List of New England Films at the 2000 Independent Feature Project Market
Written by Jason Sciarrone | Posted by: Michele Meek
Documentary, Video, Color
An Irish-American family with "Kennedy envy" heads to Alaska in the 1960s to satisfy its fiercely competitive father’s political ambitions. Life seemed ideal until the family faced its worst nightmare: a second generation of Curran children would lose their father to illness. In ADRIFT, filmmaker Tom Curran gives us a visually stunning and emotionally searing feature-length portrait of how he and his family members have remained trapped in their father’s dreams of success.
Director: Tom Curran
Producers: Tracy Heather Strain, Tom Curran
Executive Producer: Jessica Lindley
Writer: Llew Smith
Director of Photography: Tom Curran
Editor: Shondra Burke
Cast: Mary Jane Curran, Bob Libbey, Gavin Curran
Contact:
Tom Curran
Night Train Pictures
535 Albany Street, 2nd Floor
Boston, MA 02118
Phone: (617) 426-8231
Fax: (617) 422-0515
E-mail: tom@adrift-movie.com
Atlas Gets a Drink
Animation, Video, Color, 1999, 4 min.
Two innovative fish turn the world upside down.
Watch it online at AtomFilms.com.
Director: Michael Overbeck
Contact:
Michael Overbeck
112 Martins Lane
Hingham, MA 02043
Phone: (401) 421-6529
E-mail: mikeoverbeck@hotmail.com
Crash Pad and The One Arm Bandit
Comedy, 35mm, B/W, 2000, 17 min.
A bungled burglary leads to the thief spending the night in an unsuspecting couple’s bed. Chased out in the morning, he falls down three flights of stairs through a glass door. That day, hobbled by a cast on his arm, he has trouble with a stick-up; he can’t get to his victim’s wallet and keep him covered at the same time (it’s the unsuspecting husband again). He accidentally shoots himself in the foot trying. Nevertheless, with one arm and one leg now, he gets the money and escapes on piggyback. From a new 92-minute collection of shorts, FILMS BY RICHARD ALLEN.
Director: Richard Allen
Producer: Richard Allen
Executive Producer: Mike Wheeler
Writers: Richard Allen, Ken Shapiro, Lane Sarasohn
Director of Photography: Streek Silverman
Editor: Richard Allen
Cast: Paul B. Price, Larry Bryggman, Chevy Chase
Contact:
Richard Allen
City Pound Productions
P.O. Box 448
Bristol, RI 02809
Phone: (401) 253-2937
Fax: (401) 254-0670
E-mail: ctypound@ici.net
Dischord
Drama/Thriller, 35mm, Color, 2000, 104 min.
On the brink of her world tour, rock violinist Gypsy puts down her violin and walks away. A retired detective isn’t buying the reports of a local girl "accidentally" drowning. In the smallest, quietest corner of New England unfolds a disquieting tale of what happens when music meets evil, and a lyrical portrait of the ever-present guardians who preserve life’s natural harmony.
Director: Mark Wilkinson
Producers: Mark Wilkinson, Nancy Trombacco
Writer: Mark Wilkinson
Director of Photography: Ernst Kubitza
Editor: Mark Wilkinson
Cast: Thomas Jay Ryan, Annunziata Gianzero, Dick Bakalyan
Contact:
Steven C. Beer, Esq.
Rudolph & Beer, LLP
432 Park Avenue South, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10016
Phone: (212) 684-1001
Fax: (212) 684-0920
E-mail: StevenBeer@aol.com
Follow Me Outside
Drama, 35mm, Color, 2000, 94 min.
Sam, a New York businesswoman, goes AWOL from her cushy life and meets Cole, a mysterious rogue, in a working-class bar. Feeling wreckless, she suggests they take a ride "to the sea" and finds herself on a fugitive’s tour of New England ending in Maine. That state casts its mystical spell until the criminals trailing Cole arrive.
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Director: John Sullivan
Producer: Scott Kaplan
Executive Producer: Stephen Downey
Writer: Saul Fussiner
Director of Photography: Dejan Georgevich
Editor: Reynold Reynolds
Cast: Michael Laurence, Lauren Stamile, Diana DeMar
Contact:
Stephen Downey
Let’s Go Now, Inc.
476 Broome Street, #5A
New York, NY 10013
Phone: (917) 744-5107
Fax: (212) 625-3593
E-mail: downyweeks@aol.com
Fruitlands 1843
Drama, 35mm, Color, 1999, 35 min.
