Posted: Thu., Feb. 25, 1993, 11:00pm PT

Indies strong at New Directors series

By Lawrence Cohn

A record 10 U.S. films by indie filmmakers highlight the 22nd annual "New Directors/New Films" series, to be held March 19-April 4 at the Museum of Modern Art, sponsored by Film Society of Lincoln Center and the MoMa Dept. of Film.

"The number of American independents we've selected testifies to the vitality of the movement," said MoMA film curator Laurence Kardish, who serves on the selection committee.

"This year we also have a number of controversial films, which should generate lively discussion," he noted, singling out "Savage Nights,""You, Me & Marley" and "Passages."

Likelyto be an instant sellout among the 22 programs hailing from 14 countries is opening-night film "Orlando," Sally Potter's adaptation of the Virginia Woolf novel, which stars Tilda Swinton, Billy Zane and, looking quite a bit like the late Dame Edith Evans, Quentin Crisp as Queen Elizabeth I. The British film is scheduled for release this summer by Sony Pictures Classics.

U.S. indies are led by Philip Haas' first fiction feature, "The Music of Chance," which features James Spader, Mandy Patinkin and Joel Grey in an IRS Media release. Zeitgeist Films is releasing another debut pic, John O'Brien's comedy "Vermont Is for Lovers."

Richard Spence's "You, Me & Marley" is a British film examining the Irish troubles in a tale about teenagers in Belfast engaged in joyriding, i.e., stealing cars. Cyril Collard's French film "Savage Nights" is an autobiographical effort about an artist who discovers he is HIV-positive.

Turkish-born Yilmaz Arslan directed the German feature "Passages," about disabled teenagers at a rehabilitation center. Encoring at "New Directors/New Films" is emigre Iranian director Amir Naderi, who shot "Manhattan By Numbers" locally.

Michael Almereyda's hourlong "Another Girl, Another Planet" is an experimental work set in the East Village. Kino Intl. is providing the Slavic comedy "Tito & Me," to be shown on the same program as a short subject directed by Matthew Modine, "When I Was a Boy."

Northern Arts Entertainment will release Michael Raeburn's Zimbabwe feature "Jit." Still up for grabs for U.S. distribution is the first feature by Daniel Bergman (Ingmar's son), "Sunday's Children."