This year’s Master Class at the Rhode Island International Film Festival will “pull focus” on documentary and state-of-the-art filmmaking techniques. During the main festival August 10-15, 2004, filmmakers Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker, two-time winners of the prestigious Peabody Award, will share 25 years of experience with aspiring filmmakers during Take One, Two, Three: Filmmaking with the Pros, which takes place August 13, 14, 15, 2004.
Now in its sixth year, the workshop presents hands-on experience and real-life scenarios to the local film community. While many aspects of film production, financing and distribution will be covered, access to the skills and experience of Alvarez and Kolker will be the main attraction.
In addition, the Master Class will focus on the emerging role of HD equipment and image acquisition. Sponsored by Sony Corporation and Rule Broadcast Systems, critical components of the class will include interviewing techniques, lighting, sound, design, and overall use of HD in the documentary genre.
Creative Director of the RIIFF, John Quackenbush is excited about the potential leaning curve available to students: "This year is going to be an exceptional year because participants of the three day workshop will be able to get experiential use of state-of-the-art High Definition Cameras. I want people to leave the class knowing that it is possible to make a quality film themselves.”
“We are pleased that this year’s Master Class is geared for an even more expanded hands-on approach,” stated George Marshall, RIIFF Executive Director. “Essentially, what we’ve created is a program by filmmakers for filmmakers.”
To coincide with the documentary focus of the workshop, American Veterans and their combat experiences will be the main component for the documentary elements. Veterans from throughout the region will be invited to participate in the program to relate their experiences and combat roles. The interviews will not be exclusive in area of conflict, but will cover all wars. The completed interviews will be made available to the Rhode Island Historical Society for its upcoming permanent exhibition, located in Woonsocket's Museum of Work & Culture, that will salute American Veterans. The exhibition is slated to open officially on Veteran's Day, November 11, 2004. Interviews will be included with interactive kiosks displays which will allow attendees to "Ask the Veterans" about their experiences.
RIIFF will be dedicating its 2004 Festival to the American Veteran. Whether, at home or abroad, these individuals have been long unsung and have helped secure and preserve our liberties. A number of activities will take place throughout the festival to pay tribute to the men and women in the armed forces:
1) Oral histories collected during the 2004 Master Class Production--Take 1-2-3: Filmmaking with the Pros.
2) Screenings of veteran's stories at kiosks located at Festival locations.
3) A benefit screening for the RI Historical Society and its upcoming Veteran’s exhibition “The Merci Train” at Woonsocket’s Museum of Work & Culture.
Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker, twice winners of both the Peabody Award and the duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, have over the past 25 years produced critically praised documentaries for their production companies, Kingfish Productions and The Center for New American Media. Their most recently completed project is SMALL BALL: A LITTLE LEAGUE STORY, a gripping and clear-eyed look at a suburban California team’s triumphant march to the Little League World Series in 2002.
In 2003 Kolker and Alvarez released SEX: FEMALE, a surprising and funny look at female sexuality, which was broadcast nationally on the Oxygen channel and has become an international film festival favorite. In 2001, they produced the acclaimed PEOPLE LIKE US: SOCIAL CLASS IN AMERICA, the first American documentary explicitly about the American class system.