An interloper threatens the harmony of a utopian community in transcendentalist New England. Based on the true story of Bronson Alcott’s utopian experiment in rural Massachusetts, FRUITLANDS 1843 is a provocative look at idealism and human frailty.
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Director: Vasiliki Katsarou
Producer: Tony Lutkus
Writer: Vasiliki Katsarou
Director of Photography: Haris Zambarloukos
Editor: Shawn Keys
Cast: Will Lyman, Paula Plum, Ken Cheeseman
Contact:
Vasiliki Katsarou
26 Robinson Road
Littleton, MA 01460
Phone: (978) 952-8817
Fax: (978) 952-8817
E-mail: cineutopia@aol.com
Green River
Drama Screenplay
A xenophobic white homicide detective investigates a voodoo murder in Miami’s Little Haiti. Convinced that a vengeful Tonton Macoute is guilty of the crime, the cop’s prejudice blinds him to the truth, and the corruption, betrayal and love hidden where he least expects them.
Writers: Bond Sandoe, Jeanne Rogow
Contact:
Bond Sandoe
fou films
389 West Road
Whiting, VT 05778
Phone: (802) 623-6377
Fax: (802) 623-6308
E-mail: foufarm@together.net
Harwood
Psychological Drama, Super 16, Color
HARWOOD is a genre-blurring tale of mothers and daughters, both real and surrogate. Dr. Sarah Lyne has toiled for years to perfect the Lyne Process, a procedure designed to cure neurological ailments. After her career and family fall apart, Sarah’s sanity erodes. She misuses the Lyne Process on a family friend, imposing her madness on those closest to her.
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Director: Morgan Roberts
Producer: Ben Boyington
Writer: Morgan Roberts
Director of Photography: Philip J. Martinez
Editor: Tony Pellegrino
Cast: Joan Kerr, Madeline McDonough-Maher, Julia Martin
Contact:
Morgan Roberts & Ben Boyington
Absolutely Legitimate Films
104-20 120th Street, #1
Richmond Hill, NY 11419
Phone: (718) 322-3202
E-mail: harwood@legitfilms.com
Ice Grill
Drama, Video, Color, 2000, 115 min.
A rash of high profile robberies is taking place on the streets. No one is at ease, and the city is nervous. The media calls the robbers "Ice Grill" bandits because of the diamond stud stocking caps they wear. Simon is the brains. Bronco is the force. Together, they’ve pulled off dozens of heists, until one day, while trying to sell some jewels from a recent job, they are forced to kill the underling of a major crime boss. Written in the spirit of film noir, complete with a surprise ending.
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Director: Johnathan Stuart
Producers: Kim Hall, Johnathan Stuart
Executive Producer: E.T. Hall
Writer: Johnathan Stuart
Director of Photography: Wiener Milien
Cast: Travis Johnson, James Parris, Johnny Kitt
Contact:
Johnathan Stuart
Vix Films
102 Woodside Green, #3C
Stamford, CT 06905
Phone: (203) 975-8655
Fax: (203) 969-2570
E-mail: esard1@hotmail.com
(i’m living) a charmed life
Experimental, Video, Color, 67 min.
One summer weekend in 1999, Duffy prepares for the arrival of Lulu and Fred (two New Yorkers she’s never met but impulsively invited to visit via e-mail). At the same time, Lulu and Fred consider their own agenda. They wonder: is life in the great city as magical as it once was, or is Maine the way life could be? As the three grow close, relationships shift and secrets eventually come out…or do they?
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Director: Kate Kaye
Producers: Betsy Carson, Kate Kaye
Writer: Kate Kaye
Director of Photography: Betsy Carson
Editors: Betsy Carson, Kate Kaye
Cast: Tami Duffy, Buffy Miller, Scott Mullenberg
Contact:
Betsy Carson & Tami Duffy
Bugeye Films
P.O. Box 7835
Portland, ME 04112
Phone: (207) 828-4030
Fax: (207) 828-4030
E-mail: bugeye56@maine.rr.com
Jellyfilled
Drama Screenplay
Elizabeth is stuck in a small town. A stranger reconnects Elizabeth with her desire to be an artist. Her husband expects her to support his dream to be a race car driver. When Elizabeth begins to rock the status quo, no one is more upset than Barend, her sexual obsession. She discovers freedom at a price when an unlikely hero points her toward a new future.
Director: John C. Thompson
Writer: John C. Thompson
Contact:
John C. Thompson
14 Bedford Avenue
Building 4, #12
Norwalk, CT 06850
Phone: (212) 802-9145
E-mail: Jct-John@worldnet.att.net
King Midas
Drama, 16mm, Color, 60 min.
