July 2004

After graduating from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Helena Schniewind distanced herself from Hollywood -- literally. As a freshly minted film major, she found no inspiration in Los Angeles and instead joined Boston’s eclectic film community. But in fleeing the "machine," as she called it, Schniewind was really coming home. The Massachusetts native resettled in Somerville, and now, a decade after her return, has returned to her film roots.

It’s been said that the next brave new world for filmmakers to explore is the subconscious mind. Most films avoid this frontier because of its challenging complexity; the dominant commercial screenplay allows only for dialogue, not inner monologue, to drive the theme. Enter Louise Bourque, whose stylized form for addressing unresolved tension is guaranteed to elicit an emotional reaction.

Los Angeles producer-writer-director Patricia K. Meyer’s career is a study in cross-country travel (not to mention hyphenation). A Los Angeles native, Meyer attended Harvard and Boston University only to return to L.A. upon completion of her studies. But recently, she returned to Boston for the screening of her short film "The List" in this year’s Boston International Film Festival. The festival ran from June 24-27, 2004, and Meyer’s film screened Friday, June 25 along with a number of other shorts.

Year after year (nine so far), the Nantucket Film Festival has pulled off a balancing act that’s the envy -- and inspiration -- of many an imitator. The neat trick that sibling founders Jill and Jonathan Burkhardt came up with, in dedicating their gathering to the unsung gifts of screenwriters, is a forum that’s of sufficient interest to pros yet accessible to mere movie-gluttons.

Lamar may be known to movie buffs as Hedwig Keisler, her stage name when she appeared in the first feature film nude scene in the 1932 Czech film "Ecstasy." In scientific circles, Lamar may be remembered for patenting an invention during World War II for a radio-guided torpedo that was unjammable.

In her first film, Pam Ross has gathered enough experience to teach a seminar on Filmmaking 101. Most importantly, the businessperson/actor turned screenwriter/producer has learned the most important attribute for completing an independent film: persistence. When her film, "Baby It’s Cold Outside" premieres July 11th at the Maine International Film Festival, it will be after nearly 5 years of work and a host of complications during filming.

Most Americans are at the mercy of television. We rely on media to entertain, to educate, and to inform. The latter is especially relevant in times of military conflict, when the country is dependent on news coverage to keep us up to date on victories and defeats, on casualties and triumphs, and, sadly, the vicious slayings of POWs and the abhorrent corruption within our own military. We take journalism for truth, as it is our primary means of involvement in a war that has spawned controversy across the globe and within our own national boundaries.

What is a humanities project? This is the place to start with when you’re thinking of applying for a Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities (MFH) Media Grant. The answer starts with community. MFH defines it as a project that sheds light on the history or culture of an area. Humanities include a group’s past, present, languages, ethics, laws, history, finances, architecture, culture, literature, archeology, philosophy, values, religion, arts, sociology, or psychology. Thinking of humanities topics is easier than it seems: if it’s read more...

Email news to news@newenglandfilm.com. 

Animation is alive and well in New England. The success of the first annual New England Animation Bash, a joint effort of the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge and Brookline’s Coolidge Corner Theatre, and a comprehensive celebration of the art, proves it. Features, shorts, TV shows, the traditional and the computer generated and assisted alike, were screened before appreciative and enthusiastic audiences this June. The films also ranged from contemplative to creepy to side-splitting hilarity, and were made by artists as diverse as the many images read more...

For the eighth consecutive July, the MFA Film Program and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in Boston presents the Boston French Film Festival. One of the world's most extensive showcases of French cinema, it runs from July 10 through July 27 and marks the Boston premier of 27 feature films. Here's a sampling.

L'Adversaire (The Adversary)