Stony Brook Film Festival director: 'Once you come you get hooked'

Offering independent films from around the world, the 31st Annual Stony Brook Film Festival is returning to the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University.

"Once you come you get hooked," said Staller Director Alan Inkles, who founded and directs the festival. "Our theme is about good movies. We want the best films out there, and we want to choose them."

He expects the festival to attract roughly 10,000 people from July 16-25 with 36 films from 23 countries, as well as after-show parties and filmmaker Q&As. Tickets are on sale.

What is lauded as one of the region’s top showcases for indie films owes much to his intuition—and determination. He recalled, “I walked into the theater one day….and I said, ‘You know wouldn’t it be great for a movie screening in this theater the way I used to see movies?'”

“It took a few years,” he said, as well as visits to festivals from Texas to Toronto for practical ideas. Through it all he held fast to his faith in the venue’s potential with its 1,000-seat theater and 40-foot-wide screen, the largest in New York dedicated to live shows.

This year's festival abounds in variety—representing countries from Armenia to Netherlands and genres from comedy to documentaries. In addition to full-length films, there are shorts often by young filmmakers, many of which “will never be shown in this country again," said Inkles.

Opening night on July 16 starts with the New York premier of French film Once Upon My Mother, an inspirational true story, and closing night on July 25 brings the East Coast premiere of Hello Betty, the life of a famed Swiss chef. The lineup includes the July 18 opening reception and talk by Black Excellence artist Noel W. Anderson.

Today, Inkles and his team have built an audience known to draw global filmmakers and almost fill that theater, bringing his dream to fruition.

“We’re not going to compete with the sun (on Long Island),” he said, so “we get people out in the evening.”