Museum of the Moving Image Screens Annual Rural Route Film Festival

Consider it to be a Fresh Air Fund activity without physical traveling.

On July 24, the Museum of the Museum Image kicks off the Rural Route Film Festival, a three-day series that focuses on life in the boondocks. This 11th annual event will screen 19 films—from 16 countries and seven continents—with live musical performances and Q&As with the filmmakers.

This year’s theme is strong women, and highlights include the New York premiere of Edén, director Elise DuRant’s debut feature inspired by her childhood experience in Mexico, and the world premiere of Down Down the Deep River, a narrative about growing up in New Hampshire by Will Sheff of indie band Okkervil River (with a live performance and Q&A with Sheff). The festival also boasts the New York premiere of Stream of Love, director Ágnes Sós’s look at romance among the senior citizens of a rural Transylvanian village, and a special preview screening of Sailing a Sinking Sea, director Olivia Owens Wyatt’s documentary on the seafaring Moken people of Thailand and Myanmar.

To add to the fun and enhance the theme, The Main Squeeze Orchestra, an all-female accordion troupe, and Mariachi Flor de Toloache, NYC’s first and only established all-female mariachi band, will perform.

Click here for a complete movie and music schedule.

Details: Rural Route Film Festival, Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Avenue, Kaufman Arts District, July 24 through July 26, times vary, $12/$9 seniors and students.

Photo by Museum of the Moving Image