Lights, Camera, Action: Charleston to host 3 film festivals in coming weeks

Secure your place in the queue.

The curtain is about to rise.

A trio of local film festivals unspools for the spring season, sporting as extensive and diverse a playbill as organizers can mount in a highly competitive (and thoroughly saturated) national movie-event environment.

Charleston Film Festival, March 11-14

Opening the run is the first for-profit fest to be held at the Terrace Theatre. The new Charleston Film Festival is the brainchild of Terrace owner Mike Furlinger, who hopes his inaugural event will distinguish itself by taking a somewhat unconventional path.

"I think we are doing a couple of groundbreaking things this year," he says.

Among them is a one-day showing March 12 of British director Jon Amiel's controversial "Creation," in which Charles Darwin (Paul Bettany) copes with the death of his daughter by absorbing himself in the work of "The Origin of Species." Also starring Jennifer Connelly, Jeremy Northam and Toby Jones, the movie has generated a split of opinion between audiences as well as among critics.

"On Saturday, and for the first time, we are going to have a Gay Pride block of films beginning at 7:15 p.m.," Furlinger says. "Then there's a Mother Earth block, in which green films are emphasized."

The latter features "The Whole Truth," which presents both sides of the cap-and-trade issue, and "Acid Test: The Global Challenges of Ocean Acidification," narrated by Sigourney Weaver.

More mainstream fare includes "The Red Baron," a look at the career of World War I German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen. Included in an array of locally produced films are the much-praised documentary "The Curious Mister Catesby," the short film "Letters From Home" (shot on the set of "Army Wives") and writer-director Nick Smith's action feature, "Cold Soldiers."

The only event not housed at the Terrace on James Island will be the closing festival gala and awards ceremony, which will be held downtown at the Terrace Hippodrome. All tickets for the gala are $5, which includes open bar and food.

"In several cases, instead of simply awarding a trophy, we are also going to screen the winning films at the gala, as is the case in two shorts categories and one in the documentary group," Furlinger adds.

The CFF marks a break between the Terrace and the similarly titled Charleston International Film Festival, which originated at the James Island theater but has since moved to the American Theater downtown. The break was not an especially amicable one, but all parties evince enthusiasm over the programming they've devised.

For festival updates and other information, go online at www.charlestonfilmfestival.com.

Festival of Ballycahill, March 13-17

Sure and it is! Three independent films from the Emerald Isle, a land of consummate storytellers, will be featured during the first Festival of Ballycahill, a celebration of Irish arts, crafts and culture.

Named for the Anglicized version of the Gaelic word for Charleston (Baile Chathail, or town of Charles), the festival culminates on St. Patrick's Day.

All films with be shown in Room 309 of the College of Charleston Simons Center for the Arts.

Screening on March 14 will be "Saviours," a low-budget boxing documentary set in Dublin and directed by the team of Ross Whitaker and Liam Nolan. It will be followed on March 15 by writer-director Lance Daly's "Kisses," the tale of a teenage runaway who flees an abusive father to find a brother who ran off two years before, and on March 17 by "A Film With Me in It," Ian Fitzgibbon's bleakly funny comedy of an out-of-work actor who seems to be causing those around him to have freak accidents.

The films are sponsored by the Center for the Documentary at the College of Charleston. For updated details, go online at www.ballycahillfestival.com.

Charleston International Film Festival, April 8-11

Entering their third year, festival directors Summer Spooner and Brian Peacher take particular pride in the fact that their nonprofit fest, the area's most expansive since the heyday of WorldFest in the mid-'90s, is on track to be an Academy Award Qualifier by year five.

"This is hard to achieve and a big deal, especially for any future CIFF film winners," says Peacher, also noting that this year the CIFF is teaming with the audience interactive site B-Side, which likewise had a first-time association with the recent Sundance Film Festival. "What it means is if they win at our festival, they may be considered for an Oscar."

Having moved to the American Theater downtown, the CIFF's aim continues to be that of offering "the very best of emerging and veteran filmmakers from the Lowcountry, the U.S. and across the globe."

Showcasing premieres and sneak previews, as well as appearances by directors, producers, cinematographers and screenwriters for post-screening Q&A sessions, the festival again encompasses an array of free entertainment industry panels and workshops, a screenplay competition, nightly after-parties and its customary Awards Gala. Joy and Noelle Vaccese of New York have been named winners of the poster contest for the official image of the 2010 festival. The Vacceses also were the Audience Choice Award Winners for Best Animation at the 2008 festival.

For more information, go online at www.CharlestonIFF.com.

Reach Bill Thompson at bthompson@postandcourier.com or 937-5707