Most American indie films don't have budgets to attract big stars or show off spiffy special effects. However, what they do have and are arguably much better at than the Hollywood studios, is the ability to offer stories that are more personal and more "real" and which relate to their audiences in a special way. Endings don't always need to be happy, conflicts don't always need to be tied up and emotions don't need to be well mannered in an indie film. In this sense, they are a much more accurate reflections of lives truly lived than their Hollywood counterparts.

This accent on the personal and the real is one of the trends present in this year's Gen Art Film Festival, which is mid-way through its lauded "7 premieres, 7 parties" roadshow. Each night, audiences are being treated to premieres of a short film and feature title, followed by some of the chicest parties in New York. Audience members are invited to mingle with the film's creative talents and movers and shakers in the indie film world. No VIP lounges or red velvet ropes at this affair.....it's democratic style is one worth celebrating (and copying.....that goes for you, Tribeca).

In the Festival's charming opener on Wednesday night, the Sundance audience fave HappyThankYouMorePlease, writer/director/lead actor Josh Radnor played a thinly veiled Josh Radnor, a rather pampered suburban guy whose early life was rather easy but who grapples with love and career issues in a New York City that is far more jagged than his suburban roots. The film's wonderfully eclectic past makes the twenty-something "midlife crisis" seem fresh and highly personal and totally relatable. This is a film that audiences will certainly take to their collective hearts.

In last evening's multi-generational dramedy, WAITING FOR FOREVER written and directed by James Keach, the focus is also on love and personal fulfillment. In this probing film, a professional juggler never quite gets over his first real crush who he met nearly 20 years earlier. When she returns to her hometown to care for her ailing father, she reignites the long-lost sparks with her first love. The film offers a refreshing take on the meaning of family, love and how we live our lives.

In tonight's feature attraction, ELEKTRA LUXX by Sebastian Guiterrez, Carla Gugino brings her considerable sensual skills to the role of a former porno star who shifts her moves from the bedroom to the classroom. As she attempts to reinvent herself and prepare for impending motherhood, she cannot quite escape her earlier incarnation.  The film takes a fanciful look at the challenge of relaunching yourself and living out a second act. The starry cast includes Julianne Moore, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Kirk and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

In TANNER HALL, a coming-of-age drama co-directed by Francesca Gregorini (daughter of Barbara Bach/step daughter of Ringo Starr) and Tatiana Von Furstenberg (daughter of Diane) that screens on Monday night, a group of prep school darlings literally and figuratively find their way on the road of life. All the insecurities, false pride and youthful energy that one comes to expect in this genre are given a subversive twist as the girls fight off mediocrity and the roles their parents and peers expect of them.

There is no expiration date when it comes to realizing one's own maturity and responsibility to others. For the cocky novelist perfectly played by Scott Caan in photographer-turned-director Patrick Hoelck's MERCY, redemption comes via a book critic who he cannot seduce. Caan, who also wrote the script and produced the film, brings a Neanderthal swagger and unshakable sexual confidence to his role as the pretty boy writer who is crusing for a brusing. Accustomed to getting what he wants, both in and out of bed, his world is rocked when he comes face to face with his fading ability to have everything work out to his advantage. Humility has its lessons. The film closes the Festival on Tuesday night.

For more information on these and other GEN ART FILM FESTIVAL titles, visit: http://www.genart.org/filmfestival/newyork/2010

Sandy Mandelberger, Film New York Editor