It’s been full steam ahead as usual for Kevin Fennessy since he returned from Sun/Slamdance Festivals, where as we all know by now that Monika Mitchell’s NIGHT DEPOSIT won the Anarchy Online Slamdance Award for Best Short. Kevin is very proud to have cast it and be in Park City during its triumph. Kevin also commented, "it was great to be around the energy of Zach Stratis and the gang from IT COULD BE WORSE (Zach joked that I should tell people I cast his film, which everyone probably also knows by now stars him and his family as themselves)." Another short Kevin cast was at Slamdance: RELIEVIO, directed by Michael Glumicich at Boston University, was bought by Atom Films and can be seen at www.atomfilms.com.

Kevin came home to more successes at the Redstone Film Festival, Boston University’s showcase for student films. A STATE’S CONCEPTION was the film he cast for Stephen Fromkin, with a cast headed by Marjorie Burren, Dennis Starr, Christine Freeman, Eugene Boles, Kippy Goldfarb and Jim Loutzenhiser among others. The film, a futuristic look at a society of genetically engineered babies, won awards for cinematography and production design. So, besides the excitement of ‘99’s big films (ME MYSELF AND IRENE, THE PERFECT STORM), Kevin loves the little films that give him the chance to work with up-and-coming filmmakers like Monika and Stephen.

And smaller independent projects are also bubbling for the spring. First time screenwriters Phil Cronin and Hugh Kennedy’s script OFF THE PAGE is this close to getting its funding, and the pre-production work has begun. This year’s crop of student projects is just starting to call in, with that oft-heard request, "we don’t have a lot in our budget but could you help with casting?" And so, another season of filmmaking begins for Kevin Fennessy in New England.

Kevin Fennesy and Mary Feuer at Kevin's birthday party (he can vote now!) at The Riverhorse Cafe in Park City

A new millennium calls for a new attitude and approach to some time honored traditions. This year’s Massachusetts Ninth Annual Academy Awards Gala Benefit, presented by the Friends of the Massachusetts Film Office on March 26, 2000, will feature a new setting, exciting guests, new partners, top awards and great prizes.

"We wanted to create an extra-special event in 2000 with a lot of surprises," says Massachusetts Film Office (MFO) executive director Robin Dawson. "We’re thrilled to again being paying tribute to the importance of moviemaking in Massachusetts. And, we are excited to announce that Michael Badalucco from The Practice will be attending as our special guest!"

This year’s Gala Benefit will be at the Boston Marriott Hotel at Copley Place and will feature food and décor tied to the great movies filmed over the last century in Massachusetts. Posters, memorabilia and trailers from old movies will also be on display.

There are other exciting developments, including a live television broadcast from the Oscars in LA, a month-long contest on boston.com that is awarding one lucky winner a trip to LA and other prizes that will be awarded at the event itself.

The event will begin at 6:30pm. Tickets are $150, available through Ticketmaster (617/931-2000) or ticketmaster.com, through the MFO at 617/973-8800, or on wcvb.com or boston.com.

Net proceeds benefit the Wang Center’s Young At Arts, Boston Film and Video Foundation, the Massachusetts Film Office and the AIDS Action Committee.

This is a new wrinkle for us. WriterDirector.com has launched the first online-based film festival honoring the works of writer-directors. The event is open to works of any length and genre with a hyphenate creator (writer-director).

The ongoing competition will showcase new winners and honorable mentions four times a year with online promotion and broadcast on area cable outlets. According to festival coordinator Peter Bohush, sponsorships are still being finalized, and it is expected that several well-known firms will offer production and post-production products as prizes.

"This festival is specifically designed to highlight the accomplishments of writer-directors," said Bohush, himself a writer-director.

"Whether the work is on film or video, is narrative or documentary, long or short, or traditional or experimental doesn’t matter," Bohush added. "Those are merely issues of form used by the creator to express his/her vision, and shouldn’t be factors in entry to a festival. We’re putting form after function, where it belongs."

Entries will be judged on how well the artistic vision of the writer-director is communicated through the work. The festival will choose winners and honorable mentions in feature, featurette and short time categories.

The festival has already drawn inquiries from writer-directors in the U.S. and even from abroad.

Deadline for the spring awards is March 20, and June 20 for the summer awards. Entry fees range from $15 to $30, and entries are accepted on VHS (NTSC), DVD, CD-ROM and miniDV formats.

More information and the entry form are available online at www.writerdirector.com.

Paul Wagner just wrapped his month sojourn all over the world. He loved Puerto Rico where he created a 2-hour comedic educational multi-media show for Sprint International to perform over a few days at the Ritz Carlton in San Juan. "I had a great time having some of my personas appear on screen speaking a different language - I love that! It’s beautiful down here and people are incredibly friendly with lots of fun to be had – as long as you can get over the fact that it pretty much looks and feels like 1977. It’s like the wide shot in the opening of "One Day At A Time" (the first episode)." The perks were nice... on his downtime; he was para sailing, horseback riding, jet skiing and diving among the reefs. Then Paul was off to Israel and Egypt, where, he told Imagine, "I hope to learn how to make bombs while repelling off the pyramids."

Here’s is Paul’s most exciting news. He will be launching his first of seven comedy, sitcom and entertainment web sites with his first series. It will be pretty "on-the-edge." The shows launch the end of April with three episodes. Then new content, sites and shows are added each month. The first site to launch is BabbleOnTV.com featuring 12 of Paul’s personas. The next two are ImprovTV.com and WeekendUpdate.com. Whatya think? We think Paul is very funny.

Glenn Phillips as Jesus Christ in PARADISE

Imagine received word today that Glenn Phillips just wrapped the feature film PARADISE (Lamplight Entertainment) in LA. In it Glenn sheds his evil bad guy casting bias and plays the role of Jesus Christ.

Glenn said, "It was an incredible experience to portray Jesus Christ and a very emotional one. It took 5 hours in the make-up chair to achieve the effect Director Jonathan Flora and I wanted."

Dorchester raised Glenn has recently completed a screenplay that he plans to shoot in the Boston area later this year. PARADISE is scheduled to screen March 20th at the DGA "Parables" in Los Angeles.