The Independent Film Festival Boston is a not for profit film festival in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Independent Film Festival Boston (also known as IFFBoston or IFFB) was created in 2003 by the non-profit organization the Independent Film Society of Boston. The festival takes place each April in the Boston area's finest art-house cinemas. Over 1,200 films are submitted to the festival each year and roughly the best 90-100 of those are shown. Over 120 screenings take place, most with director Q&A sessions following them. There are also nightly parties for guest filmmakers and passholders as well as weekend panel discussions.
The Independent Film Festival Boston was named "one of the top five film series in Boston" by the Boston Society of Film Critics in the festival's inaugural year of 2003 and was the only film festival on that list. The book The Ultimate Film Festival Survival Guide named the festival "the premier film festival in Boston" and the festival has since been recognized by the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Phoenix, Boston Magazine, Indiewire, and countless filmmakers as "the premier film festival in Boston". In 2008, MovieMaker Magazine named IFFBoston among "The Top 25 Film Festivals Worth The Entry Fee".
The festival debuted in 2003 with an audience of 10,000 people and has grown in size each year since (2004–15,000 people, 2005–18,000 people, 2006–22,000 people, 2007–23,000 people, 2008–23,400) making it the largest film festival in New England.
Special guests of the festival in its first six years included Steve Buscemi, Chris Cooper, Sir Ben Kingsley, John Waters, Will Arnett, Lili Taylor, Illeana Douglas, Melvin Van Peebles, Noam Chomsky, Michael Almereyda, Robert Vaughn, Bill Pullman, Dylan Baker, Famke Janssen, Mary Stuart Masterson, Project Runway's Jay McCarroll, Todd Graff, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Ted Hope, Bob Odenkirk, Bernie Worrell, Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden, Alexandre Rockwell, Eliza Dushku, Danny Huston, Jesse Eisenberg, Doug Pray, Albert Maysles, Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen, the Daily Show's Rob Corddry and Michael Cera.