Programmer Spotlight: Joel Boynton (Narrative Features)
September 22, 2026
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By Joel Boynton · Narrative Features Programmer
I love movies. Films. Cinema. Whatever you want to call it. Growing up my family would go to a discount movie theater every Tuesday night. My mom worked at a Drive-In movie theater, about a mile from our house, for a couple of summers. We watched a little bit of everything, but if I am being honest, it was mostly thrillers and martial arts films. I would have preferred a little more sci-fi. It wasn’t until a little later in life that I broadened my horizons. I like variety.
This is my fourth year screening films for the Festival. So many great films. I am always humbled by the experience and the amount of work that is put into each film. How do you choose? I find that the selection process is more akin to adopting a cat. They select you. Obviously, that is a crude metaphor. I would say it is true for the process of developing a theme.
RUN AMOK and LUNAR SWAY were two of my early picks. The former is a unique take on a difficult subject; the latter was visually stunning. FROGTOWN was so hopeful and weird — it is one of the most convincing fake docs I have seen. MEMO, NOXTURNE and A SAFE DISTANCE round out my thrillers. MEMO builds a conversation around sexual harassment, using 3 actors and a single hotel room. NOXTURNE is a classic psychological thriller, with an orchestral background. A SAFE DISTANCE shows how little we reveal to even those that are the closest to us. The most personal and heartfelt film was A MESS OF MEMORIES, showing how — literally — messy and beautiful family can be. And last but not least, THIS IS GEORGE & MONTY shows us how NOT to be. I just saw one of the leads, Jason Allen King, at the Comedy Zone recently. He is incredibly hilarious and so is this film.
So, a theme? I think it is one of restlessness — of trying to make sense of the current state of reality in whatever way you can. Film has the potential to open our minds to new ways of thinking and to make us feel less alone. I know that is what it does for me and I hope these films will for you. May that feeling last longer than 90 minutes.
