NewEnglandFilm.com

This Just In 

The 19th annual Boston Jewish Film Festival runs November 1-11 in Boston and Brookline.  Films with local ties include the world premiere of The Powder & the Glory by Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman; a sneak preview of At Home in Utopia by Michal Goldman (founder of both The Boston Jewish Film Festival and The Filmmakers Collaborative); Making Trouble, produced by Brookline-based Jewish Women’s Archive (one screening is followed by stand-up comedy by Cory Kahaney, star of NBC’s Last Comic Standing); Matzo and Mistletoe by Kate Feiffer of Martha’s Vineyard; and Orthodox Stance, by Jason Hutt, a Harvard graduate.  Visit www.bjff.org.

The Color of Film hosts its second Dinner & a Movie, on November 2nd at The Haley House Bakery & Café; doors open at 5:30 pm.  The event includes Thanksgiving-style dinner, screening of Walden Media’s Amazing Grace, and discussion led by Nina LaNegra of the Roxbury Media Institute.  Learn more. 

There’s been a lot of talk about the big studios setting up a temporary production camp in New England.  Meanwhile, some of the region’s long-time exhibition professionals are quietly making sure that quality films are distributed both locally and nationwide.  Connie White and Greg Kendall of Balcony Releasing in Amherst, MA have been heavily involved with the release of Kurt Cobain:  About a Son, opening November 2nd at Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge.  The film is assembled from interviews with Cobain from 1992-1993, allowing Cobain to posthumously narrate.  The film’s DP, Wyatt Troll, is a Maine native.  www.kurtcobainaboutason.com 

The filmmakers of Pepperell, MA-based Extramile.com Productions are hosting a trailer release party to kickoff the creation of a documentary film about local environmental legend Marion Stoddart and her role in cleaning up the Nashua River.  The Work of 1000 event takes place on November 4th from 3-5 pm in the MacNeil Lounge of Lawrence Academy in Groton.  Learn more at www.workof1000.com.  Share your Nashua River story here.

The Magners Irish Film Festival enters its ninth year by honoring actor Aidan Quinn for his contributions to the Irish film and television industries.  Quinn, known most recently for his Emmy-nominated role in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, will be present after a screening of Song for Raggy Boy on November 8th at 7 pm.  The festival runs in Boston and Cambridge through November 11th.  Visit www.irishfilmfestival.com.  

The NH-made indie sleeper, The Sensation of Sight, will have its theatrical world premiere on November 9th at the Colonial Theatre in Keene, NH.  The film has already played to global festival audiences, starting with San Sebastian last year.  Executive producer Buzz McLaughlin and producer Mark Constance — both from NH — decided to kick off a theatrical run in their home state with a star-studded event.  Key cast members David Strathairn, Ian Somerhalder, Ann Cusack, Jane Adams and many more cast and crew will be present to celebrate and answer questions.  Click here for complete listings.  Or see the trailer.

New England’s most memorably named festival, SNOB (Somewhat North of Boston), hits Concord, NH November 9-11.  A plethora of New England films are featured this year, including two animators featured in NewEnglandFilm.com this month — Jason Harrington and S.A. Bouchard.  Plenty more at www.snobfilmfestival.org.   

Rocky Point Park’s empty wonderland.
[Click to enlarge]

The Northampton Independent Film Festival (NIFF) runs for two weekends:  November 2-4 and 10-11.   The regional spotlight is on Larry Hott’s latest, Behind Deaf Eyes, followed by a panel discussion of his body of work.  Also showing: You Must Be This Tall, a documentary about Rocky Point Park, which amused New Englanders with roller coasters and dinner theatre for more than 150 years and Dribbles, among others.  Fest details at www.niff.org. 

Out Film CT, the producers of the CT Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and Trinity College’s student organization EROS (Encouraging Respect of Sexualities) host the ninth EROS Film Festival from Nov 11-17 in Hartford, CT.  For info, visit www.OutFilmCT.org.  

According to Toni Pennacchia, director of MergingArts Productions in RI, a lot of films less than five minutes in length are trailers for upcoming features, music videos, or experimental non-narrative pieces.  She wanted to show short films with a narrative arc and is thus debuting the Short Short Story Film Festival in collaboration with the RI International Film Festival on November 17th.  More than 30 films culled from 2,000+ submissions to RIIFF in 2007 will get a second-chance screening, including Mike Brady’s The Collector.  He’s from Providence.  If that’s not enough, stick around for awards and an after party.  Learn more at www.mergingarts.com or www.rifilmfest.org. 

Nathan Beaman, of Burlington, VT is currently shooting and directing a documentary on a NY mass murderer who dumped his 13 victims in the Genessee River.  He just finished DP work with director Michael Fisher on three short experimental films.  He has also been editing webisodes for the SEIU, Walk a Day in My Shoes.  Recent spots followed Hilary Clinton, Chris Dodd, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden as they spent a day with service professionals.  Check out Beaman’s production company at www.urbanrhinovisual.com.  See Clinton shadow nurse Michelle Estrada here.

Wheaton College in Norton, MA is seeking a filmmaker as a Visiting Artist in Residence for either the fall or spring semester of 2008/2009.  Apply before November 30th.  Learn more here.

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (April 3-6, 2008 in Durham, NC) is accepting submissions through November 30th.

American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women is accepting applications through December 1st. 

This year’s WGBH Filmmakers-in-Residence include Gita Pullapilly and Aron Gaudet for the film The Way We Get By and Anna Wexler for the film Awaken.  The filmmakers work on their independently funded projects during a nine-month residency through June 2008.  The Way We Get By is a documentary profiling three elderly troop greeters in Bangor, ME, who despite tremendous obstacles, continue to greet troops day and night.  Awaken follows a new generation of young Jews as they spend a year in Israel.  Check out an NewEnglandFilm.com interview with Pullapilly here. 

On the set of Sensation of Sight, from L-R:  David Strathairn, Buzz McLaughlin, and Aaron Wiederspahn.
[Click to enlarge]

The New Hampshire Film Festival announced its awards.  Local recipients include: New Hampshire Jury Award to Stephen Croke for his feature film, The Busker; Grand Jury Award for best film to Dave McLaughlin for On Broadway; The Sensation of Sight took home Best Feature Film, and Row Hard, No Excuses won Best Documentary Film.  Complete details at www.nhff.org.  

Cranston, RI native Joel Davis, along with his writing partner David C. Matthew, have won the Grand Prize in the 2007 Rhode Island International Film Festival Screenplay Competition for Last Flight of the Valkyrie.  More at www.RIFilmFest.org 

After meeting Dan Carlin in last month’s issue of NewEnglandFilm, Berklee’s new film scoring reported a few things going on in November.  Bill Ross, who just received an Emmy for outstanding music direction of this year’s Oscar broadcast, will be visiting Berklee for three days during the week of November 12.  And Carlin accepted an invitation to travel to New York to conduct a Berklee College orchestra performance of Marc Mancina’s music from the new film August Rose.   

Garret C. Maynard premieres his latest feature film, Filmcamp, the self-described “cutest movie ever made about filmmaking” on December 1st at 11 am at the Avon Theatre in Stamford, CT.  Maynard will present very useful tips for financing film projects in next month’s NewEnglandFilm.  Get a sneak peek of the film at www.nutmegpictures.net.  Reserve a seat by calling 203.966.1700 or e-mailing nutmegpictures@optonline.net. 

The Martha’s Vineyard Independent Film Festival is now programming for 2008 (March 14-16). Submission deadline is January 1, 2008.