. Stylistically, very accomplished, but the spare narrative left a bit to be desired. At a meager 80 minutes, it could have been 40 minutes longer and been really great.

The Last Great Wilderness (David Mackenzie, UK) - A loopy road movie about two blokes who find themselves lost and make their way to a cabin where a strange group of people live. At turns frightening and hilarious, this film is an acquired taste. It's very strange, the humor very oddball. But, ultimately, very satisfying.

Spring Subway (Zhang Yibai, China) - A haunting film about an eroding marriage. Characters talk directly into the camera at times, something very rare, especially in Asian cinema, where that wall is hardly ever breached. Very much akin to Turning Gate, the two would make a great double bill.

Marooned in Iraq (Bahman Ghobadi, Iran) - A near-masterpiece, this Iranian dramedy is forceful, sad and, at times, side-splittingly funny. Very timetly, as well. It's very obvious here that the Kurds have no love lost for Mr. Hussein. The devastation he has wreaked on the area is in nearly every frame and it's often painful to look at. A beautiful, hypnotic film.

Thanatos & Eros: The Birth of the Holy Freak (Karl Nussbaum, Germany) - A strangely effective mixed-media documentary about the Holocaust, cancer, friendship, family dynamics, faith, lack of faith and the desire to be different. Some 12 different mediums were used in this Photoshop wet dream. Not entirely successful in content, but stunningly original in form.

This year's awards were as follows:

Juried Competition

  Best Feature Film - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (South Korea): Park Chan-wook, director;      Lee Jae-soon, producer
· Best Director - Yukihiko Tsutsumi, for 2LDK (Japan)
· Best First Film - Fancy Dancing (Canada/Great Britain): Brock Simpson, writer-director
· Best Documentary - Stevie (US): Steve James, director.
· Best Live Action Short - The Wormhole (US): Jessica Sharzer, director;
· Best Animated Short - Desert Story (Great Britain); Celia Galan Julve, director.

Audience Awards

· Best Feature - Mr. & Mrs. Iyer (India): Aparna Sen, director;
· Best Documentary - My Architect: A Son's Journey (US): Nathanial Kahn, director;
· Best Short - The Freak (Canada): Aristomenis Tsirbas, director.

Philadelphia CityPaper Festival of Independents

· Best Narrative - The Unbelievable Truth: Nathan Caswell and Jeremiah Zagar, co-directors;
· Best Experimental: Phototropism: Mary Sweeney, director;
· Best Animation - Dreamscapes: Sean McBride, director;
· Best Documentary - Picture Me an Enemy: Nathalie Applewhite, director;
· Best Feature - Stone Reader: Mark Moskowitz, director;
· NFL Films Technical Achievement Award - The Quality of Light: Keith Gaby, director.

For more information, including a gallery of photos from many festival events, visit the Festival's Web site at www.phillyfests.com.

                                                                 © FILM JOURNAL 2002