Independent Film Week 2008 has officially commenced, and I would like to applaud the IFP for selecting Barry Jenkins’ Medicine For Melancholy as this year’s opening night film. Granted, Medicine For Melancholy has a lot going for it, having just screened at Toronto and been bought by IFC Films earlier this year. But it’s still a film made on a miniscule budget without any familiar faces by an unknown director, and to give it this attention is further proof of the IFP’s commitment to supporting truly independent filmmakers. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the opening night festivities, as I’m curating a very special night of short films in Park Slope, but in case you forgot, I really, really like Medicine For Melancholy.

There’s too much good stuff—too much stuff, period—to even scratch the surface of Independent Film Week, but here are some standouts:

— Over at the Filmmaker Magazine blog, several filmmakers will be writing from the frontlines, including Todd Rohal, whose latest script (co-written with Craig Moorhead, who’s doing his own blogging) will be getting a ten-page reading with real, three-dimensional actors. If you’ve read the script—politely renamed for the time being to The Untitled Buttock Adventure Movie (you don’t want to know the original title)—you’ll understand why this has the potential to be the week’s main event. This is going down on Tuesday night, so be there. Other guest Filmmaker bloggers include Tara Wray (Manhattan, Kansas and Cartoon College) and Rodney Evans (Brother to Brother and Day Dream).

— Rooftop Films has an incredible four-day lineup:

Tuesday: Trinidad (music by Frances)
Wednesday: Selections From the Narrative and Documentary Labs (music by Action Painters)
Thursday: October Country (music by Phosphorescent)
Friday: The Pleasure of Being Robbed (music by New Rap Order).

Visit the Rooftop Films website for details.

— In connection with Wednesday’s Rooftop Films screening, I am thrilled to report that I have watched an up-to-the-minute cut of H2N contributor David Lowery’s St. Nick, and it is even better than I hoped it would be! He’s only showing a brief clip–just three measly shots—but I can vouch for basically every shot in the version I saw. Be sure to attend on Wednesday night. That way, when you’re at a festival next year watching the finished cut—and St. Nick will be making the festival rounds—you can brag by saying how you saw it way back when.

— Also, I have been working with my good friend Jesse Sweet (producer/director PBS’ African American Lives 2) on his very own feature documentary, The Class of 2023. This is a true labor of love about a determined woman, Sheila Joseph, who has started a charter school in East New York in order to bring education and hope to a community that desperately needs it. Jesse will be screening a twenty-minute reel of the in-progress film at 4:15 on Tuesday. Visit the film’s website to watch a trailer.

Congratulations to everyone who has been selected in some capacity to participate in this year’s Independent Film Week. History has shown that many successful films have been born on this very week. If the above-mentioned titles are any indication, this year will be no exception.

Tags: IFP, Independent Film Week