A four-day film festival opens tonight in the Quad Cities, featuring some of the world’s top new independent movies and several films produced in Iowa, starring Iowans. Brandon Jones is co-chair of the MidCoast Film and Arts Festival, which includes an array of everything from full-length films to animation.The fest features 40 screenings, eight documentaries, 12 features and 14 shorts. Among the feature films, “Never Get Out of the Boat,” which was produced by actor John Cusack. Jones says the festival isn’t just about entertainment — it’s also about education. There are workshops on animation and digital film technology, while Max Allan Collins, of Muscatine, will present a Saturday lecture on screenwriting. Collins is best known for writing the graphic novel on which last year’s hit film “Road to Perdition” was based, that starred Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. Jones says one of the feature films was created by an unlikely producer. “Cloud Warriors” was written, directed and cut by a six-year-old Kansas City boy. “Stone Reader” is also on the schedule, a film about an obsessive fan of a real-life book tracking down the author in Cedar Rapids. The fest runs tonight through Sunday at three venues in the Quad Cities: the Adler in Davenport, the Nova 6 in Moline, Illinois, and the Q-C Brew and View in Rock Island, Illinois. For more information, surf to “www.midcoast.org”.
