FilmFest D.C. returns with 70 new offerings

This year, the Washington D.C. International Film Festival (D.C.’s oldest film festival) will be showing seventy films for an audience of 20,000, with screenings April 16-26 at E Street Cinema near Metro Center and AMC Mazza Gallerie in Friendship Heights. According to festival director Tony Gittens (who founded the event back in 1986), they are showing films from all around the world, and accepted submissions from thirty countries, including France, Italy, Myanmar, Trinidad, the Netherlands, Germany and Taiwan. This year’s offering of feature films is broken down into different categories, ranging from international comedies to thrillers. There is also a new music segment called “Rhythm On and Off the Screen,”combining music-themed films with live musical performances. One such film is “Tap World,” which is also one of six nominees for the festival’s top prize, the Circle Award (named after Washington’s former chain of Circle Theatres). The 2015 nominees are: “Tap World” (USA), “The Amina Profile” (Canada), “God Loves the Fighter” (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago), “In Order of Disappearance” (Norway), “Margarita, with a Straw” (India), and “The Tribe” (Ukraine). Additionally, there will also be a special Q&A with Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday on Thursday, April 23, at 7:00 p.m. at the E Street Cinema. General admission is $13 per person.