Stony Brook Film Festival marks 30 years with diverse lineup

The brochure for this year’s Stony Brook Film Festival features two laurels flanking a blurb of text: "30 years of the best in new & independent film from around the globe."

And that’s about the biggest celebration you’ll find as this homegrown festival hits the three-decade mark.

"The reason we’ve stuck around this long is, we’re tremendously consistent," says Alan Inkles, the festival’s founder and also the director of its longtime home, Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts. "My instinct was to say, I don’t want to dilute the festival and take people’s minds off the films."

That means this milestone year will look much the same as years past: a mix of international films, American independents and shorts, often accompanied by the directors, writers and stars. It’s a template Inkles has been following since the days when film submissions arrived at his office on videotape, and he doesn’t plan on changing it now. Sales for screenings at the 1,000-seat Staller Center have stayed strong year over year, he says, thanks partly to the recently-introduced Flex Pass that offers access to any five days of movies for $75.

"Our biggest competition is the couch," Inkles says, but over the years he and his staff have figured out what their patrons want (mostly narrative-driven features, with the occasional documentary) and what they don’t (anything too arty or experimental). "They trust us," Inkles says.

"We’re not going to be a big festival, and we never wanted to be," he adds. "We make this festival very doable."

Here are several highlights from the schedule:

THE TIES THAT BIND US (Thursday at 7 p.m.) In the opening-night film, a 50-something single (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) who runs a feminist bookstore suddenly finds herself caring for a neighboring boy. The situation is only temporary — or so she thinks. Directed and co-written by Carine Tardieu.

WESTHAMPTON (Saturday at 7 p.m.) A young indie filmmaker (Finn Wittrock, of "The Big Short"), haunted by an accident he was involved in as a high schooler, returns to his East End home. Filmed on location by writer-director Christian Nilsson, of East Moriches.

NEVER ALONE (Sunday at 7 p.m.) As the Nazis rise to power in Germany, central Europe’s Jews escape to Finland only to watch their new country ally itself with Hitler. Ville Virtanen stars as Abraham Stiller, a Finnish-Jewish business owner who decides to risk everything to protect the refugees. Based on a true story. Directed by Klaus Härö.

LA GLORIA (Sunday at 9:30 p.m.) After a widowed Texas rancher (David Morse) accidentally shoots a Salvadoran migrant (Jaklyn Bejarano), he must decide how much to help her at the risk of being discovered by his own son, a U.S. Border Patrol agent (Bill Heck). Joseph Todd Walker co-wrote the film and directed.

NAWI (Monday at 7 p.m.) A Kenyan girl (Michelle Lemuya Ikeny) with plans to attend high school is married off by her father in exchange for a herd of livestock. Toby Schmutzler co-directed, with three others, this German-Kenyan production about a girl caught between her dreams and her family’s traditions.

THE REMNANTS OF YOU (July 26 at 7 p.m.) After the sudden death of her father, jazz pianist Sara (Laia Manzanares) leaves New York and returns to her home — a sheep farm in the Pyrenees of Spain. The festival’s closing-night film marks the feature debut of writer-director Gala Gracia.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com