Filmmaking

When Russell Dreher set out to make his first full length film in 2006, he had no idea the roller coaster ride to completion would include unemployment, cancer, and drag queens. As the director of Slingbacks and Syrup, Dreher focused the story on the adventures of the documentary’s subjects, a “family” of comedic drag queens living in the rural state of Vermont.

In the annals of motion picture production we find a handful of producers and directors that were beloved by actors. Two names that quickly come to mind are the late Robert Altman and Clint Eastwood. In Altman’s case it was a matter or sheer intelligence and awareness that performing is an art form. In Eastwood’s case there is the added fact that he is also an actor.

If ever there were a prime example of what a person can do with a camera, the help of a few friends, and a lot of perseverance and determination, 28-year-old filmmaker Tze Chun is it. Over the past six years, he has steadily plotted and followed a career path that has enabled him to progress from an undergraduate student in film studies to an accomplished writer/director with nine feature-length screenplays, 12 short films -- and recently, his first feature -- under his belt. “Prolific” is one word that could be used to describe him. “Focused” is another.

From the bustling streets of Baghdad and the dreams of two Iraqi children -- a little boy who wants nothing more than a toy car and his teenage sister who desperately needs medicine -- come an unlikely Christmas story. Rich in the textural sounds, images, and characters of modern day Iraq, Raouf Zaki’s Santa Claus in Baghdad, a film shot in Massachusetts, tells a story that crosses ethnic and religious lines in a resounding message of hope and understanding.

Heath Eiden, director and co-producer of Dean and Me: Roadshow of an American Primary, loaded up his car and followed Vermont Governor Howard Dean on the campaign trail for the 2004 presidency. It was only patriotic, says Eiden. He laughs as he admits this, knowing that, especially lately, it’s a loaded word: a reality that attests to the timely release of his film. After six years of fulfilling his patriotic duty, from poring over footage to struggling to find the money to finish the piece, the documentary is finally complete.

In an era when the failings of our credit and mortgage system have led to an international crisis not seen since the Great Depression, the sunny Leave it to Beaver mythology of the post-WWII American family and its idyllic lifestyle seems but a distant dream. And yet the fantasy of the nuclear family happily dwelling in their suburban tract houses dominated the American cultural and psychic landscape for at least two generations. Cindy Kleine’s Phyllis and Harold is one of several early 21st century films to confront this mythology head on.

Viewers erupted in applause after a Saturday afternoon screening of Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  Alcott may be a local legend but so are her recent biographers, filmmakers Harriet Reisen and Nancy Porter, and this crowd showed their admiration.  Reisen and Porter took the stage and graciously thanked the audience for supporting a project that has been “simmering for a while.”  read more...

He’s been to more than 1,000 MLB games, 500 NHL games and 500 NBA games plus 35 Nascar races.  And he’s never once sat behind a post, in the nosebleed section or next to an obnoxious drunk with BO, cheering for the Yankees.  His name is Michael Porta and he is a camera operator/technician for remote television broadcasts.

Story details have been purposefully muddled, but I can tell you this much:  Don McKay involves cops.  Cop cars.  Possibly sirens.  Handcuffs. 

The feature stars Thomas Haden Church, Elisabeth Shue, and Melissa Leo -- you may know as much since they’ve all appeared in the local press.  But the folks who haven’t yet are exactly who is interesting to NewEnglandFilm.com.   

Over the last 12 years, Chris Stinson, founder of Live Free or Die Films, has worked his way through several jobs -- assistant director, production coordinator, and line producer on more than 30 feature and independent films -- including The Hammer, directed by Charles Herman Wurmfeld, Harsh Times, starring Stinsontian Bale and Eva Longoria, and Me and You and Everyone We Know, winner of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize, and read more...

In New England, you can’t turn the corner without running into a member of Red Sox Nation.  They are a loyal bunch.  But they’ve got nothing on Hartford Whalers fans, according to filmmaker Kevin Massicotte.  “It’s more like the Rocky Horror Picture Show crowd.” 

A bad soundtrack or cheesy stock library selection can really hurt an independent film, especially if a filmmaker writes or even shoots the piece with a particular song, finding out later that it costs $50,000 to use.  What do you do when that's the entire budget of your film times 10?  Times 50?  Find someone skilled at pulling together existing recordings -- the mysteriously-named music supervisor -- you know, one of those jobs in very small font on a credit crawl.  Or bring in a composer to record something original or read more...

