Invasion of the filmfests

Forget April. October - that's the cruelest month. At least for cineastes.

This month, Philly hosts eight film events, including last week's Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival and the U.S. Sports Film Festival, running Thursday through next Saturday, Oct. 26.

It's a cinematic overabundance sure to tax any self-respecting film fanatic.

"It's an invasion! . . . I mean it's great," crows Sharon Pinkenson, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office. "This town is a hot movie town. And we are only going to get more and more of it."

Three major film events will close out this month. In addition to the Sports fest, there's the FirstGlance Film Festival, today through Sunday, and the Terror Film Festival, running Tuesday through Saturday.

The 11th annual FirstGlance, which opened last night with a screening of the comedy

Hank and Mike

, has become the city's premier showcase of indie films. Festival founder William Ostroff, 39, said the event, which runs through Sunday at Prince Music Theater, features 70 films chosen from nearly 1,000 submissions.

The Northeast Philadelphia native said that when he graduated from Temple University in 1996 after studying film, he was disappointed that the city had no forum for independent productions.

"I decided to start my own festival out of my pocket with a couple of friends," he said. "We thought we would just do one."

Pinkenson said she had been impressed by Ostroff's success. "It's really kind of an amazing festival . . . that started out almost as a lark. But it just had incredible legs," she said.

It was such a hit that Ostroff, who by the late '90s relocated to Los Angeles, soon founded a sister festival, FirstGlance Hollywood.

This year's program includes actor-turned-director Mary Stuart Masterson's feature debut, the quirky ensemble drama The Cake Eaters, which stars Kristen Stewart, Aaron Stanford and Elizabeth Ashley. And the Ostroff favorite, Remarkable Power, stars Tom Arnold, Kevin Nealon and Kip Pardue in a biting satire about the self-help movement.

Genre film nuts who dig gory slasher flicks, creepy ghost yarns, and rapidly decaying zombies will find comfort and joy at the third annual Terror Film Festival, offered Tuesday through next Saturday on Rittenhouse Square.

Philly screenwriter Felix Diaz founded the fest in 1996 as a low-key affair in his basement. It grew rapidly, drawing more than 1,500 fans last year. The impressive program features 56 shorts and six features, including the opening-night film, Lunicidal, a dark comedy set in Philly about a fastidious serial killer (with a heart of gold) who is perturbed when another psycho muscles in on his turf.

Other notable flicks include Alien Raiders, a darkly comic yarn starring Carlos Bernard of TV's 24 as a scientist-turned-alien hunter, who discovers a nest of aliens in a supermarket.

An import from Turkey, Gomeda is a deeply twisted, surreal exploration of dreams - and nightmares. It's about five friends whose relationships start breaking down as they become more desperately lost during a hiking trip.

The equally impressive U.S. Sports Film Festival, which organizers say is the first film event dedicated to sports movies, has the potential to become one of this region's biggest and most influential film events.

The fest might have been launched in Lake Placid, N.Y. That is, until the Mayor's Office, the Governor's Office, and the Greater Philadelphia Film Office campaigned to bring it here.

"The support has been overwhelming," said festival director Mary Hermant. "It's a perfect city for a sportsfest," she said, extolling Philly's avid sports fans.

Hermant said she was especially proud that screenings for every one of the program's two dozen films would feature discussions with filmmakers, actors and/or educators.

This year's special guest, producer Mark Ciardi, has a connection to this city - his 2006 hit Invincible, which will be featured, stars Mark Wahlberg as South Philly bartender Vince Papale, who wins a place on the Eagles.

Other offerings: Basketball in the Barrio, about the first coach to start an all-black lineup in an NCAA championship game; Kassim the Dream, about world champion boxer Kassim "The Dream" Ouma, who was forced to become a soldier with the rebel army in Uganda at age 6; Renzo Gracie: Legacy, a portrait of the jujitsu master; and Signature Series: Pete Sampras, a chronicle of the career of one of tennis' greatest stars.