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Industry News

1 Oct , 1999  

Written by Lindsey Walker | Posted by:

The dish on local films & industry-related news from the New England Film & Video Industry.

Got a scoop?  Email lindsey@newenglandfilm.com with news for this section.

Film Festivals

The 1999 Mass Ave. Film Festival, a three-day fundraiser for the National Breast Cancer Coalition and the AIDS Action Committee, has announced its schedule of local independent films. Sponsored by Pulse Media and ECS Video Systems, the festival will take place Columbus Day Weekend, October 8-10.

The festival kicks off Friday, October 8th at the Belmont Studio Cinema in Belmont, MA from 6:30 pm to 11:00 pm. On Saturday, October 9th, The Embassy Theater in Waltham hosts an early session from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm, with a special screening of the film "Captive Audience" taking place at T.T. the Bear’s Place at 9:00 pm. More details about this show will be announced shortly. The festival wraps up at the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. For more information, check out the Mass. Ave. Film Festival web site at www.maff.com.

The 10th Annual Vermont International Film Festival will take place on October 21-24 in Burlington, VT. For the latest information about the festival, including schedule and location, call 802-660-2600 or visit their web site at http://www.vtiff.org/.  

Get your tickets now for the 1999 Boston Jewish Film Festival, to be held November 4-14, 1999. Admission varies; discounts and group rates are available. Please contact the festival’s office for more information, by phone (617-244.9899), email (info@bjff.org), or check out their web site at http://www.bjff.org.

Western Massachusetts is home once again to the Northampton Film Festival, November 3-7. In addition to the 50-plus short and feature-length films the Festival will screen, the Festival will host the FilmMaking Forum as well as several film series. Actor Armin Mueller-Stahl will be on hand as a guest of the German Film Series. His film, the original "Jakob the Liar," nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1977, will open this year’s festival. And Ang Lee’s "Ride with the Devil," which marks singer Jewel’s big-screen debut, will premiere. Advance tickets can be purchased either at the Northampton Box Office on the top floor of Thornes Marketplace, or by phone at 1-800-The TICK. For further information, call 413-586-3471, or visit the web site at www.nohofilm.org.

Special Events

Director Liane Brandon’s documentary "Betty Tells Her Story" will screen on October 7 at 7:00 p.m. at the Coolidge Corner Theatre (Brookline, MA), followed by a discussion with the director, WBZ consumer reporter Paula Lyons, and media critic Jean Kilbourne. The evening will conclude with a fashion show featuring The Studio’s fall clothing collection. Tickets for this event benefit Rosie’s Place; cost is $25. Please call (617) 738-5091 for more information.

Also at the Coolidge, "Natural World: The Right Whales" kicks off the New England Aquarium’s three-day World of Water Film Festival on October 22 at 7:00 p.m. Film producer Rick Rosenthal and Aquarium Director of Research and right whale scientist Scott Krauss will introduce the film and be available for Q&A. For further information, please contact Ken Mallory by phone (617-973-5295), or email (kmallory@nea.org). For the Coolidge Corner Theatre’s October schedule, check out http://www.coolidge.org.

Filmmaker Carol Cassidy’s three films about teenage beauty queens, rugby scrummers, double Dutch jumpers, and synchronized swimmers will screen at the MFA, Boston this month. "Run Like a Girl" screens on Sat. Oct. 2 at 10:30 am; "Baby Love" screens on Saturday Oct. 16 at 10:30 am; and "Smile Pretty" screens on Saturday Oct. 9 at 10:30am. For more information about the films, visit http://www.documentaries.org/films/showing.htm.   Read a review of "Run Like a Girl" and "Smile Pretty" in last month’s issue of NewEnglandFilm.com. 

Michael Schamberg, a former video director, presents his first film, "Souvenir," on October 8 at 7:00 p.m at the Harvard Film Archive. "Souvenir" tracks a few days in the life of Orlando, an American sports journalist in Paris. The film features the voice of indie actress Christina Ricci, computer graphics by Chris Marker, actress Kristin Scott Thomas, and French heartthrob Melvil Poupaud. Schamberg is best known for producing videos for bands including New Order and Patti Smith. For further information, check out the Harvard Film Archive at http://www.harvardfilmarchive.org.

The Harvard Film Archive hosts two directors to present their films this month. Juliane Lorenz will discuss her film "Love, Life & Celluloid," which focuses on the impact of director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. MoMA curators Mary Lea Bandy and Laurence Kardish and UCLA film school director Robert Rosen are among those in "Love, Life & Celluloid" who speak of their experiences watching Fassbinder’s films. Lorenz began working as Fassbinder’s editor in 1977 and collaborated closely with him until his death in 1982. Since then, she has been the editor for several different directors and has taught at the German Film and Television Academy and the College of Film and Television in Munich. In 1992, Lorenz became the director of the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation. "Love, Life & Celluloid" screens on October 23 at 7:00 p.m. at the Harvard Film Archive.

A recently restored print of Paul Leni’s "The Man Who Laughs" will screen at Harvard University’s Sanders Theatre on October 24 at 8:00 p.m. The French Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States and the Harvard Film Archive present the film, which features a new score by Gabriel Thibaudeau, who will conduct the nine-piece ensemble, the Octuor de France Orchestra. Price of admission is $10 for faculty, staff, and students, and $14 for the general public. Tickets are available at the Harvard Box Office. Call (617) 496-2222.

Horror Haven: The Fright Channel will perform a test run starting on Saturday, October 16. This all-horror TV channel, presented by Anvil Studios of Reading, MA, will run four hours a week, for 13 weeks, every Friday. For further times and details, check out the web site at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Cinema/6537/horhaven.html.  

Call For Entries

WGBH-TV is now accepting entries for its annual broadcast film festival, "Viewpoint," which will air in April. Deadline for submissions is December 3. New England filmmakers particularly are encouraged to submit. Films selected will receive an acquisition fee from WGBH. For further information, check out the "Viewpoint" web site at http://www.wgbh.org/viewpoint, or contact Chad Davis at Chad_Davis@wgbh.org, or by calling (617) 300-2647.