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Interviews

From RI to Oscar: Talking with Producer Erika Hampson

By Michele Meek
Erika Hampson worked as producer on the Oscar-nominated short "The New Tenants."

Producer Erika Hampson talks about her Rhode Island roots and her recent producing work on several narrative and documentary films including the Academy Award-nominated short "The New Tenants."

Exploring the Great Outdoors with Gus

By Michele Meek
Gus Outdoors: Gull Island

Rhode Island filmmaker Sean Nightingale teams up with his six-year-old son Gus on an exploration of nature in the series Gus Outdoors. The first installment Gull Island, which screens this month as part of the first-ever Providence Children’s Film Festival, takes viewers to a seagull nesting location in Rhode Island to learn about how the birds hatch and survive.

Horror in New Hampshire: The Making of YELLOWBRICKROAD

By Maddy Kadish
Cassidy Freeman in YELLOWBRICKROAD.

Writer/director Andy Mitton discusses YELLOWBRICKROAD, a feature horror film en route to Slamdance.

Lights. Camera. New England. An Update on the Studios in the Region

By Kerry O’Donnell
There's more than Plymouth Rock in your own backyard.

Think the studio scene is DOA in New England? Don't pack your bags for Hollywood just yet. Here's a status report on each of the studios planned for the region.

The Price of Pleasure

By Beth Brosnan
Filmmaker Liz Canner.

Filmmaker Liz Canner takes on the "strange science of female pleasure" and how the pharmaceutical companies hope to capitalize on it in her documentary, Orgasm, Inc.

Show Me the Money: Where to Find Local Grant Funding

By Maddy Kadish
Times Are Down, But You're Not Out

In a downward economy, grant funding for Massachusetts filmmakers still exist. Dan Blask of the Massachusetts Cultural Council offers some advice.

The Restaurant: Tasty, Talented, and Local

By Kerry O’Donnell
The Cast and Crew of The Restaurant.

Filmmakers Bobby Scali and Ted Sherman unveil their short film featuring the talents of 40 local SAG actors.

Life Lessons from a Career Production Assistant

By Kevin Mason
A production assistant can save the day too.

Larry Nott - a man whose life goal is to be the best production assistant he can be.

Vermont Filmmakers Fight for Tax Incentives

By Kerry O’Donnell
Actor William H. Macy endorses the VTFMC's work.

The Vermont Film and Media Coalition's Dan Mazur fights to lure filmmakers to the Green Mountain State.

Not Just Pulling Stunts: Leo Kei Angelos Charts His Course from Stunt Coordinator to Writer/Director

By Kerry O’Donnell
Leo Kei Angelos started with stunt work and is pursuing his first feature film, "Pins and Needles."

From Vietnam to the United States, and from stunt coordinator to writer/director, Leo Kei Angelos charts how he has made it so far so fast.

Camden Part II: The Fish Belong to the People

By Maddy Kadish
Fishing near Port Clyde, Maine.

In a two-part article, NewEnglandFilm.com learns more about two film programs that place global ecology under a Maine microscope. Both screen in early October at the Camden International Film Festival.

Checking in with the Curator

By Carly Pifer
"Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison" is one of the local films screening at the MFA in September.

Six months into his new position as the first and only curator of film at the MFA, Boston, Carter Long discusses his strategies for the museum’s evolving film program.

This Doc Stinks!

By Mike Sullivan
"Dumping Billy" digs into Newburyport's landfill "laundry."

Mary Godfrey discusses her documentary, "Dumping Billy: The Story of the Crow Land Landfill," which screens this month at the Newburyport Documentary Film Festival.

Diamond from Southie

By David Pierotti
Jay Gianonne hopes to premiere his next project, "Scalpers," in September 2009.

Southie native Jay Giannone breaks out with his first film, the audience award-winning "Diamond in the Rough."

Yoo-hoo, Filmmakers, Fight On!

By Maddy Kadish
Gertrude Berg is the mother of the modern-day sitcom.

Documentarian Aviva Kempner shines a light on the most famous woman in America you’ve never heard of in her film "Yoo-hoo, Mrs. Goldberg."