KING MIDAS is a modern-day gangster film based on the ancient Greek myth, Midas and the Golden Touch. The protagonist, Tommy Gold, is a cocaine dealer on the streets of Hartford, Connecticut, who uses his illegal fortune to go into the hip-hop music business before he is brought down by rival drug dealers.
Director: Brandon David Cole
Producer: Brandon David Cole
Writer: Brandon David Cole
Director of Photography: Rodrigo Guerrero
Editor: Brandon David Cole
Cast: Justin Gagnon, Angelica Lawrence
Contact:
Brandon David Cole & Kevin Toolen
Shooting Spree Films
395 Brittany Farms Road, #126
New Britain, CT 06053
Phone: (860) 348-1256
Fax: (860) 693-1983
E-mail: kingmidas@rcn.com
LEGEND of the CORNBOMB SPACE
Experimental Comedy, Super 16, Color, 105 min.
Marlon Bishop comes from Brooklyn’s Gowanus Projects. Sam Roberts hails from White Mountain, New Hampshire. Coincidentally, both have been trying to develop a virtual space based on their respective surroundings. When they are introduced on line by a cryptic presence neither perceives, they decide to combine their efforts into a single, bigger idea where "the ‘hood meets the woods." As they set out to realize this virtual experience, Marlon, Sam and the friends they recruit discover they must cross over and experience each others’ worlds for real. And so begins an offbeat, American adventure where urban hip-hop flavor, rural folk humor, and the real and the virtual collide head on with the ghostly force that set the story in motion. Developed as a multi-platform "integrated content project," LEGEND OF THE CORNBOMB SPACE may be experienced as a traditional feature film as well as in the virtual space the film is based upon (via DVD and the web).
Director: Jim Swaffield
Producer: Jim Swaffield
Writer: Jim Swaffield
Director of Photography: Nils Kenaston
Editor: Jim Swaffield
Cast: Adrian Grenier, Shock G, Sasha Knops
Contact:
Jim Swaffield
Waterworks, LLC
874 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 420-9549
Fax: (212) 475-1033
E-mail: swaff@thewater.com
Look Back, Don’t Look Back
Documentary, 16mm, B/W, 1999, 30 min.
The Bob Dylan of D.A. Pennebaker’s DON’T LOOK BACK had wit, charisma and energy. He was nervous, subversive and stupid. Fascinated by the mysterious power of Pennebaker’s film and obsessed with the image of Dylan, two student filmmakers pick up a camera and head to New York on an impossible quest. The goal: to meet Dylan himself.
Directors: Randy Bell, Justin Rice
Contact:
Randy Bell
122 Kinnaird, #2
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: (617) 388-6198
E-mail: rbell@post.harvard.edu
Loop Dreams: The Making of a Low-Budget Movie
Documentary, Video, Color, 2000, 89 min.
When three wildly ambitious but so far unsuccessful producers asked documentary filmmaker Harvey Hubbell, V, to work on their low-budget movie, he said yes — if they’d let him make a documentary about it. LOOP DREAMS is the zany, but endearing result — a funny, sexy unflinching look at the world of low-budget filmmaking.
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Director: Harvey Hubbell, V
Producer: Harvey Hubbell, V
Writers: Harvey Hubbell, V, Jeremy Brelher
Director of Photography: Roger Coraggio
Editors: Patrick Ahearn, Jessica Barr
Contact:
Steven C. Beer, Esq.
Rudolph & Beer, LLP
432 Park Avenue South, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10016
Phone: (212) 684-1001
Fax: (212) 684-0920
E-mail: StevenBeer@aol.com
Live Free or Die
Drama, Video, Color, 10 min.
Based on a true story, LIVE FREE OR DIE takes us into the Boston rock scene circa 1988 where bandmates Case, Robert and Dusty have just released their first record. Hungover after a night of celebration, and with nothing better to do, they decide to go up to New Hampshire and climb a mountain. What begins as just another romp turns into a story of loss and self-confrontation when one of the boys disappears on the mountain.
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Director: Randi Barros
Producers: Jan Grznar, Randi Barros
Writer: Randi Barros
Director of Photography: Howard Krupa
Editor: Randi Barros
Cast: Bick, Gus Van Go, Gregory McLaughlin
Contact:
Randi Barros
195 Powers Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Phone: (718) 486-0186
Fax: (718) 486-0186
E-mail: rsb787@aol.com
Marrakech Inshallah!
