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Diane Baker who played
Senator Ruth Martin in
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS visited Boston and met
with local filmmakers.
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What a relief! The "boys of summer"
are in fine form. Why today the Red Sox just knocked off the
Yankees again improving their record to 15 - 3, this time
at Yankee Stadium in front of over 55,000 unhappy New York
fans. It's a fine start for the Sox and a new season. I'm
a big baseball fan. I know it's about my childhood, playing
ball and all those hot dog good times in the stands. There's
something special about baseball.
The great actor, Charles Brown, in
his role as Blue Genes in THE ADVENTURES OF SPACE BABY AND
MENTAL MAN, says it well as he demonstrates his invisible
pitch to Sam and Sophia. "I love the smell of the grass, the
gloveÉit's primitive, spiritual, it's non- violentÉit's man
at his best!" When Sophia gives him the evil eye, he hastens
to add, "girl's too." In the same movie Sam, who is Mental
Man, says of Blue, "I know Blue is not allowed to take sides,
but I think his favorite religion is baseball." Fortunately,
in baseball, it really is okay to take sides. So, I'm going
to save some time to get out to the ballpark and cheer for
the Sox, the red ones!
It was a special treat to meet Diane
Baker at a special screening of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and
later, at her request, have the opportunity to introduce her
to some local filmmakers. The special screening was a part
of The Wang Centers' Classic Movie Series. Baker played the
role of Senator Ruth Martin in SILENCE. In the question and
answer exchange after the viewing, she was asked by a member
of the audience to perform her memorable line of 10 years
ago to Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter, "Take this... thing
back to Baltimore!" The crowd loved it. She praised the cast
and crew at the local filmmakers' event held in a private
home here is Boston. And she honestly told her small audience
that they had no idea they were making an award-winning movie
that has had such a profound effect on moviegoers and moviemakers
alike. A new DVD release of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is due out
soon complete with a never before seen "behind the scenes"
look at the making of the film.
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Out West, Robin Dawson,
Executive Director
of the Mass
Film Office and Carol Patton
ride the bull.
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The Sanders Theater of Harvard University
with its extraordinary acoustics beckoned many, including
me when The Harvard Film Archive welcomed internationally
renowned ensemble, l'Octuor de France back to Boston. L'Octuor
de France performed under the direction of Canadian composer,
Gabriel Thibaudeau, their live orchestral accompaniment to
Julien Duvivier's restored print of AU BONHEUR DES DAMES (France,
1929, b/w, silent, 85 minutes). AU BONHEUR DES DAMES (The
Ladies' Paradise) is Julien Duvivier's stylish screen adaptation
of the Emile Zola novel about an orphan girl who moves to
Paris and goes to work for her family's rival, the glamorous
department store named "Au Bonheur des Dames". Many critics
consider this film to be one of the last great works of the
silent cinema.
The first presentation of this exceptional
combination of film and musical accompaniment by L'Octuor
de France was in May 1998 at the Cannes International Film
Festival. Since then, several performances have received standing
ovations and praise in the media, as did this performance
on April 9th. Following the performance, a reception at The
Harvard Film Archive, hosted by the French Consul General
of Boston proved to be the celebration that completed a perfect
evening.
Imagine's own Mick Cusimano, Professor
of Surrealism and cartoonist of ImagineNation, has delved
into the realm of movie making. Mick's cartoons have appeared
in over 100 magazines in Boston, LA, France, Germany, England,
Slovenia, and Russia. Several years ago as a grad student
at Harvard he studied multimedia and discovered that he could
turn his comic strips into short limited animated movies.
The Flash movie series Rooster Tales satirizing history and
culture feature a wise guy rooster, a woman archaeologist,
and the villain, Phil I. Stine.
His movies have been acquired by a
French film company pepper-view.com and his animated movie
Billy Barnum, about a 75-year-old surrealist poet has been
chosen for the 2001 Philippines International Film Festival.
Mick's web movie site is: http://mcusiman.tripod.com/animate.html.
Now it is time to prepare for us to
prepare for covering all the New England summer film festivals.
It's a big job for Imagine, but somebody has to do it, and
we're the ones. You'll see some of us to all of us at each
one and we hope to see you, too. Happy Mother's Day to everyone!
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