In a few weeks, the Monadnock International Film Festival (MONIFF) will be coming to The Colonial Theatre in downtown Keene once again.
The fifth-annual event will be hosted Thursday, April 20 through Saturday, April 22.
MONIFF’s goal is, per their website, “[t]o celebrate independent films that will engage, enlighten and educate audiences with compelling stories from around the world and here at home.”
11 feature films in the form of nine documentaries and three dramas will be shown this year. In addition, 16 short films, seven dramas, seven documentaries and two animations will also be shown in a series of three Shorts Programs.
Keene State College’s Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery will serve as the venue for the opening night’s reception.
KSC will also be presenting two of the films: “Big Sonia,” a documentary about Holocaust survivor Sonia Warshawski, and “Contemporary Color,” a documentary about 10 color guards’ performances to original music.
Since 2013, MONIFF has given out five Jonathan Daniels Awards. This award is “given to a filmmaker whose work fuses social and/or political awareness with artistic excellence, and encompasses Jonathan Daniels’ courage by telling stories of hope, redemption and the triumph of the human spirit,” according to the Learn section of the MONIFF website.
Daniels, a native of Keene, participated in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s.
This year, the award was given to Beth Murphy for her documentary, “What Tomorrow Brings,” which will be the last film shown during the festival.
Individuals can buy one-day film passes for Friday or Saturday for $30 or can purchase a pass for the whole festival, currently on sale, for $60. VIP passes are also currently on sale for $90 and “includes [a]ll films, panels, and parties, [p]riority seating, [a]ccess to Filmmaker Lounge, [f]arewell Filmmaker Brunch [and a] [c]omplimentary swag bag.”
Passes are sold under the “Attend” section of the MONIFF website, moniff.org.
Alexandria Saurman can be contacted at asaurman@kscequinox.com
