Choice entries from the 'orgy'

'A cinematic orgy for ravenous film lovers" is how Ray Murray, nicely mixing his metaphors, describes Philadelphia Film Festival / Cinefest '09.

As the festival's artistic director, Murray is reluctant to name his favorite film in this year's lineup. You love all your children equally and for different reasons, he says. But press him and his associates to recommend just one of the about 200 in the program, and you'll get a sampling of the PFF/CF banquet.

"Jury Duty is a perfectly balanced blend of murder mystery and existential drama," Murray says of Edouard Niermans' thriller, one of 10 films in "The French Reconnection," the festival's harvest of Gallic cinema's fresh crop. Set in the 1960s during Algeria's struggle for independence from France, "in this film a respected middle-aged man impulsively kills a girl and ends up on the jury of a man accused of the crime. Issues of personal responsibility, human desire, and racism are explored in this thought-provoking story."

Carol Coombes, co-artistic director, likewise recommends a French-language film set in the 1960s, Canadian director Léa Pool's Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's. "It's finely nuanced, layered with subtext, stunningly photographed, and features astonishing performances from its fine young actors," she says of the "breezy" coming-of-age film set in the suburbs of Montreal.

"A unique twist on the classic Romeo and Juliet story," managing director Mark James Wawrzynski says of Worlds Apart from Danish director Niels Arden Oplev. In this romantic saga about a Jehovah's Witness smitten with a nonbeliever, the heroine must choose between her love and her faith. "A great date movie!" Wawrzynski extols.

"This year, our documentary selection is incredibly strong, powerful, and poignant," says Matthew Ray, the festival's director of media relations. Ozploitation - as in '70s Australian exploitation pics - is the subject of his recommendation, Not Quite Hollywood, a "fast-paced, quick-cut, bright and brash celluloid gossip fest that educates and entertains." Ever seen Razorback, the Ozploitation flick about the killer boar? You will here.

"I love I Sell the Dead," enthuses Lewis Tice, curator of the festival's popular Danger After Dark sidebar. "It's thrilling and chock-full of horror," says the genre-movie expert who "really related to the film's mischievous spirit and how expertly it shows love for horror films of the past while bringing a modern perspective."