The Mass Ave Film Festival

The Mass Ave Film Festival is a four-day celebration of Boston's indie-film scene, with screenings this weekend at the Belmont Studio Cinema (October 9), the Arlington Regent (the 10th), the Harvard Film Archive (the 11th), and the Coolidge Corner (the 12th). Apart from featuring some of the area's most talented filmmakers, documentarians, and animators, plus Q&A sessions with various directors, actors, producers, and film crews, the event will raise funds for the National Breast Cancer Coalition and the AIDS Action Committee.

The festival organizers are touting several highlights. Undercurrent, directed by Frank Kerr and starring Lorenzo Lamas, is a noir thriller with a Latin flavor, including the lush scenery of old San Juan and an authentic cockfight coliseum. Allen Piper's Starving Artists -- whose fundraising campaign included the slogan "Give Us a Dollar, We'll Put Your Name in the Movie" -- is about, yes, a group of artists struggling to manifest their dreams of aesthetic immortality. Black and White and Red All Over premiered at Sundance in 1997 and has garnered critical acclaim since with its intimate and harsh glimpse into African-American urban culture. Nina Davenport's Hello Photo documents a trip to India with a mix of coolly neutral and highly subjective viewpoints. BU grad Carlos Hamill wrote and directed Twenty Peaches in a Box, a sweet, quirky comedy that stars many talented student actors. And Urban Relics, by Roger Saquet, is an Italian-American mobster comedy starring Scorsese veterans Richard Romanus and Frank Sivero. There are also some promising programs of shorts and an animation program followed by a panel discussion with the animators. There's even free coffee. For more information, call (617) 924-9701, or check out the festival Web site at www.maff.com.

-- Peg Aloi