May 2000

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Wth multiplexes and wide release, filmmakers more and more frequently are removed from their own films. Film festivals, however, provide that rare opportunity for filmmakers to once again be recognized as part of the equation. Kathleen Mullen, the Film Program Coordinator for the Museum of Fine Arts Film Program in Boston and curator of this year's Gay and Lesbian Film and Video Festival, strived to bring the filmmaker and his or her work together again, and Mullen's inclusion of short read more...

Who is the last person the typical banker would want to loan money? Why, a poor person, of course. And which country's poor are the poorest? Surely the poor of Bangladesh are in the running. Clearly, then, Dr. Muhammad Yunus is not your typical banker. Yunus, founder of the Bangladeshi Grameen Bank, has lent more than $2 billion (at about $60 per loan) to his country's poor, mostly women. Gayle Ferraro's documentary "16 Decisions" explores how these loans have read more...

There are a lot of things that Hollywood features, television shows, indie productions, corporate videos and commercials don't have in common. But one thing they do have in common is a need to manage the production process effectively from final draft to final edit.

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British filmmaker Isaac Julien has brought his talents to New England as a visiting professor in African American Studies at Harvard University, where he teaches film theory. A recipient of many prestigious film awards (including a 1991 Cannes Critics Prize for the feature-length "Young Soul Rebels," a portrait of 1980s London's multiracial music scene), Julien's work has shown around the world. He has worked in film since 1984, after he and several artists and filmmakers founded the read more...

The presence of a script supervisor is required on a movie set in order to assure the continuous flow of a film. Also known as the continuity clerk, the script supervisor has to make sure that scenes follow each other in an understandable and smooth way. Incongruities in detail, movement, dialogue, jarring jump cuts, changes in lighting intensity or sound levels should be avoided. The purpose is to make the audience unaware of the cutting of the film from shot to shot and of the read more...

Cambridge Documentary Films co-founder Margaret Lazarus proudly points out that all of the films her company make focus on social justice issues. It's the heart and soul of Cambridge Documentary Films, and by extension, of Lazarus herself.

In big, bold letters on its Web site, CDF promotes its "Films That Challenge." Judging by the awards CDF has won over the past 25 years, it seems they're also films that tell good stories. CDF's catalog focuses on the biggest social issues of the past three read more...

Imagine having the opportunity to attend the first Academy Awards ceremony on May 16, 1929. The intimacy of that evening would have been startling in comparison to the hubbub-induced spectacle which has followed for the last 71 years. After all, the attendance at that first ceremony only numbered 250, everyone squeezed into the banquet hall of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, and tickets were $10. A raucous media festival it was not. If the intimacy and inspiration of the film read more...