The Jim Thorpe Independent Film Festival is returning for its seventh season, and is taking place tonight through Sunday at the Mauch Chunk Opera House.

This four-day cinematic and musical event boasts nine new first-run features and seventy-five short films from around the world.

The opening night music focused feature, “Dandelion,” premiered just weeks ago at SXSW to four-star reviews.

Writer/Director Nicole Riegel shares a story that centers around Dandelion, a desperate Cincinnati singer-songwriter, who takes a last-ditch gig at a motorcycle rally in South Dakota. The experience moves Dandelion from a narrow view of success to a deeper appreciation of her artistic journey, and the discovery of a voice that’s authentically her own.

The opening night screening marks the film’s Pennsylvania premiere, and Riegel will be attending in person.

“Tiger Stripes,” an original female coming-of-age / horror film from Malaysia, was written and directed by Amanda Nell Eu, and premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week and took home the Grand Jury Prize.

“Property,” directed by Daniel Bandeira, and is a tense, disturbing tale of class struggle in Brazil. The film premiered last year at the Berlin Film Festival and won Best Picture at Fantastic Fest.

“Ghostlight,” directed by Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, was a tender and funny hit at this year’s SXSW and Sundance Film Festivals. It tells the tale of a grieving construction worker who unwittingly joins a local theater production, and the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life.

A French Canadian thriller, “Hunting Daze,” was written and directed by Annick Blanc. It is another SXSW premiere centering around a tempestuous young woman named Nina who joins a group of hunters at a remote mountain cabin. In this male micro-society, she finally feels a newfound sense of belonging. However, the arrival of a mysterious stranger threatens the newfound balance of their pack.

The closing feature film is “Hey, Viktor!,” directed by Cody Lightning. This project originally premiered last year at TriBeCa and TIFF. Twenty-five years after his time in the limelight, Cody, a former child actor, tries to revive his fame with a self-produced sequel to “Smoke Signals.” When his friends stage an intervention, Cody seizes the moment - and camera crew - to take one last shot at producing Smoke Signals 2. This film is an indigenous subject, comic meta mockumentary that is full of raucous and raunchy, but yet heartfelt, content.

To learn more, visit JimThorpeIndieFilmFest.com