Your Guide to The Teaneck International Film Festival

From a variety of short films that pack a mighty punch to a number of feature-length movies making their premiere, the Sixth Annual Teaneck International Film Festival aims to entertain and enlighten the masses this weekend. The theme of the festival is “Activism: Making Change.”

Here is information for the weekend lineup:

TICKETS

According to TIFF Executive Director Jeremy Lentz, tickets can be purchased at the following Cedar Lane businesses: , and . Tickets also can be purchased online here (click “View Event” next to each movie listing).

• All tickets for Saturday’s and Sunday’s movies cost $5 in advance or $7 at the door.

SPECIAL CHILDREN’S EVENT

At 11 a.m. Sunday morning, children ages 3 to 6 can view “Kid Flix Mix.” This event at the Puffin Cultural Forum will be hosted by Bob McGrath of “Sesame Street” fame. Thanks to a grant from the Puffin Foundation, the hour-long event is free for children who are accompanied by a paying adult. Purchase tickets here.

SHORT FILMS

Various short films will be featured during the weekend. Some films will be screened independently, while others will be grouped together as part of larger events.

• “Music by Prudence” (33 minutes) – 12 to 12:35 p.m. Saturday at the Puffin Cultural Forum. This 2010 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Short tells the story of a woman who “conveys to the world that disability does not mean inability.”

• “Belief Matters” – 12:45 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Davis, Saperstein & Salomon. This collection of short films focuses on interfaith respect, human rights and the environment.

• “Media that Matters” (panel discussion to follow with Teaneck resident/film producer Carol DeVoe) – 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Davis, Saperstein & Salomon. This collection of short films features work by many filmmakers under the age of 21. Movie topics range from religious acceptance in America to Asperger’s Syndrome.

• “Ma'aleh School of Television, Film & the Arts of Jerusalem Short Series” (53 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles, panel discussion to follow with Neta Ariel of Ma’aleh School) – 10 to 11:45 a.m. Sunday at the Jewish Center of Teaneck. This event features three shorts: “The Divide,” “A-Maiseh” and “I’m Ready.”

• “The Potential Wives of Norman Mao” (8 minutes) and “Mourning on Charlotte Street” (30 minutes, panel discussion to follow with actors Artie Pasquale of HBO’s “The Sopranos” and Joe Sernio) – 1 to 2:15 p.m. Sunday at the Puffin Cultural Forum. Purchase tickets here.

• “After the Fire” (36 minutes) – 3:40 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Davis, Saperstein & Salomon. This documentary chronicles what took place after the Jan. 19, 2000, Seton Hall University fire, especially in regards to two critically injured freshmen whose dorm was set ablaze by arsonists.

FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS ON SATURDAY

• “Children of God” (103 minutes) – 1:15 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Puffin Cultural Forum. The movie, which takes place in the Caribbean, follows characters dealing with homophobia, love, loneliness, tolerance, secrets and self-acceptance.

• “Paths of Glory” (88 minutes) – 1:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. at Cedar Lane Cinemas. The late Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 antiwar film is based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb and stars Kirk Douglas.

• “Farewell / L'affaire Farewell” (113 minutes, French, Russian and English with English subtitles, New Jersey premiere) – 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Cedar Lane Cinemas. A spy thriller “pulled from the pages of history” that involves “the biggest theft of Soviet information of the Cold War.”

• “Welcome to Shelbyville” (70 minutes, panel discussion to follow) – 3:45 to 5 p.m. at the Puffin Cultural Forum. Focuses on a small town in Tennessee that’s integrating a growing Latino population and Somali refugees of Muslim faith.

• “The Piano in a Factory/Gang de qin” (105 minutes, Mandarin with English subtitles, New Jersey premiere) – 6 p.m. to 7:50 p.m. at Davis, Saperstein & Salomon. A father who faces losing his daughter to his estranged wife does all he can to make sure his musically inclined child chooses him.

• “Revolution ’67” (90 minutes, panel discussion to follow with filmmaker and activists from 1967 Newark riots) – 6:05 p.m. to 8:11 p.m. at Puffin Cultural Forum. A documentary that focuses on “the black urban rebellions of the 1960s” to fight against poverty and police brutality.

