The best damn film festival this town has to offer, the 16-year-old Independent Film Festival Boston has become more than just an annual celebration of cinema as it brings nearly 100 films to three of greater Boston’s independently owned and operated movie palaces (Davis Square’s Somerville Theatre, Brookline’s Coolidge Corner Theatre and Harvard Square’s Brattle Theatre), spread across an 8-day period every spring. Throughout the rest of the year, IFFBoston hosts a popular Screening Series, offering the public first looks at upcoming releases, frequently followed by Q&A sessions with key creative members on each film, from the pictures’ stars, to their producers and directors.

Not content to leave well enough alone, for the past few years, IFFBoston’s braintrust—executive director Brian Tamm, program director Nancy Campbell and associate director Judy Wong—have taken to gifting local cinephiles a treasure trove of early Christmas presents with the IFFBoston Fall Focus, a compact, 3-day-long mini-festival that takes place exclusively at the Brattle.

Heading into its fourth year, the Fall Focus has become the place to get early looks at some of the films that will light up movie screens through the holiday season and beyond. Last year’s edition included Oscar favorites like Lady Bird and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, while Best Picture winner Moonlight anchored 2016’s lineup.

And while there’s no telling how many of this year’s 10 local premieres might be headed toward Oscar glory, the strikingly international collection of pictures (10 different nations are represented) unspooling at the Brattle this weekend promises a little bit of something for nearly all kinds of moviegoing tastes.

Here’s the extraordinary selection of films:

Wildlife
Friday, Oct. 19 at 7 pm.
Directed by Paul Dano. Starring Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ed Oxenbould and Bill Camp. (USA)

Border
Friday, Oct. 19 at 9:30 pm
Directed by Ali Abbasi. Starring Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff, Jögen Thorsson, Ann Petrén and Sten Ljungren. (Sweden)

Cold War
Saturday, Oct. 20 at 2:30 pm
Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski. Starring Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot. (Poland)

Rafiki
Saturday, Oct. 20 at 4:30pm
Directed by Wanuri Kahiu. Starring Samantha Mugatsia, Sheila Munyiva, Jimmi Gathu, Nini Wacera and Dennis Musyoka. (Kenya)

Shoplifters
Saturday, Oct. 20 at 6:30 pm
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. Starring Lily Franky, Ando Sakura, Matsuoka Mayu and Kiki Kirin. (Japan)

Vox Lux
Saturday, Oct. 20 at 9 pm
Directed by Brady Corbet. Starring Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Jennifer Ehle, Stacy Martin and Raffey Cassidy. (USA)

Roma
Sunday, Oct. 21 at noon
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Starring Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira. (Mexico)

Non-Fiction
Sunday, Oct. 21 at 2:30pm
Directed by Olivier Assayas. Starring Guillaume Canet, Juliette Binoche, Vincent Macaigne, Christa Théret and Nora Hamzawi. (France)

Burning
Sunday, Oct. 21 at 5pm
Directed by Lee Chang-dong. Starring Yoo Ah-in, Jun Jong-seo and Steven Yeun. (South Korea)

The Favourite
Sunday, Oct. 21 at 8pm
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Starring Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman. (Ireland/United Kingdom/USA)


INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL BOSTON FALL FOCUS runs from Oct. 19 to 21 at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square. General admission tickets are $13 per show. IFFBoston members, Brattle members, students and seniors pay a discounted rate of $11.


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