MOVIES: Five must-see events at BAMcinemaFEST

BAMcinemaFEST: It bills itself as the city’s newest film festival, brought to you in vintage “Brooklyn Style" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

How exactly does a Brooklyn fest stand apart from either the Tribeca Film Festival or the New York Film Festival? We’re not exactly sure. But ironically, what’s encouraging about BAMcinemaFEST are the ways in which it measures up to those Manhattan-based counterparts, offering a comprehensive program that includes 18 new feature films, 29 short films, four all-night movie marathons and two outdoor documentary screenings. 

It’s an ambitious, and lengthy, program for an inaugural event, which kicks off on Wednesday, June 17, with a hit from this year’s Sundance Film Festival: Cruz Angeles’s “Don’t Let Me Drown,” about two New York teens trying to keep their love alive despite the repercussions of the 2001 World Trade Center attacks. The festival runs through July 2; here are our picks for the five must-see events:

“Humpday” (showing June 20-21)
In recent years, the “bromances” of Judd Apatow have redefined the notion of mainstream movie comedy. With the likes of “Superbad,” “Pineapple Express,” “I Love You, Man” and “The Hangovever,” the ideals of male camaraderie and intimacy have become key. With “Humpday,” directoy Lynn Shelton strips away all the silliness, giving audiences Ben and Andrew—two straight best friends who decide to take their friendship to the next level when dared to sleep with one another. They film the act, and struggle to cope with the repersussions—and answer the question: What happens if you have take the bromance to its logical extreme?

“Sorry, Thanks” (showing June 24)
What is about one-night stands and San Francisco romances? Only a few months after we saw Wyatt Cenac wandering the city on the bay with his newfound love in "Medicine For Melancholy," here comes “Sorry, Thanks,” Dia Sokol’s character study of Max (Wiley Wiggins, from “Dazed and Confused”), the immature man-boy who finds himself wooed by two women over the course of a single night, as well as the risky realities of the postmillenial romance.

“The Exploding Girl” (showing June 25)
Up-and-comer Zoe Kazan (“Revolutionary Road”) continues her ascension in “The Exploding Girl,” the new film from Bradley Rust Gray (“Salt”) about an Ivy League student returning to Brooklyn for the summer, failing to connect with her long-distance boyfriend all the while feeling a tender closeess to her one-time childhood friend. A calm and nuanced vision of the uncertain exuberance that accompanies new love, “The Exploding Girl” isn’t just a love story, but a love poem to all of Brookyln, as the city is bathed in golden hues and vibrant cinematography.

“Reporter” (shows June 26)
As he has travels the world, bringing attention to the genocide, poverty and human rights abuses of Africa, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has emerged as an essential voice of conscience about the atrocities all but being ignored by the international community. Eric Daniel Metzgar’s documentary follows Kristof on a 2007 journey to Congo, capturing the reporter’s struggle in putting the scale and severity of this nation’s plight into context for his readers half a world away.

The All-Night Movie Marathons (the evening of June 27)
As part of the first annual BAMcinema FEST, organizers have lined up four all-night movie marathons. The festivities begin with a very special pair of screenings of Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent masterpiece “Metropolis,” complete with a live musical accompaniment by group 3epkano (screening at 5:30 and 9 p.m.)

Marathon 1: “Diana Ross Coming Out,” featuring screenings of “The Wiz” (12 a.m.) and “Mahogany” (2:30 a.m.)

Marathon 2: “Before They Were Scientologists,” featuring screenings of “Top Gun” (11:15 p.m.), “Look Who’s Talking Too” (1:30 a.m.), “Staying Alive” (3 a.m.)

Marathon 3: “All Night Bong,” featuring “Smiley Face” (11:15 p.m.), “Pineapple Express” (1 a.m.), “Friday” (3 a.m.)

Marathon 4: “BAMcinematek Favorites,” including “In the Mood For Love” (11:15 p.m.), “Millennium Mambo” (1:15 a.m.), “demonlover” (3:15 a.m.)