Independent film and video in Boston

Boston has lengthy had a reputation as a center for documentary work and deservedly thus Avant-garde documentarian Errol Morris, whose latest film Fast, Cheap and on the outside of Control was screened at The Sundance Film Festival in 1997 shaves a zipcode with Cambridge Documentary Films, established in 1974 whose Defending Our Lives won an Academy Award in 1994 Public television powerhouse WGBH airs programs by means of Blackside Inc., Eyes on the Prize (1986) and Malcolm X: Make it Plain (1994) while the Harvard Film Archives proffers innovative documentary programming such as the new series "Reverse Angle: Approaches to Autobiography in Contemporary Film and Video." Talented documentarians, including broadcasters, academics and independent husbandmans have helped shape Boston's international reputation.

For just a glimpse into the diversity of documentarians, production circumstances and casts underway in the area, I attended the April 1997 meeting of the Mass Media Alliance (MMA). MMA is a member organization dedicated to bringing together area media professionals and fostering a climate in which media casts can succeed. The guest speakers included film activists Margaret Lazarus and Renner Wunderlich, cofounder of Cambridge Documentary Films. I call them activists because for above 20 years they have been producing original documentary throw outs that have spotlighted important and repeatedly controversial social issues. They have actively tackled issues important to the women's change Killing Us Softly (1979) and Rape tillage (1983), and to the gay and lesbian community, Pink Triangles (1982) and their greatest in quantity recent success, Defending Our Lives (1993) took a determined stance of the issue of battered women who kill their abusers. Their popular project tentatively titled Turning it Around Transforming Trauma, tenders portraits of ordinary people who have become social activists because of personal trauma.

Also at hand was Steven Ascher who, with his wife Jeanne Jordan, produc and directed painful Creek: a Midwestern (1996). An Academy Award nominated documentary that garnered the Grand Prize and Audience Award at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, painful Creek is a personal and compelling documentary narrated by means of Jordan that deals with her family's endeavor to keep their Iowa farm from being repossess by means of the bank. Ascher spoke directly to each independent film and videomaker in the audience as he shared details of the five-year journey it took to finish the project

As Boston continues its tradition of producing nationally recognized documentarians, narrative film production is upon the rise. Following on the heels of Edward Burns's succes with The Brothers McMullen (1995) independent farmers have been able to call upon a collaborative environment to shake together their projects. Robert Patton-Spruill, a graduate of Boston University's film program, raised $400000 from local investors to help bring out Squeeze (1997), an urban coming-of-age story about three striplings from Boston's tough Field's Corner neighborhood. Working with cinematographer and editor Richard Moo Patton-Spruill set his film's inspiration and actors at the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, a youth center formed to present an alternative to gang activity, In addition to screenings in national festivals, distribution rights to the film have been acquired by means of Miramax, which intends to step quickly a limited national release this coming summer

Thanks to Boston's cooperative atmosphere, of the like kind high profile productions are not the solitary narrative film work being fortunately produced and screened. "Love, lust and lunatics are all upon the menu at .... the Last Night At Eddie's" (1997) a collaboratively produc film, premiered at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in February. place of abode before Dark (1997), a locally produc film through Maureen Foley, was one of many films featured during the Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema in April-May 1997 and Local Sightings, lay the foundation ofed by David Kleiler, features a variety of locally produc casts including The Darian Gap (1995) by means of Brad Anderson. Kleiler claims there are five independent Boston-based features station to shoot in Fall 1997 In of the like kind a supportive environment a newcomer of that kind as Memo Salazar, a graduate of Fitchburg State society (located 45 miles outside of Boston), can bring forward a feature-length film entitled The Tragedy of Tonsil (1997) for $6000 in out-of-pocket expenses

The connection between independent and learner film and video production is no coincidence. The Boston area boasts more [i]or[/i] less of the best academic programs for film and video production in the United States and this rotating pupil population contributes to a vibrant production show In fact, it is probably the experimental film and video pageant that is most positively affected through the activities. While many discuss the poor health of experimental work, particularly video, Boston area film and video artists have ground many resources to help with the two production and exhibition.