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Industry News

1 Jun , 2007  

Written by Erin Trahan | Posted by:

A report of news & happenings in the local industry for June 2007.
Email news to news@newenglandfilm.com

What’s Happening

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and fellow state legislators announced notable changes to the current production tax credit legislation.  The legislation will remove the cap on tax credit and raise the percentage of the employment credit to 25 percent. The bill also expands the definition of motion picture to include "digital media project" and lowers the eligibility threshold of qualifying production expenses from the current $250,000 to $50,000.  Get your credit by filling out forms at www.mafilm.org

Extras are needed for sequences of Losing Jerry to be filmed during a performance by Dark Star Orchestra at the Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach, NH on June 1st.  The fictional narrative follows three close friends from their teen years as deadheads to the tragic day of Jerry Garcia’s death, 15 years later.  Principal photography for the film is scheduled to begin in September 2007. But people 18 and older, especially those wearing tie-dye clothing, are encouraged to be part of the audience and possibly, part of the film.  For tickets visit www.casinoballroom.com.  

Congratulations to The Kay Bourne Arts Report (KBAR) as it celebrates one year of engaging arts coverage!   Published by The Color of Film Collaborative and edited by arts journalist and advocate Kay Bourne, KBAR offers the latest news from Boston’s creative community of color, and more.  Sign up for it at www.coloroffilm.com

Hear an update on current and potential New Hampshire production opportunities at the next New Hampshire Filmmaker Roundtable on June 7th from 12-3 pm.  Industry professionals, amateurs and students are invited to bring your own lunch and tour the Granite Media Center, a new production facility in Tilton, NH. RSVP by June 4th at film@nh.gov or (603) 271-2220.  For directions to the Granite Media Center, visit www.gmcnh.com

Maine Film & Video Association (MFVA) is vitalizing membership by planning educational events, reducing membership rates, and revamping the association’s website.   As part of these efforts, Maine writer/producers Veronica Young, Rush DeNooyer, Dana Rae Warren, and Andy Davis will participate in a panel discussion about the importance of storytelling via documentary and narrative film.  The event takes place on June 7th, 5-8 pm at Portland’s SPACE Gallery.  Future seminars will cover topics such as TV show hosting and video distribution.  Visit www.maiNewEnglandFilm.com or contact Richard Kane at kanelewis@aol.com to learn more. 

Maryanne Galvin premieres What’s Going On Up There?, a documentary about space, earthlings’ final frontier, at Loews Boston Common on June 9th at 4 pm.   It is one of several films with New England ties screening in The Boston International Film Festival, June 6-13.  Other New England picks include Paul Carafotes’ Club Soda, Jim Connell’s Saul Goodman, Julia Shih’s Pieces, and festival director Patrick Jerome’s Lyrics of My Life.  Check out the complete schedule at http://bifilmfestival.com/biffschedule.html

Nantucket Film Festival enters its 12th year of programming June 13-17.  Multi-Academy Award-winning screenwriter Robert Benton will be present on June 16th to receive the NBC Universal Screenwriter Honoree.  Among his credits:  Bonnie and Clyde (as co-screenwriter), Kramer vs. Kramer (as director/screenwriter), and Places in the Heart (as director/screenwriter).  New this year is the Adrienne Shelly Excellence in Filmmaking Award.  And Waltham’s Bill Haney screens his latest documentary, The Price of Sugar. 

The Price of Sugar also screens at the Provincetown International Film Festival along with Row Hard, No Excuses (profiled last month by NewEnglandFilm).  The festival runs June 13-17.  Debra Ondo will premiere her documentary ArtSpirit about the fragile nature of America’s oldest continuous art colony, which is, for those who don’t know, Provincetown.  Special guests include Todd Solondz, Kathleen Turner, Alan Cumming, and always, John Waters.  Look at www.ptownfilmfest.org

According to the friendly people at Grub Street, Bay State Writers is seeking new members.  Bay State Writers is a group of professional fiction and screenwriters who gather and critique on Monday evenings from 6:30-9 pm.  Intrigued?  Contact Audrey at audrey@audreyrlwyatt.com

WGBH’s Open Call seeks proposals for 3-minute videos expressing reflections on and/or responses to war.  Final projects are meant for the small screen, including cell phones, PDAs, and television broadcast.  Proposals are due June 21st.  Note to viewers, you can participate by helping to select the final entries on Open Media Network (OMN).  Details and entry information can be found at www.wgbh.org/lab.   

Lowell, MA native Stephen Croke brings The Busker to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston June 22-24. The film was shot in and around Lowell and stars Liam O’Maonlai, lead singer and pianist for The Hothouse Flowers. 

The New Hampshire Film Expo (NHFX) is accepting screenplay, film, and video submissions through July 20th.  Visit www.nhfilmfestival.com/2006/submissions_awards.php.

What’s Happened

Thirty area film and video makers are even more thankful for the LEF Foundation after the recent announcement of the 2007 Moving Image Fund grants.  LEF is one of few funders of individual film and video projects in New England.  In addition to 27 project grants, LEF named three recipients for a newly created documentary fellowship program:  Mike Majoros, Llew Smith, and Tracey Heather Strain were singled out for their “consistent and continued production of high-quality films in the more traditional form of documentary, and for their significant contribution to the filmmaking community as a whole.”     

