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FILM FEST NEW HAVEN 8: Eclectic, Electric, and Enthusiastic Again!

By Carla Stockton

Once upon a time, fall was heralded in New Haven by that nearly imperceptible change in the angle of the sun punctuated by the ubiquitous back-to-school sale. Film Fest New Haven has changed all that. The new sure sign of autumn impending is the proliferation of posters and flyers announcing Film Fest New Haven 8. And rather than the dread of summer buried, it portends the excitement of talent discovered.

Film Fest New Haven 8 kicks off on September 19 at 6:30 P.M., with an Indie-lover’s smorgasbord - a double bill featuring Greg Pak’s ROBOT STORIES and Scott Saunders’ THE TECHNICAL WRITER.

Though Film Fest New Haven’s real bailiwick is finding new independent talent, this year’s top-billed films are by filmmakers who have an established relationship with the New Haven community in general and a history with FFNH in particular.


Greg Pak studied Political Science at Yale, and he made his first few shorts during his time as a student. FIGHTING GRANDPA and PO MO KNOCK KNOCK both of which won student Academy Awards, screened at FFNH 5. Something of a favored son, Pak then showed AMATEUR ECSTASY at FFNH 7. After attending the graduate film program at NYU, Pak won the 2002 Pipedream Screenwriting Award at IF P Market for his screenplay RIO CHINO.

ROBOT STORIES, just beginning its run on the festival circuit, was named Best Narrative Film at the 2003 Rhode Island International Film Festival in August. A science fiction tale, the film examines a world where human beings struggle to connect to one another in a world of mechanical office workers and robot babies.

Scott Saunders, too, is a seasoned FFNH exhibitor. FFNH 3 showcased his earlier THE HEADHUNTER’S SISTER.

An Institute Fellow of the Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab, Saunders was named “Someone to Watch” at IF P’s 1998 Spirit Awards.

THE TECHNICAL WRITER is currently enjoying a very successful festival circuit run. At Sundance 2002, critics lauded its abilities to explore iconoclasm and quirkiness without sensationalism or sentimentalism. The film tells the story of Merriam Jessup (Michael Harris); a reclusive writer of computer manuals, whose rejection of the human race is forcibly reversed by a pair of unabashedly decadent neighbors (Tatum O’Neal and Pamela Gordon).

“We’re really thrilled by our opening night films,” enthuses FFNH’s Executive Director Robin Andreoli. “But there’s so much more.”

Artistic Director Nina Adams agrees. “I can honestly say we’ve received the strongest entries I’ve seen so far.”

Jules Feiffer, best known for his successful cartoon commentary and plays of the 1960’s, will bring the delightful animation that has defined his career in recent years. As part of the special FFNH Young People’s Program on Saturday, September 20, the festival will show Feiffer’s BARK GEORGE which will play - along with another short COG -- in front of ROBOT STORIES as a special opening night treat.

The children’s program, a partnership between FFNH and Weston Woods, a production company specializing in films and videos for and about children, is a pet project of Artistic Director Adams. “This year’s festival boasts a larger children’s program - due to popular demand - than ever before.” Films just for kids will be screened 10 a.m. till 3 p.m., on Saturday, September 20, at the Little Theater.


“The real excitement begins the very first night,” Andreoli reminds me. During intermission on Opening Night, Guy Ortoleva, Executive Director of the Connecticut Film, Video and Media Office, will recognize the 2003 Connecticut Filmmaker of the Year. This award is presented to a Connecticut resident who has made an outstanding contribution to the world of film either in front of or behind the camera. Past recipients have included documentarians St. Clair Bourne and Andrea Haas Hubbell, Producers Jeremy Leven and Greg Johnson, Director Brad Anderson.

Film Fest New Haven 8 culminates with a first time event, an exciting addition to the eclectic mix that has become the festival’s persona. FFNH 8, in partnership with the Seymour L. Lustman Memorial Fund will present Frederick Wiseman, “the grandfather of cinema verité” and perhaps the most important American filmmaker of the past three decades.

Ever since his first film TITICUT FOLLIES, an exposé of the abhorrent conditions prevalent in the Massachusetts Hospital for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater, Wiseman’s work has been the impetus for sweeping social and political reforms.

Wiseman’s films - more than two dozen have been shown theatrically and on public television - have won the filmmaker two national Emmys, one Peabody award, a Dupont Prize and a Macarthur Prize all for excellence in the field of documentary filmmaking. Wiseman returns to New Haven, where he received his law degree from Yale, to screen his 1994 film HIGH SCHOOL. Wiseman will address the audience following the screening.

Nina Adams is thrilled about this year’s festival. “We’ve added a screening venue, have selected a wider assortment of community-related films and have planned more audience activities. There’s just going to be a lot more to do this year. The buzz has already begun.”

Pass and schedule information may be found at www.filmfest.org or by calling 203-776-6789.

Carla Stockton is a frequent contributor to Imagine. She is an independent filmmaker who lives in New Haven, CT; her production company Bagel Fish Productions is currently overseeing several film projects. She can be reached by email: carlastockton@bagelfish.com.

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