Giant steps

Addicted teachers, forgotten veterans, shunned graffiti artists, delirious walkers, and obsessed crossword fans populate the latest edition of the Independent Film Festival of Boston. But while the outsider experience may be the program's prevalent theme, the IFFB, now in its fourth year, is making strides toward becoming a respectable fixture on the film festival circuit. With 74 movies -- 22 narrative features, 28 documentaries, and 24 shorts -- plus panels, discussions, and parties, the IFFB has expanded its running time, from four to six days (April 19 to 24), to accommodate its more than 100 screenings and special events. The festival opens Wednesday with ''Half Nelson," by Newton native Anna Boden and her filmmaker partner Ryan Fleck. This is their fourth straight appearance at the festival, having previously shown ''Have You Seen This Man" (2003), the short ''Gowanus, Brooklyn" (2004), and ''Young Rebels" (2005).

''It's a homecoming," said Boden, who as teenager got her ''film education" at the Brattle Theatre. ''I think doing this festival in Boston will help get a little word of mouth started."

On ''Half Nelson," which premiered at Sundance in January, Boden served as editor, co-writer and one of the producers. Ryan Gosling stars as Dan Dunne, a charismatic but flawed teacher struggling with drug addiction. The ante is upped when one of his students, Drey (Shareeka Epps), catches him getting high. ''Half Nelson" is a feature-length version of ''Gowanus, Brooklyn" and stars the same lead actress.

''We never imagined that we'd be able to keep [Epps]," said Boden, speaking by phone from Brooklyn, ''[but] she can play young enough. Her character is a bizarrely old soul captured in a young body."

If ''Half Nelson" is a darker update on the teacher-student inspiration theme, ''The Proposition," the fest's closing film, is a particularly wicked (and gory) take on the western. A spare soundtrack by Nick Cave (also the film's screenwriter) matches the stark landscape of this fratricidal tale starring Guy Pearce (''Memento") and Danny Huston (''The Constant Gardener") as outlaw brothers in the 19th-century Australian Outback. The cast includes Ray Winstone (''Sexy Beast"), Emily Watson, and a scene-chewing John Hurt as a crazed bounty hunter.

In between the opening and closing films, the IFFB continues its traditionally strong offerings in documentary. Two are world premieres: ''Not a Photograph: The Mission of Burma Story," about the legendary Boston rock band, and ''Red, White, Black & Blue," a wrenching look at a forgotten World War II battle for the remote Aleutian Island of Attu.

Few Americans know of the 1943 Alaskan battle, which claimed the lives of 4,000 US and 3,000 Japanese soldiers, said first-time documentarian Tom Putnam, let alone the fact that Japanese forces occupied American soil during the war.

Putnam accompanied two veterans, Bill Jones and Andy Petrus, as they returned for the first time since the war to the desolate battlefield still scarred by foxholes and strewn with unexploded ordnance. Through candid interviews, we relive their often contradictory memories. In one scene, Jones says coldly, ''My job was to kill Japanese"; in another, he breaks down in tears.

Carrying on the festival's exile theme are two oddly complementary documentaries: ''Wordplay," an engaging look at crossword puzzles, and ''Infamy," an in-your-face visit with graffiti artists.

''Wordplay" follows the crossword world's elite, Patrick Creadon's film intercuts contestants' preparations for the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament with interviews of celebrity crossword fans -- Jon Stewart, Indigo Girls Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, and Bill Clinton. It might sound dull, but by the climax, ''Wordplay" has built up tension as gripping as any come-from-behind basketball drama.

''Infamy" is part of director Doug Pray's ongoing examination of ''edge" culture; his ''Hype" looked at grunge, and ''Scratch" delved into hip-hop DJs. Kinetically shot in gorgeous, color-saturated film, ''Infamy" bucks the trend toward cheap digital productions. Pray's camera follows graffiti ''writers" with names like Saber and Earsnot as they tag doors and rail cars or work for hours on a ''piece." Like crossword puzzle geeks, graffitists are obsessed with their daily rituals, though their sense of entitlement, born of disenfranchisement, is chilling.

Far more disturbing is ''Thin." Lauren Greenfield's film takes the viewer inside a Florida treatment center for women grappling with anorexia and bulimia. We meet Alisa, accustomed to living on 200 calories a day, who says, ''I just wanted to be thin. If it takes dying to get there, so be it." Set against the backdrop of our obesity-plagued society, the voyeurism of ''Thin" makes the viewing experience all the more uncomfortable.

Another standout is ''Walking to Werner," an ambulatory, one-man mirror-gazing exercise by director Linas Phillips, who walks from Seattle to Los Angeles in the hopes of meeting German filmmaker Werner Herzog (himself infamous for foolhardy quests). Along the journey, Phillips nearly goes as mad as Klaus Kinski in Herzog's ''Aguirre: The Wrath of God."

If you're looking for humor, seek out the short films. Don't miss the darkly hilarious ''Who I Am and What I Want," the slick and paranoid ''K-7," the spoof ''Zombie-American" with Ed Helms from ''The Daily Show," and the brilliant and brief ''A Painful Glimpse Into My Writing Process (In Less Than 60 Seconds)."

Aside from ''Not a Photograph: The Mission of Burma Story" ( codirected by Boston native David Kleiler Jr.), another music documentary has a local angle. ''loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies" is, as the subtitle suggests, a biopic of the famous Massachusetts band. Music also figures prominently in ''As Smart as They Are: The Author Project," about writer-musician collaboration; ''Pick Up the Mic," an examination of ''queer hip-hop"; ''Downtown Locals," a look at New York subway buskers; and ''Before the Music Dies," which takes on the homogenization of American pop music.

Other worthy IFFB entries include the home-grown supernatural thriller ''The Legend of Lucy Keyes," starring Julie Delpy and directed by John Stimpson; ''The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes," from animators the Brothers Quay; ''District B13," a futuristic French crime drama produced by Luc Besson; ''Down in the Valley," a drama with Edward Norton as a man who may or may not be a cowboy on modern-day LA; and two documentaries on the hot-button immigration issue, ''El Inmigrante" and ''Romantico."

Special events include conversations with indie actor icons Chris Cooper and Lili Taylor (though neither stars in any festival film), practical panel discussions such as ''Tools for Indie Filmmakers" and ''Getting Your Film Seen & Sold," and seminars on podcasts and digital imaging.

Appearing in person are actors Shareeka Epps (''Half Nelson"), Danny Huston (''The Proposition"), and Justin Theroux (''The Legend of Lucy Keyes"), as well as 40 directors. In a bow to the cult of reality TV, many ''stars" who will be in attendance aren't even actors but the subjects of documentaries: Bill Jones and Andy Petrus from ''Red, White, Black & Blue," and three crossword puzzle champs profiled in ''Wordplay."

But you need not be a social misfit or angry rebel to appreciate the diversity of this year's schedule. For six days, the IFFB is an idyllic island for self-imposed exile, welcoming film fanatics of every stripe.

Ethan Gilsdorf can be reached at ethan@ethangilsdorf.com.