October 02, 2024

Philadelphia Film Festival will screen Oscar contenders and a Wing Bowl documentary

Here are the anticipated titles for the annual showcase, which will screen 98 movies and numerous shorts from Oct. 17-27.

By Kristin Hunt
PhillyVoice Staff

Provided image/Apple TV+

"Blitz," a World War II drama starring Saoirse Ronan, is the closing film for the Philadelphia Film Festival. The movie showcase runs Oct. 17-27.

A World War II drama, a blunter take on "Pretty Woman" and a documentary on WIP's wing-eating contest will be showcased at the upcoming Philadelphia Film Festival.

The annual event, now in its 33rd year, will screen 98 movies and numerous shorts across its three theaters from Thursday, Oct. 17, through Sunday, Oct. 27.

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PFF will open and close with historical dramas. The festival kicks off with "September 5," which dramatizes the terrorist attack on the 1972 Olympics from the perspective of an ABC news crew. "Blitz," which follows a separated boy and his mother during the German bombing of London in WWII, is the official closer — though technically, it's playing a little early on Oct. 25.

Other buzzy selections include "Anora," a fraught romance about a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch. (It took home the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May.) "Nickel Boys," the adaptation of the Pulitzer-winning book of the same name, and "Conclave," a papal political drama, will also play. All three are considered early Oscar contenders, along with PFF picks "The Brutalist," "The Room Next Door," "I'm Still Here" and "A Real Pain."

The festival will screen Philly-centric titles, too. "Audrey's Children" stars Natalie Dormer as Dr. Audrey Evans, the co-founder of the first Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia. Documentaries on Quaker activist George Lakey, the Philly soul genre and WIP's former Wing Bowl are also on the schedule.

PFF will present five movies on political issues — like "Separated," a documentary on border policies — as free community screenings in the run-up to the presidential election. Otherwise, individual tickets will cost $12-$17. They will go on sale to PFS members Friday, and the general public Monday, Oct. 7.