The Lynn Film Festival, presented by The Lynn Music Foundation, is expanding this year from a three-day event to a five-day spectacle. Beginning Oct. 1 and running through the 5th, the festival will be held at The Neal Rantoul Vault Theatre on 25 Exchange St.
The second annual festival will celebrate music, culture, and community on the North Shore with an exciting lineup of films, performances, and special events. It aims to bring together filmmakers, musicians, youth, and community members to highlight Lynn’s creative spirit. For those unfamiliar with The Lynn Music Foundation, this non-profit organization is dedicated to fostering creativity, education, and community through music and the arts. It provides resources and professional development opportunities for Lynn artists in music and the arts, helping them reach their full potential by creating an environment for collaboration.
Day 1 (Wednesday, Oct. 1): The festival begins at 6 p.m. with a Youth Showcase, presenting films from Raw Art Works. These impactful films are the creation of the Filmmakers for Community group, an initiative within RAW’s Talent and Purpose programming that partners with local organizations to narrate community stories. Also to be screened are films from FC Academy students. FC Academy offers in-person filmmaking classes for students of all ages interested in developing their creative skills and learning the art of filmmaking.
Day 2 (Thursday, Oct. 2): The second day of the festival is all about hip hop. Kicking off at 6 p.m. with a screening of “The Process,” which was released in 2020 and directed by Jake Fay, a writer, director, and producer from Lynn. The film follows three aspiring Massachusetts-based rappers as they navigate their local music scene, striving to maintain focus and achieve broader recognition.
At 7 p.m., the Lynn Hip Hop Wall of Fame mural, which has been an idea of Edwin Cabrera, the co-founder and executive director of The Lynn Music Foundation, will be unveiled. Lynn artists Jah’Nyah Spencer and Michael Aghahowa have been collaborating since the beginning of the year to create this mural that immortalizes and celebrates the hip hop community, including DJs, producers, rappers, and breakdancers.
The day will conclude at 8 p.m. with a draft screening of “The Lynn Hip Hop Documentary,” a film by Cabrera and Mikey Abreu. This documentary explores Lynn’s narrative through the perspective of hip-hop, paying tribute to the artists who influenced its cultural development.
“Being a film that represents Lynn and the hip hop community in Lynn, I want to make sure that I’m doing it justice and doing it right,” Cabrera said. “It’s not the final version so if people have things they want to add or say there’s an opportunity to have that discussion and help make sure the story’s being told correctly.”
Day 3 (Friday, Oct. 3): A departure from hip hop, this day will be a celebration of punk and hardcore music. At 4 p.m. a screening of “Punk in Africa” will be shown. “Punk in Africa” chronicles the multi-racial punk movement as it unfolded amidst recent political and social upheavals across three Southern African nations: South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.
Then at 7 p.m. “Godfathers of Hardcore” will be played. The film explores the enduring impact of Agnostic Front, a seminal New York City hardcore band. It centers on frontman Roger Miret and guitarist Vinnie Stigma as they recount their decades-long influence on the movement, confronting the complexities of aging, unwavering loyalty, and remaining authentic to their roots.
Day 4 (Saturday, Oct. 4): Day 4 kicks off with the screening of “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll” which is a 2014 documentary film directed by John Pirozzi about Cambodian rock music in the 1960s and 1970s, and the impact of the Khmer Rouge regime and Cambodian genocide on the local music scene. The Kakrona Center Inc. of Lynn, MA will be partnering with the Lynn Music Foundation for the event and a panel discussion will be hosted about the film and its subject matter.
“New Wave,” beginning at 7 p.m., documents filmmaker Elizabeth Ai’s journey to capture the vibrant spirit of a musical phenomenon that electrified Vietnamese American teens in the 1980s: New Wave. This exploration of rebellion and freedom within the subculture gradually transforms into a deep narrative addressing identity, loss, and healing.
Day 5 (Sunday, Oct. 5): To start off the beginning of the end of the festival, the screening of “WE WANT THE FUNK!,” a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots to its rise into the public consciousness, will be shown at 10 a.m. Following that, chicken and waffles brunch will be served and a live performance by Big Ol’ Dirty Bucket, a group that redefined classic funk by infusing it with hip-hop and blending in elements of jazz, blues, rock, and soul., will be happening at 12 p.m.
To end off the week-long festival, “We Want the Airwaves: A WFNX Story” will be played at 4 p.m. celebrating Lynn’s legendary alternative rock radio station which ran from 1983 to 2012.
The full schedule and tickets are available at www.lynnfilmfestival.com.
“We want to make sure that we’re promoting the community, especially the artists within the community. This is a way of doing that through film. What we’re trying to do is bring in different communities and celebrate music, art, film, and community,” Cabrera said. “This is our second year and hopefully with every year we keep growing and more people attend and support.”
