NewEnglandFilm.com

Happenings

Have a great idea for a movie? Whether you’re an experienced writer new to screenwriting or a novice writer, join NewEnglandFilm.com Founder and Writer/Filmmaker Michele Meek for an intensive Intro to Screenwriting workshop to learn strategies for planning and writing your feature screenplay. From honing your idea to building compelling characters and crafting effective scenes, you will learn the fundamentals of shaping and writing your script and receive feedback on your elevator pitch, treatment and the first act of your script. Visit the Frequency Providence site for more information and registration.

The Maine International Film Festival runs July 13–22 in Waterville. Highlights include special guest Thelma Schoonmaker, spotlight on Maine filmmakers, and the “Re-Discoveries” classic film series. Learn more at miff.org.

Head down to the Vineyard for the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival Summer Series and Cinema Circus. Every Wednesday night from June 27-August 29, the MVFF will host Cinema Circus from 5-7pm featuring short films and carnival performers for children, then dinner and music from 7-8pm, and then movies from the Festival at 8pm. For more information, click here.

Senator Patrick Leahy and Warner Brothers present a benefit screening of The Dark Knight Rises on July 15th at the Majestic 10 Cinemas in Williston, Vermont. Proceeds will benefit the Children’s wing of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier. Tickets start at $100. To learn more, check out the Kellogg-Hubbard Library’s website.

Blythe Danner will present a screening of her new film Hello I Must Be Going at Images Cinema in Williamstown, Massachusetts on July 1st at 7:00 pm. A Q&A with Danner will follow the screening. For more details, visit imagescinema.org.

Think of it as Midnight in Boston: check out the Boston French Film Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts July 12–29. Screenings include and The Art of Love, My Worst Nightmare, and Farewell, My Queen. For more information, click here.

New England filmmaker Lydia Kuth’s Love and Other Anxieties screens in Massachusetts this month and Rhode Island next month. For more information about the screenings and the film, visit loveandotheranxieties.com.

Providence, Rhode Island hosts Movies on the Block Thursdays this summer. Films screen at the corner of Westminster Street and Union Street starting at dusk; movies are free. Catch Jaws on July 5th, Caddyshack on July 12th, Escape from Alcatraz on July 19th, and Jurassic Park on July 26th. Learn more at their Facebook page.

The Boston Harbor Hotel also presents outdoor movies through August. Check out Yankee Doodle Dandy on July 6th, An American in Paris on July 13th, On the Waterfront on July 20th, and Jaws on July 27th. The series is free and open to the public. To learn more, click here.

Rule Boston Camera will host the free event The Long & Winding Road: Thriving in Today’s Film, Video & Digital Cinema World with Director & Cinematographer Austin de Besche on Thursday, July 26 6-8pm. Austin de Besche’s list of credits include projects from cinema-verité documentary to large studio productions, miniDV video to 35mm film. He has served as director/cameraman on numerous productions for A&E Networks, The Discovery Channel, The History Channel, and PBS. RSVP to events@rule.com.

Industry Buzz

Lisa Strout has been awarded the Creative Production Award by Variety. Strout, Director of the Massachusetts Film Office, is the first recipient of the award. She received the award last month in Los Angeles. Read more at Variety.

Element Productions, a full-service production and post production company in the Boston area since 1998, has moved into a brand new, state of the art facility in Back Bay. Click here to learn more.

Three feature films have been shooting in Massachusetts over the last few weeks. Grown Ups 2, starring Adam Sandler, has been filming on the North Shore. Labor Day, directed by Jason Reitman and starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, has been filming in western Massachusetts. The Way, Way Back, starring Steve Carell and Toni Collette, will be filming in East Wareham and Marshfield all this month.

The New England Emmy Awards were held last month; click here for the winners.

Opportunities

Submit now to this fall’s Portland Maine Film Festival. Filmmakers can submit to Features, Shorts, Made in Maine, or One Minute Cell Phone Video. Late deadline is July 24th; extended is August 10th. Learn more at portlandmainefilmfest.com.

The 48 Hour Film Project makes its way through New England this summer. The short film contest will be in Rhode Island and Connecticut this month. To register, visit 48hourfilm.com.