The 17th annual Philadelphia Film Festival began this past Thursday and runs through April 15th. The festival has grown enormously and will host over 240 films in its seventeenth year. There are about fifteen films I’m intersted in seeing including Deficit which is directed by and stars Gael Garcia Bernal (from Babel), Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame which is directed by 19-year old Hana Makhmalbaf and Roman de gare.

There is a wide range of genres spanning indie and documentary with a very substantial foreign showing including the North American premier of several Indian films. The festival’s website has been completely redesigned with a very convenient feature that allows you to create a schedule of all the films you want to see. Tickets can be purchased directly online or at TLA Video stores around the city. Packages of 5 or 10 tickets can be purchased at a discount.

This will be my first time attending the festival and would love some suggestions of films to checkout. Hopefully I will have time to writeup a few short reviews in the near future.

Update: I created a Facebook group so people can discuss, suggest and review the films with each other.