October 2008

Despite a long history of attracting regional filmmakers to an event that festival organizers say has helped Northampton, MA earn the distinction of being named a top “Small Arts Destination Town,” an acute funding crisis has almost cancelled this year’s Northampton Independent Film Festival (NIFF).  Through the stewardship of the festival board and the support of its sponsors (notably Comcast and WGBY), this year’s festival will be read more...

It’s kind of like Antiques Roadshow for your home movies.  Bring ‘em in, get a consultation on your film’s longevity, then see them on the big screen at the Harvard Film Archive, October 18th from 1-4 pm.  Welcome formats include 8mm, Super 8, 16mm, VHS, and DVD. It’s one of 50 locations celebrating the Sixth Annual Home Movie Day in an 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.

What do you do if your two biggest passions in life are movies and biking? Well, if you are Cat Bryant you combine the two, naturally.  And so was born the Boston Bike Film Festival, the fourth version of which hits the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge on October 17-18.  

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...

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...

A 16-year-old Indian girl dressed in a beautiful silk tunic dances across the screen to the music of Bollywood.  She is upbeat, joyful and spontaneous.  A few moments later, the young woman is lying on a sofa, writhing in pain.  Sonum is suffering from the effects of polluted water in her town in northern India.  The problem stems from a medical college that dumped waste into a local river in Meerut, India, causing environmental illness among local people.  Sonum’s physical and emotional transformation, captured on video, is read more...