NewEnglandFilm.com

This Month

Sick of the cold? February is hot, hot, hot with film love. Every time I log on to NewEnglandFilm.com there are more than 100 visitors online, sending Valentines to potential collaborators, posting their events, or filling out the app for the first-ever Online New England Film Festival, curated by NewEnglandFilm.com.

The fest accepts films and videos under 30 minutes in the following categories: animation, children/family, comedy, documentary, and drama. In addition, the festival has partnered with Women in Film & Video/New England to jury the special category New England Women Above the Line for films under 30 minute produced, directed, or written by a woman or women based in New England. All selected films will be featured on NewEnglandFilm.com from September 1 – October 15, 2009, with an awards ceremony and selected screening in mid-October 2009.

Know some enviro-savvy young people who would rather keep the cold months cold? The WGBH Lab has issued an Open Call for youth media makers between ages 13-18 to create video shorts on climate change. Get some help by attending webinars during February on Tuesdays at 3:30 pm. The first webinar on February 3rd will be led by professional video bloggers Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson of www.ryanishungry.com. To register and participate online, click here. Submit your pitch by March 15th. Nine young people will receive a $2,000 grant to produce their video shorts, with help from Lab personnel.

Rhode Island high school students have a chance to learn media making as part of the SHOOT Teen Film Program, which kicks off on February 4th at the Boys & Girls Club in Newport. At SHOOT, they’ll write, shoot, and edit a film to premiere at the Newport International Film Festival in June. Learn more at www.shootnewport.com.

A reading of the original screenplay, Someplace Like America written by Aaron J. Wiederspahn (Sensation of Sight), will take place on February 5th at 7 pm at Red River Theatres in Concord, NH as part of an ongoing series coordinated by the New Hampshire Film and Television Office. , Someplace Like America is set in Northern NH and is scheduled to be filmed in the Granite State later this year. A panel discussion with members of Either/Or Films production company (which includes Wiederspahn) and other industry leaders follows the reading.

On February 7-8, Krista Weller Burns leads a screenwriting intensive at Kay Studios in East Providence, RI.

The Coolidge Corner Theatre makes use of its stage on February 9th at 7 pm, for Coming Into Clover, an evening of music, song, and silent film that traces the evolution of cinematic representations of Ireland and the Irish in early American cinema. Brian O’Donovan of WGBH Radio’s A Celtic Sojourn hosts. Co-presented by the Coolidge and the Boston Irish Film Festival.

The Boston Society of Film Critics gathers for its second annual ceremony on Feburary 9th at the Brattle.

The spotlight turns on Boston University film students for the Redstone Film Festival (7 pm on February 11th at the Tsai Performance Center). Winners are announced at the event and travel to Los Angeles in March for another round of judging, cash, and prizes. More information about the Redstone Film Festival and Fleder-Rosenberg short screenplay contest can be found here.

If you miss Redstone, six of BU’s film and television department’s top films from the past several years will be showcased art 6pm on February 26th at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The Boston Jewish Film Festival is seeking an experienced managing director to oversee fundraising and business development. Sara L. Rubin, the Festival’s executive director, has assumed the position of artistic director. Rubin will continue to serve as executive director until the position of managing director has been filled. Candidates should send resume and cover letter to: nclark@bjff.org by February 13th.

Sunday, February 22nd is Oscar Night. Oscar Night® America, has 53 official Academy sanctioned Oscar events. One will be held at The Langham (250 Franklin Street, Boston, MA) with 100 percent of proceeds going to The Ellie Fund’s Innovative Care for the Caregiver program. Find information at the online invitation at the Ellie Fund website. The only sanctioned party north of Boston will be held at Red River Theatres (11 S. Main Street, Concord, NH), with proceeds benefitting Cross the Bridge, a youth film education project created by Whitebridge Farm Productions.

Also on Oscar Night, the Brattle Film Foundation has a pre-event fundraiser and red carpet and awards ceremony planned. The Rhode Island International Film Festival will be screening “the nominated films that have hailed from RIIFF along with some new arrivals that could be next year’s nominees.” RSVP at 401.861.4445 or simply join the crowd on February 22nd. Time and location TBA.

The LEF Foundation and the Harvard Film Archive will host the third installment of Facing Realities: Dialogues in Boston Documentary on February 21st at 3 pm. The event features Robb Moss’ Riverdogs and Amanda Micheli with her Academy Award nominated La Corona. Both directors will be present for post-film discussion.

Tom Kane is bringing a four-day film/video workshop to Providence, RI on February 26-March 1. Kane has a distinguished career as a producer, production manager and assistant director and more than 13 years of experience teaching at the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport. Registration deadline is February 19th. For details, visit www.filmtvworkshops.com.

Women in Film & Video/New England screens Who Does She Think She Is? by Pamela Tanner Boll as part of the Chicks Make Flicks series (7 pm on February 26th at MIT Room 6-120). The film examines the mothering-versus-working choice faced by American women, and women artists in particular. Cambridge-based painter Camille Musser and Providence-based actress/singer Angela Williams are among the women profiled.

Upcoming Workshops & Festival and Fellowship Deadlines

Get your films to Central Productions for the 8th Annual Boston Cinema Census by February 10th.

Submissions are open for the 11th Annual Provincetown International Film Festival until February 16th. For more information visit www.ptownfilmfest.org.

Filmmakers Collaborative, Inc. is now accepting film submissions for its fiscal sponsorship program to filmmakers from across the country. Determine if you’re a candidate at www.filmmakerscollab.org/fiscal-sponsorship.

The Marblehead Festival of Arts Film Festival, to be held outdoors on July 2nd, is seeking innovative short (20 minutes or less) film/video entries in narrative, documentary, experimental, animation, and dance/performance categories. Awards are given. No entry fee. Submit by May 1st.

Held Over

Boston filmmakers Camille Soloari and Josh Mitchell attended the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and while there announced the launch of Mitchell’s new public relations firm Wickid Pissa Publicity.

Making Media Now will take place on June 5th at Bentley College in Waltham, MA. Volunteers and vendors are needed.

Last month we reported that Media Services, an entertainment accounting, payroll, and software provider, acquired the Boston-based CrewStar, Inc.. On January 28th, Media Services named Joe Maiella as vice president of sales. Maiella will be responsible for sales and marketing of Media Services’ domestic and international production payroll and production crew outsourcing services. He is also the president of the Massachusetts Production Coalition.

Accela Communications (of Southborough, MA) announced the expansion of its video and multimedia production team, particularly in healthcare communications and education programming. Karen McKeen, Laura Satta, and Rachel Smith – all three seasoned professionals with backgrounds in either journalism or documentary filmmaking – are the most recent additions.