Introduction

Rebels & Rule Breakers & Revolutionaries take over The Philadelphia Film Festival.

You can't tell it from the catalog, but this year's Philadelphia Film Festival is a leaner, meaner undertaking. There's a difference between a festival run by for-profit TLA and a nonprofit, Film Society-run festival with TLA as the major sponsor, a difference that adds up to TLA's other partners sitting down the festival's artistic director, Ray Murray, and telling him that it had to at least break even this year.

"They put me on a strict budget," Murray says. "Anything over comes out of my salary." (The latter part, at least, was voluntary.)

By cutting down on panels, parties and other non-film events, the PFF shaved an estimated $200,000 off its budget, while keeping programming robust. New spotlights shine on animation and the cinema of Spain and Latin America, while Danger After Dark/Korean Cinema curator Travis Crawford's elevation to assistant program director brings new energy to the programming as a whole.The new International Masters section singles out films from the world's greatest (or, occasionally, most overrated) directors: Werner Herzog, Manoel de Oliveira, André Téchiné, Michael Haneke, Lars von Trier and others.

As always, it's a lot to swallow. So consider this week's City Paper one honkin' big glass of water. We've expanded our coverage to include more reviews than ever (with two dozen second-week premieres to come next issue) and singled out our top picks for the festival. (Look for the highlighted reviews.)

Needless to say, this issue is only a guide: Even our intrepid staff couldn't get to every movie available, and some tantalizing entries (such as the French Work Hard, Play Hard) remained out of reach. So talk to your friends, eavesdrop in line or cast the I Ching: If you can't find something to like among the festival's 250 films, you're not trying hard enough.

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