A fall weekend full of film festivals on Cape Cod

There are fall festivals celebrating the changing of seasons, colors of leaves fading from green to shades of yellow, orange and red, but there are also film festivals in the fall. Here on the Cape, we've got a slightly mixed bag of festivals coming up — Oct. 10 to 15 — covering films based around women and historical preservation.

Women are taking center stage in Provincetown, Hyannis and on Martha's Vineyard as the Martha's Vineyard Film Society hosts its 5th Women in Film Festival, the Provincetown Film Society hosts its Women's Week Film Series at Waters Edge and the Hyannis Film Festival hosts Women in Comedy.

However, things are taking a different direction as Protect Our Past, a historical preservation nonprofit in Chatham, hosts its inaugural Protect Our Past POP Film Festival at the Chatham Orpheum Theater featuring films focusing on historical preservation and sustainability.

Martha's Vineyard Film Society celebrates 5th Women in Film Festival

The Women in Film Festival's 5th year features six films across multiple genres made with women in front and behind the camera.

"It started basically because of our desire to kind of shine a spotlight more on female creators [and] female storytellers whether that's a producer, director, writer, or all three," Richard Paradise, president of the Martha's Vineyard Film Society said. "Each of the last five years we've [selected] films that focus on strong women stories [and] stories that maybe are in genres that are not typically considered sort of 'Women films'...to try to broaden people's appreciation of what it means to be a female filmmaker."

The films include "Joan Baez: I Am A Noise," a documentary of the famed musician and activist, "Isle of Hope" featuring Diane Ladd (you may know her as Flo from "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" or as Laura Dern's mom) and Mary Stuart Masterson, "Orca," "Good Egg," "The Arrival" and "Dancing Queen."

When Paradise and Danielle Bauke, another staffer at the film society, began finding films for this year's festival, there was one that Paradise wanted but unfortunately couldn't get.

"I was hoping to play Meg Ryan's new romantic comedy that she wrote directed and stars in, 'What Happens After,'" he revealed. "Unfortunately, the release date got pushed back... [It was] perfect since she was a triple threat on it, but unfortunately, things don't work out always the way you hope."

Despite the loss, each film in this year's festival sheds light on a different aspect of a woman's life across a variety of genres.

In "Orca" by Sahar Mosayebi, a young Iranian woman finds solace in the ocean, becoming an endurance swimmer after escaping an abusive marriage. She sets out to set the new world record for the longest distance swim with her hands tied, fighting against a myriad of challenges along the way.

In "Isle of Hope," the mother-daughter dynamic is dissected as Ladd and Masterson play mother Carmen Crawford and daughter Victoria in director Damián Romay's 2022 film. Victoria and Carmen are at odds after Carmen destroys her daughter's dreams of becoming a playwright. But when Carmen suffers a life-threatening stroke, causing her to believe she's 15 years in the past, Victoria decides to reconnect with her mother and figure out where it all went wrong.

But, of the most-anticipated titles, Paradise said he thinks Joan Baez will draw the most crowds due to her stature and significance to women of a certain age.

"Joan Baez is now considered a hero for a woman who came to her maturity in [the] 60s and 70s," he said. "They remember Joan Baez. They listen to her music. She was such a firebrand for civil rights and for the protests against the Vietnam War. She symbolized a lot for those individuals."

Three directors, Moyasebi, Alyssa Rallo Bennett ("The Arrival) and Nicole Gomez Fisher ("Good Egg") will be giving Q&A talks at the festival. Talks will follow the screening of their respective films.

The Martha's Vineyard Film Society's Women in Film Festival will take place from Oct. 13 to 15 at the Martha's Vineyard Film Center. Tickets can be bought online at www.mvfilmsociety.com/ ranging from $60 for an all-access pass to $15 per film.

Provincetown Film Society's Women's Week at Waters Edge returns

Provincetown Film Society's Women's Week at Waters Edge Cinema is back with 11 films by and starring women or girls. Like the Martha's Vineyard Film Society, Provincetown also caught word of "Joan Baez: I Am A Noise" and will be screening the documentary during the festival on Oct. 12 at 4 p.m.

Outside of Baez, other screenings include "All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt," "The Teacher's Lounge" and a free screening of the Netflix rom-com "The Half of It" featuring a Q&A from writer, director and one of this year's filmmakers in residence Alice Yu on Oct. 13 at 4 p.m.

Yu's fellow filmmaker-in-residence, A. Sayeeda Moreno, will host a screening of her shorts followed by a Q&A the day following at 1 p.m.

The Provincetown Film Society's Women's Week at Waters Edge will take place from Oct. 12 to 15 at the Waters Edge Cinema in Provincetown. Tickets are available at www.provincetownfilm.org/ and cost $50 for a four-pack and $15 individually.

Waters Edge Cinema will also be screening "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" throughout the festival weekend.

Hyannis Film Festival highlights women in comedy

The Hyannis Film Festival hosts Women in Comedy on Oct. 13 and 14, paying homage to funny women on the Cape and beyond.

Festival presenter and star, Julia Scotti, a transgender comedian and author, takes to the stage alongside Jane Condon on Friday night (Oct. 13) at 8 p.m. to kick off the festival.

Saturday is Scotti's time to shine as her film "Julia Scotti: Funny That Way" screens at 4 p.m. followed by a Q&A with Scotti. Prior to that, local comedians Sandra Lee Bolton and June Bowser-Barrett will have a show and screening of their own at 2 p.m.

Tickets are on sale at www.hyannisfilmfestival.com/. A Friday ticket is available for $30 and each of Saturday's events cost $15 each. A weekend pass is $50.

The festival will be held at 529 Main St. in Hyannis.

Protect Our Past launches first POP Film Festival

Credit where credit is due, a film festival about historical preservation and sustainability is quite cool. Protect Our Past's inaugural POP Film Festival will take place at the Chatham Orpheum Theater on Oct. 13 and 14.

Protect Our Past works to protect Cape Cod's historic properties through creating media such as short films, social media campaigns and so on, according to their website. So creating a film festival seems like a natural next step for the organization.

The POP Film Festival features six screenings — "Explore Monmoy," "One Big Home," "Hey Arnold," "Starboard Light," "Love Letter to Cape Cod" and "Life Rings" — walking tours and a few "TED Talks" from local preservation and restoration experts John Bullard, Gary Sachau and Stephen Tilly.

The festival begins on Oct. 13 with a welcome reception from 4 to 9 p.m. followed by a Saturday full of screenings and other events on Oct. 14, beginning at 10 a.m. with "Explore Monmoy" and "Hey Arnold."

Tickets for the Pop Film Festival are available online at www.protectourpast.org/pop-film-festival for $30.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Film Festivals happening this Fall on Cape Cod