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RIIFF’s must-see offerings

The number of RIIFF films have crept up to 184 this year, enough to overwhelm the most dedicated film watcher. Most are shorts, but many are full-length narrative features and documentaries — 35 are 80 minutes or longer.

Recommendations from such a vast list are bound to be personal and somewhat arbitrary. With that in mind, you still might want to consider the following. Just remember that what could be your own favorite might not be among them. For the complete list, with descriptions, locations and show times, go to film-festival.org

• Holywater Gate, optioned by HBO, is the world premiere of a 60-minute documentary directed by Mary Healey Conlon, who teaches film at URI. It’s about the sex abuse controversy in southern New England, using the case study of a pedophile priest, who discusses his crime and its cover-up by the church, " Very topical, " said George T. Marshall, RIIFF executive director. " A very strong film. "

• A small coup for RIIFF is a 61/2-minute animation by Walt Disney Pictures — the US premiere of Destino. The short " is rather legendary for Disney aficionados, because it was a film that Disney commissioned in 1946 with Salvador Dali, " Marshall explained. The Spanish surrealist died before it was completed, but two years ago Roy Disney commissioned one of his studio’s chief animators to complete the work.

• A 45-minute Argentinean film, Girl (Boy) 14 is an encouraging indication of the direction of filmmaking. The high school students who made it were only 16 when they started their project, on which they spent nearly four years. The story is about a manic-depressive girl who imagines herself to be a boy when she has violent thoughts. " It’s astounding, for their age, " said Heather Bryant, RIIFF programming director. " The effects that they use, the depth of the story. " If the overall cinematic quality weren’t so impressive — images beautifully composed, pacing controlled — then the special-effects hook might be incidental. Nevertheless, its special effects modeled after the Matrix — including " bullet time " slo-mo — are striking, especially considering the $500 budget. Apparently, the expectations that young filmmakers are placing on themselves are limitless.

• Listening is a 23-minute documentary directed by Kenneth Branagh. It’s about a complicated relationship that develops in silence as a man and a women seek inner peace at a spiritual retreat. " Now, the thing about Listening that’s unique is that it’s the first of a series of shorts on the senses, " festival executive director George T. Marshall said. " We were really heartened when we got it. It’s a charming little piece. "

• Asoka Handagama’s Flying with One Wing, a feature from Sri Lanka, impressed Bryant. " The director was ordered by the government to cut scenes, and he wouldn’t do it, " she said. " So it was very controversial. It centers around a woman who masquerades as a man. She’s a mechanic and she has a wife, and everybody just assumes that it’s a guy and a girl and nobody else knows. But after an accident, a doctor discovers that she’s actually female. " The film portrays the culture as quite misogynistic, which also worked against its official acceptance.

• RIIFF is screening the US premiere of Mrs. Meitlemeyer, a 30-minute narrative short directed by Graham Rose. " It’s one of my favorites, " Marshall said. " The concept is that Hitler doesn’t die in 1945 but is whisked away by his comrades to a cold-water flat in England, where he’s in disguise for two years and then abandoned by them. His disguise: he’s a woman. And it gets worse, because there’s this randy refugee who thinks he recognizes him from the camp. "

• A feature that both Marshall and Bryant thought to recommend is the Polish film Zemsta, directed by Andrzej Wadja, who did the legendary documentary Man of Iron and other films about the Solidarity movement. " This is kind of a Molière comedy, a period piece, " Marshall describes it. It stars Roman Polanski, the director. " It’s very Shakespearean in tone, a Shakespearean comedy, " Bryant said " Polanski’s hilarious. "

• Rosso Fango, which means " red mud, " is a 12-minute Italian short. Based on a true story, it is set on a World War I battlefield. An English soldier bayonets an enemy and has to watch him die, an incident that could have changed the course of the war. " It’s shot amazingly, " Bryant said. " It’s so intense and vivid. "

• Broadway: The Golden Age is a multiple award-winning documentary by Rick McKay that presents interviews with more than 100 theater notables. It’s gotten much must-see ink, with Variety calling it " perhaps the screen’s most authoritative encapsulation of Broadway history and an intimately resonant one. "

— B.R.