8th Annual New Hope Film Festival Starts Friday

Mark your calendars: the highly-anticipated New Hope Film Festival will be held from July 21 to July 30. The eighth annual festival will feature a line-up of 136 films from 16 countries. Films will be screened at the New Hope Arts Center, 2 Stockton Ave.

Here's a look at some of the festival highlights:

(See the 2017 Program Guide for a full lineup)

BENJY LUCAS (Art house feature, 91 minutes): An airline mogul’s flashback of the pig he rescued during his poor childhood helps him to put in perspective what matters the most.

BEYOND THE BOMBS (Documentary, 76 minutes): Three metal musicians leave Iran for Los Angeles to pursue their metal band dream only to find themselves in a precarious position.

DEVIL’S WHISPER: (Art house feature, 86 minutes) Alejandro Duran, who comes from a religious Latino-American family, aspires to be a Catholic priest, but when he discovers a mysterious box that was passed down from his grandparents, he unwittingly unleashes a demonic spirit bent on possessing him.

D-LOVE: (Art house feature, 97 minutes) After landing at LAX upon returning from Europe, a couple is having a tough day and their relationship is on the rocks, but a chance encounter with a vagabond stirs them in ways they could not have expected.

25 TRACKS (Documentary, 53 minutes): It’s 2011 and two songwriters with different tastes plan to write, record, then release a fresh song every two weeks of the year. Their studio is a vintage rail car in industrial Melbourne, Australia’s music capital.

ACRES OF DIAMONDS (Short, 21 minutes): Acres of Diamonds examines two possible paths for vulnerable children in rural, poverty stricken India: a life in slavery with no hope of escape or a flourishing life with Good News India, where they receive food, clothes, education, and love.

BEAUTIFUL DREAMER (Short, 26 minutes): Facing a terminal disease, a mother uses space travel and relativity to stretch her last two years over the lifetime of her baby daughter.

Tickets at the door are $14 or $12.50 for students and seniors. Matinee price is $10. A local standby pass is $35. Tickets in advance are $12.50, or $11 for students and seniors. Advance matinee price is $8.50 and a local standby in advance is $32.50. To purchase tickets in advance, click here.

The closest parking lot to the New Hope Arts Center is Union Square, which is located just across W. Bridge Street.

"The New Hope Film Festival is made possible by grassroots support from filmmakers who submit their works, members and sponsors from the Mid-Atlantic region, and the many patrons who purchase tickets during the event. We feel incredibly grateful and honored for this ongoing enthusiasm for our hard work. People who discover this area for the first time through the festival absolutely love it, and the organizers of this festival can see why—we live here ourselves because of the high quality of life," said D. F. Whipple, the event's Executive Director in the program guide introduction.

For more information, visit www.newhopefilmfestival.com.

Photo: Flickr, Roey Ahram