Actor Tony Goldwyn will be honored by the SunDeis Film Festival at his alma mater, Brandeis University, with the first ever SunDeis Alumni Achievement Award next weekend. The two-day festival takes place Saturday and Sunday, with the award presentation Sunday at 7:30 p.m. It all takes place at the Shapiro Campus Center on the school's Waltham campus.
Goldwyn directed "The Last Kiss," starring Zach Braff, and has appeared most recently on episodes of "Law & Order." In 1990, he played the creep banking exec in "Ghost" opposite Demi Moore (fun fact: the total worldwide gross of "Ghost," according to the-numbers.com: more than $517 million). As part of the festival, "The Last Kiss" will play Saturday at 3 p.m. with a Q&A with Goldwyn.
One of the fest's main goals is to be a forum for student filmmakers. Works have been submitted from as far away as Brazil and Austria, in categories that include "unfilmed screenplays" and "best alternative film," for works made on "non-traditional equipment" such as cellphone cameras.
New this year will be a 48-hour film competition. "We've been trying hard to involve students who may only be peripherally interested in film," says Matt Brown, one of the student coordinators of the weekend. For the contest, they had "one weekend to write, shoot, and edit a film that incorporates a number of stipulations, sort of like a scavenger hunt." The results will be shown both Saturday and Sunday at noon.
The weekend includes a panel on the future of film with Alice Kelikian, chair of the Brandeis film studies program; Sharon Rivo, executive director of the National Center for Jewish Film and a Brandeis faculty member; Sam Weisman, Brandeis alum and TV and film director; and recent Brandeis grad Andrew Slack (Sunday at 1 p.m.). There also will be a screening of "Outside Providence" and a Q&A with director Michael Corrente (Sunday at 3 p.m.).
SunDeis is free and open to the public. Visit brandeis.edu/sundeis for the complete schedule.
AROUND THE WORLD IN STUDIO CINEMA: The seventh annual Belmont World Film series begins today at 7:30 p.m. with the New England premiere of "The Edge of Heaven," a German/Turkish film starring Hanna Schygulla that was Germany's official submission for best foreign language film for last month's Oscars.
The festival's theme is "The Other Side," with the five international films all focused on characters whose lives are transformed by living somewhere other than their home. On April 13, the series will give "Irina Palm," starring Marianne Faithfull, its New England premiere.
The shows take place at the Studio Cinema in Belmont. For more details, call 617-484-3980 or visit belmontworldfilm.org.
BOSTON CINEMA CENSUS: Every year since 2001, Central Productions has hosted something called the Boston Cinema Census, a one-night event "dedicated to presenting the best in current regional filmmaking to a local audience."
This year's program takes place Friday at 9:30 p.m. at the Brattle. Included in the lineup will be Boston filmmaker Jared Katsiane's "Where Is Estel?" which has screened at more than 20 international festivals including the Rotterdam fest in January. Call 617-876-6837 or visit brattlefilm.org or bostoncinemacensus.org.
CONVERSATIONS WITH: Director Adela Peeva will be present with her new "Divorce Albanian Style," about 1960s communist Albania, today at 1 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts. Her appearance is part of a series of conversations with documentary directors that also includes next Sunday's presentation by Alexandra Isles of her "The Healing Gardens of New York" (617-267-9300 and mfa.org/film).
Director David Gordon Green will be at the Harvard Film Archive tonight at 7 with his 2000 film "George Washington," a feature in the vein of "Mean Creek" about a multi-racial group of preteen friends living in Green's home state of North Carolina who have to grow up fast when something dark happens. The 32-year-old director will also be at the Archive Monday at 7 p.m. with his new "Snow Angels," a drama about three couples whose relationships are all falling apart. It features Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell (617-495-4700, hcl.harvard.edu/hfa).
SCREENINGS OF NOTE: "Once," the sweet movie starring Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová as street buskers that won the Academy Award for original song is the opening feature of the Boston College Irish Studies Film Series on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the West Newton Cinema (617-552-3938, bc.edu/irishfilm).
"On Broadway," Dave McLaughlin's movie about Boston's Irish community starring Joey McIntyre, opens at the Somerville Theatre, West Newton Cinema, Dedham Community Theatre, and Sharon Cinemas 8 on Friday. The movie picked up top awards at the Magner's Irish, Woods Hole, and New Hampshire film festivals, and was runner-up for best first feature at the Galway Film Fleadh (onbroadwaythemovie.com).
In Brattleboro, the Vermont Women's Film Festival runs from Friday through March 23 (www.womensfilmfestival.org). . . . The Martha's Vineyard Independent Film Festival runs from Friday through next Sunday (mviff.org). . . . And Boston's Alloy Orchestra will perform live to the 1927 silent movie "Underworld" Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre (617-876-4275, crasharts.org).
Leslie Brokaw can be reached at lbrokaw@globe.com.
