April 1999

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Every one of us who toils in the film crafts for the commercial or business market has a Hollywood dream. Since my first experience in film happened to be with Paramount, mine was not a dream but a nightmare. I had a Hollywood nightmare, but I will spare you that for now and try to relate to you what this one, small voice believes about the Hollywood thing.

South Boston is a perennial favorite on local newscasts, garnering publicity for anything from its many redevelopment proposals--casinos, football stadiums, convention centers--to its sometimes-controversial St. Patrick's Day parade. Lately, though, just as much attention has come from Hollywood, with last year's award-winning "Good Will Hunting," and now the aptly named "Southie." Director John Shea's look at Boston's working-class Irish neighborhood focuses on a young man, Danny (rising star read more...

Finding a job in the film industry is like trying to find a sunken vessel lost at sea: it is not only difficult; it's an art. This is because the movie-making business is a hidden market. Employers and employees rely on reputation, word of mouth, and networking as primary tools of communication. By the time a project comes to town or starts production in one of the major cities, positions are usually filled.

I saw the movie "Smoke Signals." I watch with sadness the nightly news images of despair that illustrate the "plight of the Native American," as seen on NBC. I knew a woman who grew up on a Cherokee reservation in North Carolina, and I heard stories about the "res." I thought I knew what Nick Kurzon's "Super Chief" would be about.

With a casual flick of the wrist, you slide the latest title from the rental store--practiced too many times recently, you think to yourself--into your Digital Video Disc (DVD) player. Plopping down into the natty overstuffed chair dug up from someone's basement, you power up your flat-screen TV and stereo amplifier, powering your maxed-out surround-sound system, and hit play, instantly awash in a sea of sound that takes you from the confines of your beat apartment to Gotham, where you fight crime with the latest read more...

Chosen films tackle subjects ranging from a deejay held hostage to the discovery of the face of Jesus in a tortilla. The 1999 Viewpoint series will air on WGBH for six consecutive weeks, from April 6 through May 11 at 10:00 p.m.