• “On the Bowery” (65 minutes, Part of Milestone Films 20th Anniversary 35mm Restoration) – 6:30 p.m. to 7:40 p.m. at Cedar Lane Cinemas. This black and white documentary films three days on New York’s skid row and follows the shenanigans of individuals who drink too much.

• “We Need to Talk About Kevin” (112 minutes, Centerpiece Film, panel discussion to follow, tri-state premiere) – 8 to 11 p.m. at Cedar Lane Cinemas. Based on the best-selling novel by Lionel Shriver, this film – which stars Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly – “tackles the mess left behind for the mother of a teenage murderer in the making.”

• “To be Heard” (87 minutes, panel discussion and poetry slam to follow) – 8:45 to 10:15 p.m. at Puffin Cultural Forum. “The story of three teens from the South Bronx whose struggle to change their lives begins when they start to write poetry.” This documentary was shot over the course of four years. Directors Roland Legiardi-Laura and Amy Sultan and two students from the film are scheduled to attend the panel discussion.

FEATURE-LENGTH FILMS ON SUNDAY

• “Anita” (104 minutes, New Jersey premiere) – 12:35 to 2:25 p.m. at Cedar Lane Cinemas. A young woman with Down Syndrome touches the lives of those she meets after a nearby tragedy occurs.

• “The Price of Sugar” (90 minutes, panel discussion to follow) – 1 to 3 p.m. at Davis, Saperstein & Salomon. This documentary, which is narrated by the late Paul Newman, follows a Spanish priest as he organizes “thousands of dispossessed Haitians” to fight for basic rights as they harvest sugarcane in the Dominican Republic.

• “Ahead of Time (The Ruth Gruber Movie)” (73 minutes, panel discussion to follow) – 2:45 to 5 p.m. at Cedar Lane Cinemas. This film focuses on Ruth Gruber and her coverage of momentous events as a journalist and also the important work she did privately.

• “The Good Fight (The Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War)” (98 minutes, panel discussion to follow with members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives) – 3 to 5 p.m. at Puffin Cultural Forum. “Spurred by their government’s failure to aid Spanish democracy, 2,800 American volunteers fought with distinction in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade within the international volunteer army.” This film focuses on their decision and the suspicion the volunteers faced when they returned home.

• “Gen Silent” (70 minutes, panel discussion to follow) – 4 to 5:45 p.m. at Temple Emeth. This documentary follows six LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) seniors and how they choose to live their lives in order to avoid discrimination at the hands of caregivers and other seniors.

• “Halfaouine/Boy of the Terraces” (98 minutes, Arabic with English subtitles, panel discussion to follow on Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution and the implications for Tunisia, North Africa and the Middle East) – 6 to 8 p.m. at Puffin Cultural Forum. Set in modern Tunisia, this film is a “bittersweet portrait of a boy's sexual awakening.”

• “Mahler on the Couch / Mahler auf der Couch” (100 minutes, New Jersey Premiere) – 6 to 8 p.m. at Cedar Lane Cinemas. “This exuberant imagining of the real-life marriage of Gustav Mahler and his tempestuous wife Alma Schindler Mahler is a sensory feast of art, sex and celebrity in fin-de-siècle Vienna.”

• “Women on the 6th Floor / Les femmes du 6ème étage” (104 minutes, French with English subtitles) – 7 to 9 p.m. at Davis, Saperstein & Salomon. The tale of a charming new maid helping her uptight employer to loosen up and enjoy life.

• “Leave It on the Floor” (107 minutes, New Jersey premiere) – 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. at Puffin Cultural Forum. This movie is described as a “one of a kind celebration – a gay African American musical about finding your true family.”

• “Standing Silent” (81 minutes, panel discussion to follow, New Jersey premiere) – 8 to 10 p.m. at Temple Emeth. TIFF’s Closing Night Film, this documentary features “Baltimore Jewish Times” reporter Phil Jacobs and his pursuit of uncovering “generations of child molestation at the hands of prominent rabbis” in an insular Orthodox neighborhood in Baltimore.

For more information, visit teaneckfilmfestival.org. The scheduled lineup of panel guests is subject to change.