A Man of Many Hats

By Kerry O’Donnell
David J. Garfield acts, writes, and directs from his New England home.

Film professional David J. Garfield is at home on every side of the camera; last month he premiered The Suitcase in Boston.

Scarred Justice and Forgotten Wounds

By Hermine Muskat
"Scarred Justice" sheds light on overlooked crimes from 1968.

In Scarred Justice, documentarians Judy Richardson and Bestor Cram expose and examine the 1968 Orangeburg massacre, one of the overlooked corners of the Civil Rights Movement.

From Written Word to Moving Image

By David Pierotti
A still from "To Have and To Hold"

Investigative reporter Beth Healy discusses how her background in print journalism helped prepare her to make her first documentary film, To Have and To Hold.

You Can Go Home Again: Alec Helm’s "The Kings"

By Alexandria Lima
When they ruled the world... a still from Alec Helm's feature, "The Kings."

In his feature film debut, Alec Helm spins a local tale of nostalgia and growing up in Waterville, Maine. The Kings premieres this month at the Maine International Film Festival.

The Inner Lives of Nuns

By Kerry O’Donnell
Rebecca Alvin's documentary gives voice to women of faith.

Filmmaker Rebecca Alvin explores the hidden lives and dreams of today’s nuns in Women of Faith, which screens this month at the MFA, Boston and the Woods Hole Film Festival.

History Lessons for Today's Indie Filmmakers

By Jared M. Gordon
Phil Hall stays immersed in indie film from his CT home.

Actor, journalist, and historian Phil Hall turns his attention to the surprisingly long and diverse history of independent film in his new book, The History of Independent Cinema.

Writing Backwards From Budget to Film

By David Pierotti
Blood on the face of a character in Tim Cawley's "Big Day of Fishing."

Boston’s Tim Cawley explains some budgeting techniques that have fostered his independent film career; his second short film premieres this month at Boston Film Night.

Art as an Economic Engine

By C.E. Craner
What used to be the armory buidling now houses the nonprofit Arts Exchange in Pawtucket, RI.

Jason Caminiti’s documentary Pawtucket Rising tracks how a city in decline reversed its fortunes through the arts.

A Tree Grows in Kenya, and Vermont

By Arlene Distler
Wangari Maathai, environmental visionary.  Photo by Lisa Merton.

Taking Root, a VT-made documentary about Nobel Peace Prize winning activist Wangari Maathai, screens this month at the White River Independent Film Fest and airs on PBS’s Independent Lens.

Shooting for the Stars

By Christine Morrison
Mary Jo takes photographs in "Shooting Beauty."

After more than a decade in production, spousal duo Courtney Bent and George Kachadorian redefine beauty with their new documentary, which screens this month at the IFF Boston.

New England Producers Honor the Native American Experience

By Mike Sullivan
The first Thanksgiving as depicted in "We Shall Remain."

This month PBS launches an unprecedented multi-media event with We Shall Remain, a five-part series spearheaded by local producers and bolstered by New England talent and locations.

The Brains Behind Three Jewish Film Festivals

By Christine Morrison
Harriet Dobin is the acting director of the Hartford Jewish Film Festival.

With three area festival directors as guides, Christine Morrison sheds light on how to be an effective film festival director.

Waiting for the Documentary Storyline

By Mike Sullivan
The "Waiting for Armageddon" crew traveled to Israel with Christian fundamentalists.

Co-director Franco Sacchi discusses how waiting for a documentary’s focus to emerge can bring objectivity to a hot-button issue like Christian fundamentalism.

No Tricks Here, Just Self-Determination

By David Pierotti
Scott Elrod (left) and Elika Portnoy (right) in Tricks of a Woman.

Actor Elika Portnoy leads Boston-made film to overseas success.

Love in the Time of TB

By Hermine Muskat
Film poster from "On the Lake."

Documentary filmmaker David Bettencourt discusses his most recent film, On the Lake: Life and Love in a Distant Place, premiering this month in his home state of RI.