November 2004

David Lachman spent most of his life as a painter -- until he realized that many of his ideas would work well as experimental videos. The North Adams resident has recently been expanding his talents into the world of "video art."

Email news to news@newenglandfilm.com. 

Postproduction has begun on feature film "Slingshot," directed by Jay Alaimo and starring David Arquette, Thora Birch, and Julianna Marguilies and shot in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Two cunning and manipulative drifters venture into Farifield County, Connecticut looking to seduce wealthy and lonely housewives.

Kids Favorites

Miss Nelson Has a Field Day
In this ALA Notable Video, nothing seems to help the hapless football team at the Horace B. Smedley School. Everyone is down in the dumps... until the arrival of the notorious Viola Swamp who takes it upon herself to whip the team into shape for the big Thanksgiving Day game. 

Picture it: Slowly we approach a woman standing at the edge of a cliff. We see sweat dripping from her face. We look down at the 500 foot drop toward jagged rocks. We quietly move away and...

"It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark."

Author Howard Ruff had a point; preparation is key, insight invaluable. So when two people of different religious backgrounds meet, fall in love, and decide to get married, one might expect that the subject of children be broached. While many interfaith couples have no problem adapting to the religious lifestyles of their spouses, children can complicate the mix.

Ah, the joys of new parenting. Those first steps, clumsy crayon drawings on the fridge... and worry. Suddenly the world seems fraught with dangers you never noticed before: everything from furniture with sharp corners to the ingredients of household cleaning fluids. And don’t forget those nights lying awake pondering the improbable. Lauga’s film is about a father who does just that. While the baby sleeps soundly, dad is lying wide-eyed, plagued by visions of kidnappers and floods. He decides that a baby read more...

On Monday November 8, the 16th Annual Boston Jewish Film Festival will celebrate same-sex marriage at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. San Francisco Bay Area filmmaker Bonnie Burt’s 28-minute video, "My Sister, My Bride" will be screened along with "The Gay Marriage Thing," by Stephanie Higgins of Massachusetts. The screenings will be immediately followed by a panel discussion of local activists, and Burt will be there as a special guest, the evening’s Visiting Artist.

Rather than take a political stance on an individual party, Filmmaker Sue Dorfman’s film "Dying to Vote" provides a brief account of the historical human cost of obtaining the right to vote and contemporary efforts to engage unregistered and disillusioned registered voters in the political process.

The 26th Annual IFP Market and Conference this past September kicked off with a special screening of Bostonian Brad Anderson’s film "The Machinist" (http://machinistmovie.com). In the film, Trevor Reznik’s (Christian Bale) every waking minute becomes an unremitting nightmare of confusion, paranoia, guilt, anxiety and terror -- which escalates into a series of clues that leads to the source of his mysterious affliction. This critically acclaimed film is pure read more...