I was recently at a birthday party with one of my kids when another dad asked what I do. I said that I'm a filmmaker.  Surprised, he asked, Oh, is Western Massachusetts a hotbed of filmmaking? 

A few month ago, I wrote the first part of this piece which covered the planning, casting, and production of Red Sneakers.  Of course, a film is not much more finished after production than it is after a script is written.  In fact, I was surprised to hear from the actors in Red Sneakers how often they simply never hear back from a filmmaker after the shoot.  But the key to making a short film, no matter how awful or great it might be, is actually finishing it.  So here's how it works.

Two phrases lingered with me after my meeting with Lowell
filmmaker James Higgins. The first was “you have to have an obsession with
images” and the second was “it’s tricky to shoot a film with a still camera.” 
Indeed, the former and the latter collide in four short films that Higgins has
produced since 2006.  In a distinctive technique Higgins calls “stop motion,”
these shorts combine ethereal movement, light, and sound, with themes and stories
about gangs, abuse, addiction and alienation. 

For the past eleven years, the Rhode Island International
Film Festival (RIIFF) has offered a vast cinematic buffet for film buffs to
devour.  The 12th Annual Festival, August 5 -10, is no different.  Boasting a
wide array of side contests that complement the typical festival competitions, RIIFF is known for its size, as New England’s largest film festival, as well as
its caliber, as New England’s only Academy Award qualifier for short films.  A
horror film contest, a Jewish film festival, a gay and lesbian film festival and

Even her name sounds American Indian: Anne Makepeace,
evocative of the legendary and eloquent Peacemaker, founder of the Iroquois
Confederacy.  It certainly must have had immediate appeal to the selection
committee of the Guggenheim Foundation, which recently awarded her a grant in
support of their mandate to “the cause of better international understanding.” 
Their monies, along with support from the Sundance Documentary Fund and a
year-long Radcliffe Institute Fellowship, will allow Makepeace to focus on her

I asked Patrick Jerome, the director and founder of the Boston International
Film Festival (BIFF) and the writer/producer/director/editor of many music
videos and independent movies, what was the inspiration that set him down the
long and winding road to filmmaking. Jerome sat back in his chair and exhaled,
recalling his youth in Haiti. He couldn’t remember the name of the movie, he
said, but he was 12-years old and it starred Clint Eastwood.

A month ago, I received a call from Sandra Mills, associate
producer of Music Nation, a network reality show in which musician
contestants sing and perform their way to a contract with a major record label. 
Sandra says, “You worked with Ellie Glasser on the
History Channel’s Hefty Men series.  She recommended you for this gig. 
Will you be a production assistant for us on the new season of Music Nation
in Los Angeles?” 

“Could I get your full street address so I can just plug it
into my GPS?”   

Marriage Makes a Word of Difference presents
testimony from six gay Connecticut couples in their struggle to convince
lawmakers and neighbors alike that providing gay couples with anything less than
the word "marriage" is precisely that: less than.  Compelled to use her video
camera as a tool for social justice, director Francine Rzeznik (that's "zhezhnik,"
folks) donated the majority of her time and resources to fast track the project
in less than 10 months to influence legislators ruling on "civil unions" vs.

AD Calvo will let you borrow a great scary story to tell
around the campfire this summer, and you’ll find it in his latest feature film,
The Other Side of The Tracks.  It’s the story of a man haunted by visions
after the tragic death of his girlfriend 10 years earlier.  His best friend
tries to help him move on, while a mysterious new woman captures his attention. 
 

In 1918, Louis B. Mayer left Boston to form
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Los Angeles.  Thus ended New England’s very brief run as
a home for movie moguls.  Until now.  Maybe.  As a result of competitive tax
incentive policies, studio film production has skyrocketed in the region,
spurring entrepreneurs and filmmakers to consider making New England their home.  

Former Improper Bostonian and Boston Herald film critic
Paul Sherman has been keeping busy.  This month he releases
his
self-published Big Screen Boston: From Mystery Street to The
Departed and Beyond, an exhaustive compilation of 250
motion pictures shot in the city.

What exactly does a producer do?  Traditionally, a
producer is not seen as the creative force behind a film as much as the person
who develops and maintains a creative space for others.  A producer raises
funds, hires personnel, facilitates the filmmaking process, and then arranges
for the film’s sale and distribution.  A producer is there from beginning to end
but doesn’t necessarily receive artistic acclaim.  Thomas explained the job as,
“A cross between a facilitator and a policeman.  The one who makes sure the work