Shot entirely on location in Massachusetts and Rhode Island during October and Novermber of 2003, the film features over 100 New England based child actors and stars locally born actors Tim Fields, Peter Talieri, and Andrea Ajemian, as well as local child stars Brendon Boyd, Natalie Warila, Brett DelBuono, and Bridget O’Sullivan.

Red Sox announcer Jerry Remy plays the Freedom Park Little League announcer. Former Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant and former Boston Bruin/WAAF morning personality, Lyndon Byers both have roles in the film.

FREEDOM PARK will hold its Massachusetts premiere in the summer of 2004. Read IMAGINE for details. The producers are currently meeting with potential theaters and distributors interested in the film. The film was written by Jon Artigo, directed by Jon Artigo and Chad Meserve, produced by Andrea Ajemin, Victor J. Melfa, Jr., Julie Fletcher, Jon Artigo, and Kevin Painchaud. The executive producer is Victor J. Melfa, Jr.

For more information visit www.freedomparkthemovie.com.

Bway 7 Productions announces the 2nd Annual Boston International Film Festival Starting June 24th through June 27th of 2004.

The Boston International Film Festival is dedicated to honoring, encouraging and rewarding the many talented, creative, independent filmmakers from around the world who dare to express themselves in new, unique and imaginative ways.

The Festival will be screening 114 short and feature films on both film print and video. Included in the Festival are films from Canada, Mexico, Germany, Taiwan, South Korea, Iraq, Australia, France, Japan, Brazil, England, Namibia, the United States, to name just a few. The Festival screenings will take place at the John Hancock Hall, 200 Berkeley St., Boston (Copley Square Area); Hynes Convention Center 900 Boylston St., Boston; and The Bill Bordy Theatre: 216 Tremont St., Boston

A major goal of the 2nd Annual Film Festival is to expand the national and international interest and reputation of the Festival, thereby attracting more film industry professionals and an ever higher quality of films and filmmakers. As an annual event, increased press coverage and greater attendance of the Festival insures an ongoing multi-cultural experience for Bostonians. This Festival will support businesses as well as all community resources that support Boston’s economy and cultural development by bringing together filmmakers and moviegoers from around the world. Furthermore, the Festival promotes filmmakers who manage to illustrate their independent vision at the finest level of expression.

For more information, you can visit www.bifilmfestivall.com or you may contact BIFF via e-mail; bifilmfestival@aol.com, or Phone 617-426-4600 / 781-935-0871.

"Shocking story of the twisted politics of Florida…immensely interesting." says
Frances Fox Piven, the Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology, The City University of New York

The film is produced and directed by Laurel Greenberg, co-produced by Jane Newman, with music by Martha Bourne.

This new documentary chronicles the lives of five Floridians drawn into the chaotic landscape of Florida politics from Election 2000 through Election 2002. Opening with the historic election that left an indelible mark on American electoral politics and polarized the nation, the film follows our cast as they volunteer on campaigns, run for office, sue the state, and revisit the disturbing facts and unanswered questions of the historic election that changed their lives and the lives of all Americans.

"A stirring account, a great primer on grassroots politics." Says Lisa Ramsay, Executive Director, Florida Grassroots Project.

And, “Well-made and engaging, the human side of the Florida election process,"
says Margaret Lazarus, Academy Award Winning Documentary Filmmaker.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE will be shown with the short film, TODAY I VOTE FOR MY JOEY by filmmaker Aviva Kempner of THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HANK GREENBERG fame. Common Cause Massachusetts and the Boston Social Forum sponsor these screenings. See www.mfa.org for tickets and more information.

The 2nd Annual Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival will take place
August 12th -14th in beautiful Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard. The festival screenings and activities are scheduled to take place at the Strand Theatre and The Union Chapel. Given the nature of African-Americans in the film industry, the three day festival will focus on “The Future of African-American Filmmaking and the issues we face.”

The festivals production company, Run&ShootFilmworks, Inc. mission for the MVAAFF is to provide a positive environment where filmmakers can share their thoughts, visions and aspirations. Festival producers, Floyd A.B.Rance III and Stephanie Tavares-Rance are entertainment industry veterans. Floyd has been on the front lines of several award winning feature films, music videos,
commercials and episodic television shows. He recently produced several commercials through his company, Run&ShootFilmworks, Inc. for clients such as Spaulding, Reebok, Nike and NBC Sports.

Stephanie Tavares-Rance has worked in the entertainment industry for over 10 years with stints at EMI Records, CODE Magazine, Martell Cognac and most recently as a partner in her former company, CobbleStone Entertainment, whose clients included Showtime Networks, HBO and the Barbados Tourism Authority among others.

Visit www.mvaaff04.com for more details.

