Industry News October 2008

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 effort to highlight the cultural significance of home movies and the need for preservation.  

The Boston Palestine Film Festival launches its second annual festival on October 4th, with more than 55 films screening at locations throughout Greater Boston through the 12th.  An art exhibit, "Expressions of Nakba" will be on display at Harvard and a concert by the Simon Shaheen Trio will take place at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston. 

Women in Film & Video/New England hosts its fall kick-off party, to introduce the public to the organization’s mission and member benefits, on October 6th from 5-9 pm at The Enormous Room in Cambridge.  They will probably mention receiving a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to partner with The New England Institute of Art on a women's film series, featuring master classes, screenings, and an awards event.   

A reading of New Hampshire screenwriter Dana Biscotti Myskowski’s Plowing Up A Snake (adapted from the novel by Merle Drown) will take place on October 9th at 7 pm at Red River Theatres in Exeter, NH.  This event launches a new screenplay reading series presented by the New Hampshire Film and Television Office and Red River. 

Every month has a ton of festivals but October is just bursting at the seams:  The Boston Latino International Film Festival takes place October 3-12; the New Hampshire Film Festival (NHFF) rolls out the red carpet 16-19 in downtown Portsmouth.  They have made finding the locals easy on their website.  This month we write about NHFF, the Boston Bike Film Festival (17-18) and the Northampton Film Festival (24-26).  Also showing: the Boston Asian American Film Festival (18-26), the Vermont International Film Festival in Burlington (23-26) and there is a good chance we don’t even know about the festival you have planned in your basement in celebration of snack-sized candy, jack-o-lanterns, or prominent politicians associated with witchcraft.  

If those Halloween tidbits set you off, you'll have plenty of chances to catch director Jim Mccrackin's new "shocking independent horror film made in New Hampshire" -- The Other Side of Hell.  Mccrackin says that horror has become tame and dull.  See his version of maniac murderer on October 5th at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, NH or check his website for screenings in NH and VT throughout the month.

The MFA hosts a slew of local filmmakers this month: 

• Nancy Porter and Harriet Reisen’s literary documentary, Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, continues through October 18th.
• Beth Murphy’s documentary Beyond Belief screens on October 23rd and 26th. 
• Juan Mandelbaum’s Our Disappeared (Nusestros Desaparecidos) screens October 16th-November 1st.  According to the MFA, Mandelbaum studied sociology in his native Argentina and left for the US in 1977, fleeing military dictatorship.  His documentary explores the stories of Argentina’s vanished citizens, who were kidnapped and killed during that rule, 1976-1983.
• Jocelyn Ajami documented life in Lebanon with special attention paid to the effects of how cluster bombs were used in the war between Israel and Lebanon in 2006.  She will be present for the North American premiere of her documentary, Postcard From Lebanon, on October 29th and November 8th.

Held Over

CT-based filmmakers Michael Maglaras and Terri Templeton of 217 Films premiered Visible Silence: Marsden Hartley, Painter and Poet at Bates College last month.  His name may sound familiar because in May, a painting by this Maine artist sold for $6.31 million, setting an auction record at Christie's in New York for an American modernist work. The documentary has several future New England screenings planned:  University of Southern Maine, Portland on October 9th, Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline on October 30th, and New Britain Museum of Art in New Britain, CT on November 13th.

The Newburyport Documentary Film Festival wrapped a banner fest at the end of September.  The closing night featured a tense on-stage exchange between nine persons interviewed on camera in Killer Poet.  They represented the complicated opinions on how Norman Porter, said killer poet, became both a poster boy for good behavior and one of MA’s most wanted.  The director, Susan Gray, took home Best Feature documentary for the film.  Several other area filmmakers received awards.  A complete list will be released.  

Marc Dole, of the NH-based Hatchling Studios wrote to announce Hatchling's free desktop FLV player, Flaivor.  Dole describes it as an “Adobe Air application that allows you to easily watch the top web videos seamlessly from your desktop.”  He also wants to know “if you want your videos added to our feeds.” 

Congratulations to Boston-based Melanie Perkins for winning an Emmy for Best Investigative Journalism for her documentary, Have you Seen Andy, which screened on HBO and Cinemax. The DVD is scheduled to be released on October 14th through www.HBO.com.   

Jeff Palmer, a Dover, NH native and filmmaker, took first place at this year's H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival for his feature-length screenplay The Sleeping Deep.  "Most of the script takes place in Maine and Providence, RI.  Even though we've been in California for five years now, I still can't get New England out of my blood.  I guess I consider the Northeast my muse," writes Palmer.