Sunday, June 8------One of the most celebrated American Independent films of the past year has opened the American Independents Competition at Festroia: Troia International Film Festival last evening. STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING, a character drama set in the literary world of New York City, features an award-winning performance by veteran stage and screen actor Frank Langella, who won the Best Actor prize from the Boston Film Critics last year. Langella's performance was critically hailed by major critics groups and also by the Independent Spirit Awards. Starring as a literary lion who is past his prime, Langella finds the right level of poignancy, anger and frustration as he becomes aware that his kind of literary pursuit may be out of date in a world of e books, where young people do not seem to read at all.

The excellent cast also features Lauren Ambrose, the precocious daughter on the HBO hit series SIX FEET UNDER, as a young graduate student who tries to resuscitate the older writer's career, as well as his capacity for human feeling. Also featured are indie darling Lili Taylor and British actoirs Adrian Lester and Michael Cumpsty. The film's director Andrew Wagner was in Portugal for the film's premiere screening, participating in a lively question-and-answer session following its projection. The writer/director was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his screenplay. The American Independents Competition here features eight films....more on these later this week.

Sandy Mandelberger, Festroia Dailies Editor