April 2005

A mother pats her little girl on the head. She adjusts her little red hood and sends her off to Grandma’s house. You know the rest. Or do you?

Writer and director Ben Hillman’s musical short film "Little Red Jiving Hood" has all the elements of the classic fairy tale with a few adjustments... like a chorus of trees, ninjas, and a satellite dish atop Grandma’s roof.

Email news to news@newenglandfilm.com. 

Correction: Apparently the news of Aisle 5 and New Line was an April Fool's joke.  Guess the laugh's on us.  That's been removed.

I’m at a cocktail party, and I tell someone I write screenplays. Almost always, the first question is, "Have you been to Los Angeles?" or, sometimes more declaratively, "What are you doing here [in Boston] then?!" The implicit suggestion is that I should be in Hollywood. The debate rages among aspiring screenwriters who don’t reside in LA: as a writer trying to break into show biz, is there an advantage to living in Los Angeles? In the age of PDFs and overnight mail, the answer really is no. Once a sale is read more...

When Jake Messier talks about his life and career as a Director of Photography (DP), he is quick to point out, "I didn't become a DP in the usual way."  By this he means that he did not go to film school or work his way up from a Production Assistant, instead he joined the Marines. 

Film aficionado, LeTicia Lee who has recently released "The Filmmaker’s Guide to Film Financing (There’s An Angel In Your Corner) "through independent publisher Lulu Press is rather humble yet passionate about sharing the book. She says she published her notebook and rolodex in a way after seeing so many of her peers standing in one lane of what seemed like a 100-lane highway. Perhaps that lane known as Hollywood is lit brightest and paved with gold dust. But is it the best road to take? LeTicia believes you can be your own studio boss.

Out of the mainstream.  Rebellious.  Pure emotional expression unbound by convention or tradition.  Sometimes loud, sometimes dangerous.  Always original.  These are all apt descriptions of both punk music and of independent filmmaking.  In April at the Coolidge Corner Theater, these two genres come together to both illustrate and reflect one another in two new documentaries by local filmmakers, Tommy White and Marissa Acosta.

On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling; "to deny gays and lesbians the right to marry is to deny them dignity and equality under law." The court ordered the state to begin issuing marriage licenses within six months, and on May 17, 2004 same sex marriage became legal.