NewEnglandFilm.com

The 18th Annual Boston Gay & Lesbian Film/Video Festival will be held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston on May 2-19, 2002. The festival celebrates gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual issues and culture. In addition to two local productions "Treading Water" and the short "Your Better Butch Fashion, the festival features international titles from Iceland, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, Iran, and Zimbabwe. Special guests include Drag King Dred performing before Venus Boyz, Alexis Arquette, and the stars of the opening night films, "Britney, Baby, One More Time," and "A Family Affair." For more information, visit www.mfa.org. 

The Third Annual Labor Film Festival will take place at the Coolidge Corner Theater May 1-5, 2002. "Occupation" narrated by Ben Affleck tells the story of the student sit-in at Harvard in support of the Living Wage campaign, and "American Standoff" is the latest from producer Barbara Kopple and director Kristi Jacobson. For more information, visit www.coolidge.org or call 617-734-2501.

In the News

The Rhode Island International Film Festival has announced a new film award that will be presented at this year’s Festival — The Quintessential Award. The award will honor outstanding achievement in capturing and celebrating local history through the use of modern media and will be presented at this year’s Rhode Island International Film Festival. Open to the public, the Awards ceremony, will take place on Sunday morning, August 11, 2002. For more information, visit http://www.film-festival.org. 

The Boston Film and Video Foundation "Meet the Director" series will be held on May 7, 2002 at the Coolidge Corner Theater. Garland Waller who produced the 26-part series Your Child 6-12 for Lifetime Television as well as two specials for the Intimate Portrait series will be present. Waller currently teaches television writing and producing at Boston University’s College of Communication, and has developed three Web sites, including www.smalljustice.com. She is the co-founder of Summit Productions and president of Garland Waller Productions. For more details and ticket information visit www.bfvf.org. 

Fairfield, Connecticut resident Phil Hall was elected to the Governing Committee of the Online Film Critics Society, the professional association for Internet-based cinema writers (www.ofcs.org). Phil Hall is a contributing editor for the online magazine Film Threat Weekly (www.filmthreat.com) and has written about film for the New York Times, New York Daily News and Wired Magazine. Founded in 1997, the Online Film Critics Society aims to further the growth of an informed film audience and to promote awareness of the Internet as a viable media alternative.

The Boston-based band Cul de Sac kick off their east coast tour with an appearance at the Middle East in Cambridge on May 2, 2002. The band composed the original score for "The Strangler’s Wife" a local film collaboration between the famed producer Roger Corman and Boston’s Cityscape Motion Pictures. Visit http://www.mideastclub.com/ for more information.

Screenings

Five Emerson College senior thesis projects will be shown at the Coolidge Corner Theater on May 16, 2002 at 7:00 p.m. Shorts include "Tulula" by Fouad Mahfuz; "A Gift" by Matthew Beals and Loren Semmens; "wish" by John Warren; "the Kegler" by Giuseppe Graziano and Lisa Ruschioni; and "Daddy’s Pal" by Nate Wood and Michael Rubenstein. For more information, visit www.coolidge.org or call 617-734-2501.

The Museum of Fine Arts Boston will show a series of films about the painter Vincent Van Gogh starting in May. Some of the films that will be shown include "Vincent: Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh," "Vincent and Theo," "Lust for Life," and "Vincent and Me." For further details, visit www.mfa.org.