As of this writing, plans are underway to finalize the program for the 13th Woods Hole Film Festival, the oldest Festival on Cape Cod and the Islands. The Woods Hole Film Festival is dedicated to promoting the work of first-time and New England filmmakers. With eight days of screenings (around 70 film selections), workshops, panel discussions, special events, parties and more, the Woods Hole Film Festival is a highlight of summer on Cape Cod. Tickets are on sale beginning July 1st. For a complete schedule of events, tickets and workshop registration forms, check www.woodsholefilmfestival.org.
Highlighted films will include:
A premiere of Vermont filmmaker Nora Jacobson’s thriller, NOTHING LIKE DREAMING, about a teenage girl who befriends a strange, older man. Sonny Gale is a reclusive sculptor who lives in an abandoned factory where he forges steel and makes fire sing. Emma is a bright 17-year old who works in the cafeteria of the state capitol building where gay marriage laws are being debated along with gun control and drunk driving legislation. Her father Jess, whom she adores, is a liberal state senator. In the space of one night, Emma's life is torn upside down: Her best friend is killed in a car accident after a keg party in the woods. Repressing feelings of guilt, unable to express her grief, and angry at the world, Emma finds solace in Sonny's workshop. Like a shaman, he guides her through her journey of loss and grief. She becomes his apprentice, and together they build a spectacular fire organ that enchants Emma's teenage friends with its other wordly, mysterious sounds. NOTHING LIKE DREAMING is about compassion, the freedom to be different, and the mystery of the human mind.
Our continuing commitment to exploring the intersection of film and science could not be better represented than in David Lebrun’s award-winning documentary, PROTEUS (Sundance 2004). For the nineteenth century, the world beneath the sea played much the same role that "outer space" played for the twentieth. The ocean depths were at once the ultimate scientific frontier and what Coleridge called "the reservoir of the soul": the place of the unconscious, of imagination and the fantastic. Proteus uses the undersea world as the locus for a meditation on the troubled intersection of scientific and artistic vision. The one-hour film is based almost entirely on the images of nineteenth century painters, graphic artists, photographers and scientific illustrators, photographed from rare materials in European and American collections and brought to life through innovative animation. The central figure of the film is biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919). As a young man, Haeckel found himself torn between seeming irreconcilables: science and art, materialism and religion, rationality and passion, outer and inner worlds. Through his discoveries beneath the sea, Haeckel would eventually reconcile these dualities, bringing science and art together in a unitary, almost mystical vision. His work would profoundly influence not only biology but also movements, thinkers and authors as disparate as Art Nouveau and Surrealism, Sigmund Freud and D.H. Lawrence, Vladimir Lenin and Thomas Edison.
Kelly Duane’s first feature documentary MONUMENTAL: DAVID BROWER’S FIGHT TO PROTECT WILD AMERICA will have its New England premiere and it is already being showered with praise.
From the moment David Brower first witnessed the extraordinary beauty of the Yosemite Valley, his life was tied to the fight to preserve the American wilds for future generations. Not since John Muir had an American fought so hard, or been more successful, in protecting our natural heritage. His fiery dedication and activism helped inspire the modern day environmental movement. Explored in MONUMENTAL is the beautiful, dramatic, and lyrical story of Brower and his colleagues' unrelenting campaigns - fought through lobbying, art, and hard hitting advertising- to protect and establish some of our most treasured national parks. At the center of the film are the themes that absorbed Brower throughout his life: the threatened beauty of the American earth, the spiritual connection between humans and the great outdoors, and the moral obligation to preserve what is left of the world's natural wonders.
In addition to 8 days of screenings, the Woods Hole Film Festival offers a special opportunity to participate in great workshops. Harris Tulchin, of Harris Tulchin & Associates will offer a two day workshop, Pipeline to Hollywood, that will offer instruction and advice to filmmakers and producers alike about the process of getting your project made and sold. Tulchin is a veteran entertainment, multimedia and intellectual property attorney with extensive major motion picture studio and independent production background and experience in all phases of feature film, television, video, music, infomercial, multimedia and online development, financing, production, distribution, and legal and business services.
Award winning documentary filmmaker Kate Davis will offer a unique opportunity to learn the fundamentals of documentary filmmaking in this new workshop, Jumpstart Over a three day period, participants will create a short documentary project under the guidance of Kate Davis. This will be a great hands-on learning experience. Davis’ HBO documentary JOCKEY, will also screen at the Festival. JOCKEY follows the lives of three dedicated riders as they cope with the twists and turns of the intense - and often life-threatening - demands of their profession. Punctuated by footage of dramatic moments in recent horse racing history, this startling America Undercover documentary debuted just days before all eyes were on the Kentucky Derby.
This year, the Festival finale includes the 4th Reel Blues Fest, Where Independent Film Meets Independent Music, August 8th at the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis. Chicago blues great Koko Taylor, guitar legend Dickie Betts, former SNL band director G.E. Smith and David Johanson will provide the music, and Anna Gagriel’s short film GROWING UP ON TOUR and Lorenzo DeStefano’s award winning documentary LOS ZAPHIORS: MUSIC FORM THE EDGE OF TIME round out the film selections of this great show. Proceeds help provide health care to musicians and support to independent filmmakers. For festival updates and more information visit www.woodsholefilmfestival.com