The keynote speaker this year was Marshall Herskovitz '73, writer/producer
of the Oscar nominated THE LAST SAMURAI. Marshall held a Q & A session
after a packed screening of his film. The highlight of the festival was the much anticipated red carpet awards ceremony where thousands of dollars in prizes were given away to talented student filmmakers. Mr. Herskovitz treated hundreds in attendance to a twenty-piece orchestra, a multimedia presentation and an address.

SunDeis will begin accepting submissions for SunDeis 2005 next winter. Please
visit www.SunDeis.com for more information.

The festival was attended by over 125 people and raised $500 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape Cod. Fifteen short film/videos by 13 local high school filmmakers screened. A panel of four judges included Michael Deeley, a Deputy Chairman of the British Film Council and Producer of THE DEER HUNTER who lives in the area, his associate filmmaker Matthew Field, Tim Miller, entertainment editor of The Cape Cod Times, and Nina Schuessler, Harwich Jr. Theater’s Artistic Director.

First place went to Jeff Griecci for RADIO STATIC, an award winning short claymation about little green globes with eyes interacting with a boombox, and DEMONS, a horror genre fictional short. Second place went to Nate Chapman for THE WICKED, a brilliant homage to the silent film era.

Honorable mention to a documentary OFF THE WALL, a delightful short by Andy Barbo about a new sport called Wall Ball played by students at Dennis-Yarmouth High School, and DIARY OF A HALL MONITOR, by George Anagnostahos and Palmer Egan, also of DY, a hilarious mockumentary of a young man who takes his duties a little too seriously.
This summer Border’s Books in Hyannis is holding another public screening of the students’ works at their store. Winning selections will be seen at the Woods Hole Film Festival in August. Jess hopes this new student film fest will continue in coming years. For more information contact Jess Rimington via email Hedgehog123k@earthlink.net.

The only wrinkle we have this month is that the Provincetown International Film Festival and the Nantucket Film Festival are being conducted at exactly the same time.

Judy Laster’s short film AUTOMATIC DRIP wrapped production in Woods Hole Memorial Day weekend. Shot on 16mm Kodak film stock by Ed Slattery D.P., Director Charlie Burke guided principal actors Vincent Myette, Garth Donovan, and Amy Wilson, and a hoard of local extras through the scenes. Principal photography on the comedic short, a tale of coffee addiction, began the first weekend in April. Locations included The Pie in the Sky Bakery, The Naked Lobster Restaurant, and the old Woods Hole Fire Station building. Local actors Sean and Damian Boyce and Hugh Popenoe, whose most recent film roles were in DEPUTY BOB, shot in Woods Hole last year, came aboard as the sinister Bean Counters. Ms. Laster is Director of the Woods Hole Film Festival. AUTOMATIC DRIP’s world premier will screen there this summer if editing goes as scheduled.

PACKRAT is a portrait of the struggle with stuff. A 52-minute independent film directed and produced by Beacon Hill resident Kris Britt Montag was recently completed in the Boston area. The subject of the film brings to mind for some the recent tragic case of animal hoarding on the Hill. Although Montag’s film is about hoarding objects and doesn’t touch on the extremes of animal hoarding, researchers believe there are connections between the behaviors.

In PACKRAT, filmmaker Montag traces her family’s struggle to deal with “Packratting.” Through family interviews, Kris chronicles her father’s life and the development of the problem, which clinical professionals consider a possible symptom of Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. Part personal and part informational, PACKRAT takes a look at what it’s like to grow up in a family where hoarding is an issue.

The film was screened as a rough cut at the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation’s 2003 Annual Conference in Nashville, TN to enthusiastic and hopeful viewers, who continue to wait for progress in treatment of the disorder. “This subject is all but ignored by the media and it is one that is so debilitating that it should not be ignored, it needs attention,” written in the Screening Feedback Questionnaire.

Over all the movie took 2 years to complete from the proposal stage to the finished 52 minute version. The movie was shot in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania on DVC Pro and mini dv, with about 80-90 hours of footage in total.

One challenge in the making of PACKRAT that you won’t see on the screen is a behind the scenes story about documentary ethics. Inspired by both new ethics procedures introduced at Emerson College in Boston and the ethical issues related to making a movie about a deceased parent, the filmmakers followed a stringent procedure after the American Medical Association’s guidelines for research subjects. Every participant was briefed on potential distribution and exposure. They were shown cuts of the video for their approval before screening. They were provided an opt out agreement and the crew signed confidentiality agreements. All of this required an enormous amount of work and faith on the part of the filmmakers. “This is a scary prospect to most filmmakers because the essence of it is any participant could potentially kill the project. The solace was that if that happened, we could still make a movie about documentary ethics,” says director and producer Montag. Jessica Jennings served as cinematographer and co-producer. Editor and co-producer Alyer J. Breau is the new Post Production Department Supervisor at Rockport College's prestigious International Film and Television Workshops in Rockport, Maine.

For more information, visit www.packratthemovie.com or www.fanlight.com.