Drama, 16mm, Color
Inspired by American author Paul Bowles, this lyrical tale about a Moroccan boy who runs away to Marrakech to find a lost brother draws the viewer into the poverty, magic and daily struggle of Marrakech’s street kids. This is a story of North Africa’s abandoned youth, torn between the traditions of the past and encroaching Western consumer values.
Directors: Steffen Pierce, Christian Pierce
Producers: Steffen Pierce, Christian Pierce
Writers: Steffen Pierce, Christian Pierce
Directors of Photography: Steffen Pierce, Christian Pierce
Editors: Steffen Pierce, Christian Pierce
Cast: Assiz Rdadd, Hammadi Rdadd, Mohammed Rdadd
Contact:
Steffen Pierce
Pierce Productions
211 Belmont Street
Belmont, MA 02178
Phone: (617) 496-6607
Fax: (617) 495-8197
E-mail: spierce@fas.harvard.edu
Midnight Rain
Drama, 16mm, Color
Three friends take a hard look at their own lives after a mutual friend takes his own. Peter has everything except the truth. Gary, his life-long friend, couldn’t handle the truth. Jolie, Gary’s girlfriend, couldn’t hold on to the truth. And Robbie, Peter’s girlfriend, refused to accept the truth. An up-all-night exploration into mortality, morality, sexuality, togetherness and closure as three friends grieve the loss of their friend.
Director: Timothy Murphy
Producer: Timothy Murphy
Writer: Timothy Murphy
Director of Photography: Derrick Hill
Editor: Mark Cassar
Cast: Jamie McShane, Wilma Mondi, Cheyenne Benedict
Contact:
Tim Murphy
Vision
11 Grumman Hill Road
Wilton, CT 06897
Phone: (212) 859-0301
Fax: (212) 785-2667
E-mail: tmurphy@visionlp.com
My Lucky Porn Star
Documentary, Video, Color
MY LUCKY PORN STAR is a feature-length documentary that addresses issues of sexuality, identity and erotic representation. Rock photogragher BC Kagan pursues American porn icon, Randy West, across the country to obtain a truly intimate view of him and to hopefully learn the truth about his life and loves. En route she encounters porn legends Nina Hartley, John Stagliano, Jerry Butler, and Jenna Jameson.
Director: BC Kagan
Producer: BC Kagan
Writer: BC Kagan
Director of Photography: Jeri Soponen
Editor: Mischa Livingstone
Cast: Randy West, BC Kagan
Contact:
Barbara Kagan
That’s Cool Productions
454 West 45th Street, # 5FE
New York, NY 10036
Phone: (212) 757-8455
Fax: (212) 757-8455
E-mail: bckagan2000@hotmail.com
No Vladimir
Comedy, 6 min.
A young man comes to university with the intention of becoming a spy, then disappears. Photographed with a Bolex in black and white, this silent film part Keaton, part Chaplin.
Director: Alexander Olch
Contact:
Alexander Olch
174 East 74 Street
New York, NY 10021
Phone: (212) 737-9096
Fax: (212) 964-7634
E-mail: olch@post.harvard.edu
Pitstop
Drama, 35mm, Color, 2000, 75 min.
When nine travellers cross paths at a god-foresaken food and fueling "pitstop" along california’s highways, a quirky tale of mistaken identity emerges between a murderer running from the law and a history teacher running from his wife. An ensemble piece about finding love, losing love, changing partners and moving on, PITSTOP has been described as Midsummer Night’s Dream in a truckstop.
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Director: Dennis Lanson
Producers: Dennis Lanson, Amy Boudnitsky
Writers: Dennis Lanson, Hisham Ared
Cast: Time Winters, Paige Rowland, Betty Walton
Contact:
Dennis Lanson
Highway Five Productions
13 Youngs Road
Gloucester, MA 01930
Phone: (978) 281-5235
Fax: (978) 281-6597
E-mail: dabornlanson@earthlink.net
The Pork Chop Lounge
Documentary, Video, Color, 2000, 69 min.
THE PORK CHOP LOUNGE explores and observes a local performance troupe and the community that evolved as a result of their weekly performances. The group performs at AS220, an alternative arts space located in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. This space exists to provide an open and permanent venue for artists. The galleries and stage are completely unjuried; any Rhode Island artist can exhibit or perform there. The documentary follows the Pork Chop Lounge Players through their weekly rehearsals to Sunday night performances at AS220. The show follows a variety show format with the Pork Chop Lounge players performing skits in between the evening’s acts, comprised of audience members who are free to perform in any way they choose. Their only limitations are their imagination and a five-minute time limit. This documentary explores the elusive nature of these performances, the human needs that fuel them, and the affect it has on the busy, modern lives of those involved.