Last month Christian de Rezendes and Christian O’Neill finished their documentary feature 41.  Partly a response to the tragic 2003 fire at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island, the film focuses on the fire’s youngest victim, 18-year-old playwright Nicky O’Neill.  The filmmakers are seeking festival placements and distribution, with a Rhode Island premiere expected this fall.  View the trailer at www.41themovie.com/trailer.html

In May, Boston hosted the 48 Hour Film Project.  (It comes to RI in July!)  Boston’s Audience Awards have been doled out and on June 7th you can catch the Best of at Coolidge Corner Theatre.  Learn more at www.48hourfilm.com/boston/. 

Aldo Tambellini, of Cambridge, MA left for Europe in May for a retrospective of his work at the Evolution Film Festival in Leeds, England; he has another at the Lucca Film Festival in Lucca, Italy, September 28-October 6.  Tambellini, whose experimental films and videos are archived at the Harvard Film Archive, was also honored with a lifetime achievement award from Syracuse International Film Festival in April. 

Boston’s Naomi Greenfield picked up a Best Marketing award from the Independent Film Festival of Boston for Twisted:  A BalloonamentaryCynthia Wade took home the short film Audience Award honor for her documentary Freeheld.  Wade attended Smith College and traveled to her alma mater as well as other locations throughout New England for screenings in May. A Special Jury Prize went to David Redmon and Ashley Sabin for their post-Katrina documentary, Kamp Katrina. They met while living in Boston and Sabin attended Emerson College.  

On May 4th, Mae Adams, a pioneering food writer for the Providence Journal, was inducted into the Rhode Island Journalism Hall of Fame.  Ms. Adams actively supports the Rhode Island International Film Festival as film reviewer, documentary judge, and advisor on press relations.  

Patti Cassidy premiered her short documentary, Frozen Glory: the Secret Life of War Memorials at Images Cinema in Williamstown, MA at the end of May. 

Federico Muchnik just completed a new film, Jimmy Tingle Saves The Planet. Muchnik describes it as a film about green living, yet “a comedy, no less.”  He and his students at The Center for Digital Imaging Arts at Boston University worked with consciousconsuming.org and the Union of Concerned Scientists to find fun and informative ways to help viewers become more eco-friendly consumers.

What Will  Happen

1992 Tufts University graduate Ben Silverman will lead NBC’s entertainment programming as the co-chair of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studios. 

The work of another Tufts grad, Bonni Cohen, will be featured this month at Boston Jewish Film Festival’s Encores . . . and More series, screening May 31-July 1 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  Her feature documentary, The Rape of Europa, chronicles the theft and recovery of some of Europe’s greatest art during Hitler’s rule.  It premiered at BJFF last November and won the Audience Award for Best Documentary.

Seven affordable artist live/work units will be available in downtown Lowell, MA in September.  The Marston Lofts have been in development for the last two years thanks to ArtistLink, the City of Lowell, and Community Glue.  View the space and other available artist space at www.artistlink.org.  

NewFest: The 19th Annual New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival features a number of films with New England ties:  Irena Fayngold’s Hineini, Mike Roth and John Henning’s Saving Marriage, and Hardy Girls Healthy Women’s Ugly Ducklings are slated for screenings between May 31-June 10.  The line-up includes nearly 250 films, representing more than 30 countries. 

Who is The Godfather of Disco?  No, it’s not John Travolta.  It’s actually Massachusetts native Mel Chernen, so says a documentary screening at the Connecticut Gay and Lesbian Film Festival on June 2nd.  Chernen, founder of West End Records and the entrepreneur behind The Paradise Garage dance club, took on a second career as a serious HIV activist and community leader.  The documentary’s director Gene Graham and producer Maurice Jamal are from MA, too.  Check out www.ctglff.org.

Producer and director Ralph Arlyck will join the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society for a screening of his documentary, Following Sean on June 17th at 8 pm.  Arlyck first met the subject, Sean, while living in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury neighborhood at the height of the 1960s.  In Following Sean, Arlyck returns to San Francisco 30 years later in search of who the Sean has become.  Visit www.mvfilmsociety.com.   

Beverly, MA is the site of a new 8,000 square foot television production facility, ITV Studio 55.  Producers can choose from two sets; amenities include a 28-foot green screen and ability to cater for the crew.  An open house is slated for June 20th.  Visit www.itvdirect.com/itv_studios/.

Screenings, festivals, meetings and other events at www.NewEnglandFilm.com/events/

Erin Trahan is the editor of NewEnglandFilm.com and the managing editor of The Independent. Contact her at editor@newenglandfilm.com.

Related Image: Stolen art in The Rape of Europa.


Screenings, festivals, meetings and other events at www.NewEnglandFilm.com/events/ Erin Trahan is the editor of NewEnglandFilm.com and the managing editor of The Independent. Contact her at editor@newenglandfilm.com.

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