December 1999

With its college-town atmosphere and variety of venues and things to do, Northampton, MA, is an ideal host for a film festival. The Northampton Film Festival is wonderful to attend, but don't forget to put it on your submissions list next year, either; this one is only going to grow. In keeping with "NoHo's" recent honor as the number one small arts town in the US, as well as with its other claim to fame--as the "Lesbianville of the North"--the Western Mass. town incorporated a gay and lesbian read more...

Adam Rifkin, 20something writer of "Mouse Hunt," "Small Soldiers," and director of "Detroit Rock City," writes all his scripts using the same method: writing longhand on a yellow legal pad, sitting on the center section of an old couch at his mother's house, and eating tuna fish sandwiches that his mother makes. His mother also types up all his scripts. Since Adam's mother has not offered similar accommodations to any of us, we probably should be using some software to write our scripts.

Wreckless Abandon Studios is a sibling-owned and -operated animation production company in East Granby, CT. With brothers Mark and Michael Bannon and their sister, Linda Bannon-Hannan, at the helm, the company specializes in clay animation, stop-motion production, and 3D computer animation. NewEnglandFilm's Amy Souza discussed with co-owner and creative director Michael Bannon the life of an animator, and the love of the craft.

AS: Describe a "typical" day at Wreckless Abandon.

Julie Mallozzi's outlook is distinctly American. Her documentary "Once Removed" raises awareness not only of a struggle against assimilation and Americanization, an almost universal experience for 20th-century Americans, but also of the very large issue of past and memory, and what belongs to whom. The daughter of an Italian-American father and a Chinese mother, Mallozzi grew up in Ohio, working in the family business as a tour guide at the Olentangy Indian Caverns. "I read more...

One day during the last weeks of my senior year of high school, my English teacher gave us a special in-class writing assignment: to write a letter to ourselves, which she would keep for five years and then mail back to us. Needless to say, five years later I was pleasantly surprised to receive this letter, which I had forgotten ever existed. The content of the letter, of course, was not what I would have most liked to remember from high school, but I was reminded both of peers I had lost track of and of the person I was at the time. read more...

In an age when Harry Potter graces the cover of "Time" magazine and the word "Pokemon" is part of the popular lexicon, marketing and advertising directed towards kids is a booming business. As kid culture becomes an increasingly significant part of mainstream culture, so much so that enlightened 30-year-olds can discuss the abilities of the various Power Rangers, companies that specialize in kids' issues are especially valuable entities--particularly as kids' influence over their parents' spending read more...

Good animation screenwriters are as rare as hen's teeth just now, and far more sought after--with good reason, considering the stunning monopoly that Disney has had on the genre for the past 50 years.

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