Connecticut | Industry News | Local Industry | Maine | Massachusetts | New England | New Hampshire | Reports | Rhode Island | Vermont

Industry News – July 2009

30 Jun , 2009  

Written by Alexandria Lima | Posted by:

The beginning of summer means festivals, festivals, and – you guessed it – more festivals; Connecticut and Maine film industries struggle; and more… the July 2009 report of industry news and happenings.

This Month

And the film fests keep on chugging along, starting with the Maine International Film Festival from July 10 through July 19. This year MIFF will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to legendary Bonnie & Clyde director Arthur Penn. If you’re not heading to the festival for your 548th viewing of the taboo-busting film, be sure to catch the retrospective of Penn’s works.

Summer just isn’t summer without that visit to the Cape and maybe a pit stop at the Woods Hole Film Festival. Never been? Check out the “How To” for the 2009 festival here.

Then there’s the 11th annual Roxbury Film Festival (July 30-August 2), the largest film festival in New England celebrating African-American films, according to the festival’s website.

If you’re more the hands-on type, contact volunteer coordinator Mary Spencer to get involved with the Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival in September. Call (508) 627-4011 or e-mail maryvineyard@verizon.net.

Or serve as a screenplay judge at the Rhode Island International Film Festival by calling Adam at (401) 861-4445. Calls for submission for the screenplay competition and horror films end July 15 and August 15, respectively.

The quarterly indie film showcase Reel Movement is set for July 9 through July 13 at the Somerville Theater. Headlining is the documentary (with a BIG attitude) A Man Among Giants , the story of 4-foot-7” African American Republican Doug Tunstall, a former WWE wrestler and hopeful for the position of mayor in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

The Connecticut Production Coalition needs your help to support its local film industry. The film and digital media tax credit incentive program has been jeopardized by incomplete reports and negative media coverage. CPC is asking industry professionals to get informed and get the word out through letters to the editor and blogs like Waterbury Republican American , Hartford Courant , and CT News Junkie.

In similar news, the state of Maine has not been all that lucky in obtaining government support for increased media production. Bill LD 1449 died on the appropriations table the beginning of last month, despite the support and testimonies of local industry professionals. For more information and to offer some words of encouragement, visit Cameron Bonsey’s blog, mainefilm.blogspot.com.

Looks like Boston-area casting agencies are in for some competition. With experience casting feature films (Pirates of the Caribbean, Babel) and television (The Bachelor, Their Eyes Were Watching God), Mullen/Kallivoda Casting is expanding to Beantown. For more information, contact mkcasting@hotmail.com.

The Harvard Film Archive gets risqué this month (July 17 through July 24) with its newest program Le Film Maudit, a series celebrating politically and sexually bold films from the ’60s and /70s that were too shocking for the average Joe. If that’s not your cup of tea, then maybe cult classics Point Break and Near Dark will spark your interest. Director Kathryn Bigelow will make an appearance July 1 and July 2 to jumpstart the archive’s retrospective of her films from the beginning of the month to July 13.

Archival footage just became that less difficult to come by with the HBO Archives making episodes of The March of Time available online at www.hboarchives.com/marchoftime.

Coming Soon

The Brattle Theatre is set to be adding beer and wine to their concessions menu. A toast anyone?

The independent film The Put Put Syndrome will be filming in Winthrop, Maine this summer. The cast is set to include Jason London (Dazed & Confused), David Chokachi (Baywatch), and Thea Gill (Queer as Folk) among others.

Held Over

Out with the old and in with the new. The nonprofit film house Images Cinema in Williamstown said goodbye to former board members and hello to its newest members Rob Santore (creative director of VoodooVox), Courtney Wade (software architect at CourseAdvisor, Inc.), and Rob White (director of communications for alumni relations at Williams College).

For those of us still catching up on the flurry of film fests that just passed, the Newport International Film Festival announced its jury, student and audience winners last month, while Out Film CT winners were posted online.

And because we enjoy hearing updates about your film adventures and accolades, here’s a quick shout out to Duncan Putney whose public service campaign Canisters won a New England Emmy in May and whose documentary Partnership Runs Deep won two Gold Screen Awards. Also, Granite State filmmakers Thomas and Heidi Tosi’s full-length movie Dribbles was featured at the 2009 New Hampshire Conference on Bullying late last month.

Editor’s Note: Special thanks this month to Jared M. Gordon for his help editing the issue and to Alexandria Lima for her guest spot writing industry news (and conducting a filmmaker Q and A). Brava!


Editor's Note: Special thanks this month to Jared M. Gordon for his help editing the issue and to Alexandria Lima for her guest spot writing industry news (and conducting a filmmaker Q and A). Brava!

Leave a Reply