Scottsdale Film Fest Celebrates 15 Years Showcasing the Best in Global Cinema

Opening night features documentary Landfill Harmonic and live performance by Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra.

(Scottsdale, Ariz.) – Celebrating its 15th year, the Scottsdale International Film Festival will showcase 41 feature films representing more than 30 countries, including buzz-worthy dramas, thrillers, romances, comedies and documentaries, Nov. 5–9.

The Festival will kick off on Thursday, Nov. 5, at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts with daytime screenings of 17 children’s animated and live-action short films – perfect for school groups.

That evening, the Festival’s opening night celebration at the Center will feature the documentary Landfill Harmonic, which tells the inspiring story of Paraguay’s Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, the world-famous youth symphony that performs with instruments made from recycled trash. After the film, the Recycled Orchestra, conducted by its founder, Favio Chavez, will perform onstage and participate in an audience Q-and-A, along with Executive Producer Alejandra Amarilla and Producer Juliana Penaranda-Loftus.

“We’re honored to welcome the Recycled Orchestra to Scottsdale as part of our 15^th anniversary celebration and new collaboration with Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts,” remarked Scottsdale International Film Festival Founder and Executive Director Amy Ettinger. “The Recycled Orchestra’s incredible story, so beautifully told in the film Landfill Harmonic, is a powerful reminder of the many ways that the arts bring joy and positive change to the world. We invite everyone to join us for this extraordinary experience.”

Following opening night, the Festival will return to its longtime home at Harkins Shea 14 Theatre in Scottsdale for all other screenings onNov. 6–9. Among the highlights are the Arizona premieres of The Adderall Diaries (starring James Franco and Ed Harris); The Benefactor(Richard Gere, Dakota Fanning and Theo James); Carol (Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara), Hitchcock/Truffaut (Martin Scorsese and Wes Anderson), Krisha (Krisha Fairchild), Love the Coopers (John Goodman and Diane Keaton), Remember (Martin Landau and Christopher Plummer), Tumbledown (Rebecca Hall and Jason Sudeikis) and Youth (Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel).

Festival audiences will enjoy insights from moderators and select Q-and-A sessions. Among the special guests are Stephen Elliott, the author of The Adderall Diaries and founding editor of the popular online literary magazine The Rumpus; actor Jack McGee and filmmakers Nestor and Rosemary Rodriguez of the indie dramedy Silver Skies; Jessica Cox, the focus of the documentary Right Footed; and Robert Aberlin, executive producer of the documentary Paul Taylor: Creative Domain.

The Scottsdale International Film Festival’s complete schedule as well as information about VIP passes and tickets will be available Oct. 5 at www.ScottsdaleFilmFestival.com.

Tickets for the Festival’s Nov. 5 opening night celebration, film and performance are $39 and will be available Oct. 5 through www.ScottsdalePerformingArts.org or 480-499-TKTS (8587).

Tickets for all Festival screenings, Nov. 6–9, are $12 and will be available at Harkins Shea 14 Theatre.