NewEnglandFilm.com

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August continues the summer of film festivals for New England.  The Rhode Island International Film Festival (www.film-festival.org) on August 9-14; the Roxbury Film Festival (www.roxburyfilmfestival.org) on August 17-21 and the Aisle 5 Short Film Festival (www.aisle5.net/aisle5filmfest/) on August 27.  Plus, make sure you get your entries in by August 15th for the 30th Annual New England Film and Video Festival (www.befva.org).

The Global Entertainment and Media Summit scheduled for October 15-16, 2005 promises to be a major industry event gathering together key players from New England companies and beyond for panels, exhibits and more.  Registration is now open at www.gemsconnecticut.com. 

The Connecticut Film Division announced an increase in production within the state over the past year.  The film office assisted 104 productions in the state in 2004, up from 89 in 2003, while the division responded to inquiries from 63 productions in first quarter 2005, up from 47 over 1Q ‘04. These include photo catalog and print shoots, indie and Hollywood films and broadcast and cable TV productions by in-state and out-of-state production companies.

Two Hollywood features have filmed in Connecticut so far this year, both slated for release over the holidays later this year. Fox 2000 Pictures’ "The Family Stone" featuring Sarah Jessica Parker and Dermot Mulroney filmed in Old Greenwich; it’s written and directed by Thomas Bezucha ("Big Eden") and produced by Michael Snowden ("Sideways") and Jennifer Ogden ("How Stella Got Her Groove Back"). Also, MGM filmed second unit scenes at the Coast Guard Academy and around New London for a remake of the 1968 Lucille Ball/Henry Fonda film "Yours, Mine and Ours." Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid take the leads in this new version about a widowed man and woman who marry, to the dismay of her 10 and his 8 children.

When Roger Swain signed off as host of “The Victory Garden” after 15 years and more than 500 episodes in 2001, many of his fans outside New England were left to wonder what became of “the man in the red suspenders.”  But now he’s reemerged in the gardening program known as "People, Places & Plants" which began airing across the country on the popular cable network HGTV on Saturday mornings at 10:30 ET/PT. “The show has a New England flavor, because Roger’s garden is based there and because Paul is from Maine,” said Director of Television Cameron Bonsey, who helped broker the three-year deal with HGTV.

The Boston Jewish Film Festival co-presents a return two-screening engagement of last year’s popular Festival Closing Night Feature, "Lost Embrace" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. August 21 at 1pm and August 25 at 8pm.  For more information, visit http://www.bjff.org/events/?id=308. 

Inbal Goldstein’s wonderful documentary "The Mothers’ Triangle," screened to a sold-out crowd at this year’s Plymouth Independent Film Festival in Plymouth, MA.  For those of you who were not able to make it to the screening, there will be another screening of the film scheduled this coming up fall in the Metro Boston area. 

The Maine-made 35mm feature film, "Mr. Barrington," starring Jennifer Nichole Porter, Eric Schweig, and Brian McCardie, and directed by Dana Packard, is now available on DVD from Honey Tree Films at www.mrbarrington.com.  International sales are being handled by KOAN, Inc. (www.koaninc.com).