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Director: John Lavall
Producers: John Lavall, Jessica Jennings
Writer: John Lavall
Director of Photography: Jessica Jennings
Editor: John Lavall
Cast: Lizzy Arujo, Umberto Crenca, Julie McGetrick
Contact:
John Lavall
Plan B Companies
1 Richmond Square
Providence, RI 02906
Phone: (401) 272-9955
Fax: (401) 223-0012
E-mail: jlavall@planbcompanies.com
A Shout From the Streets
Comedy, 35mm, Color, 2000, 26 min.
In a contemporary retelling of James Joyce’s Ulysses, an alienated everyman confronts questions of God and man in an ale-fueled odyssey through the streets and pubs of his town. He finally finds redemption in the powers of camaraderie, music, song, dance and love expressed in language borrowed from Molly Bloom’s soliloquy.
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Director: Fred DeVecca
Producer: Fred DeVecca
Writer: Fred DeVecca
Director of Photography: Andrew Dunn
Editor: Rikk Degres
Cast: Stephen Adams, Daniel Popowich, Doug Creighton
Contact:
Fred Devecca
Frog Productions
P.O. Box 158
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
Phone: (413) 625-2896
Fax: (413) 625-8621
E-mail: frogprod@javanet.com
Southern Comfort
Documentary, Video, Color, 2000, 90 min.
SOUTHERN COMFORT is a true-life love story between a spirited cowboy and a city girl, with a mind-bending twist. Robert Eads, a female-to-male transsexual, is dying from ovarian cancer after 20 doctors have refused to treat him. All at once, Robert falls in love with Lola, a sultry male-to-female. SOUTHERN COMFORT is the first verite film to portray a trans-to-trans romance, set against a heartwrenching tale of prejudice.
Director: Kate Davis
Producers: Kate Davis, Elizabeth Adams
Director of Photography: Kate Davis
Editor: Kate Davis
Cast: Robert Eads
Contact:
Kate Davis
Q-Ball Productions
412 West End Avenue, #3E
New York, NY 10024
Phone: (212) 362-3128
Fax: (212) 580-0288
E-mail: quenty@idt.net
Sticky
Drama, 16mm, Color, 2000, 13 min.
STICKY follows the inner and outward travels of Francis, a 13-year-old Catholic school girl growing up in Queens, New York. Viewers follow Francis as she deals with sex, spirituality and the seeds of obsession. Ultimately, STICKY is an intimate portrait of a young girl on the cusp of maturity and her search for strength in a constantly shifting world.
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Director: Siobhan Dunne
Producers: Siobhan Dunne, Susan Bisson
Writer: Siobhan Dunne
Director of Photography: Claire F. Cario
Cast: Ana Hevesi, Jennifer Ortiz, Melissa Rauch
Contact:
Siobhan Dunne
Baker Filmmaker Productions
11 Oak Street
Sommerville, MA 02143
Phone: (617) 267-9565
Fax: (617) 267-4703
E-mail: siobhan@editatspot.com
Stay Until Tomorrow
Screenplay
STAY UNTIL TOMORROW is the funny and poetic story of Nina, a woman permanently in transit, seeking beauty in her rootless existence. Nina’s latest plan is to drop in on her childhood friend Jim for a few weeks to study Italian in the library where he works. Meanwhile, the actor playing Jim (for STAY UNTIL TOMORROW is actually a film within a film) has several agendas of his own, such as trying to save this tale of longing from art film obscurity.
Director: Laura Collela
Writer: Laura Collela
Contact:
Laura Collela
40 Forest Street
Providence, RI 02906
Phone: (401) 453-4372
Fax: (401) 455-0581
E-mail: lella11@aol.com
Uncomfortable
Drama/Comedy Screenplay
UNCOMFORTABLE is a coming-of-age love triangle set in the college towns of Boston and Northampton, Massachusetts, during the early ’90s heyday of gothic/industrial music. Justin French photographs Mica at an S & M club, and the obsession begins. Not one to do things the easy way, Justin attempts to use Mica’s ex-lover, Felicia, as an intermediary for his courtship, and the emotional complications ensue. Cyber goths, acid-dropping bisexual clubees and Dr. Who all factor into this comedy/drama, set against a soundtrak of gloom and doom.
Writer: Theodore Cormey
Contact:
Theodore Cormey
Lost Jockey Productions
77 Brayton Road
Brighton, MA 02135
Phone: (617) 782-1504
E-mail: tedcormey@hotmail.com
More information about the IFP and the IFP Market is available at their web site, http://www.ifp.org.