THE NEW HAMPSHIRE FILM EXPO

New Hampshire is known for it’s beautiful landscapes, ranging from tall sloping mountainsides to slow rolling trout filled rivers. Crisp fall mornings embrace a pallet of orange and reds that hang from the trees in a last ditch effort of life before floating to the ground in an early retirement. The winters draw skiers from around New England and the summers bring tourists by the busloads.

L-R: [1] Still image from THUNDER ROAD, a short comedy narrated by Seth Meyers (Saturday Night Live) and directed by Doug Stradley. [2] Behind the scenes image from BET YOUR LIFE, featuring from left to right actor Freddie Catalfo of Dover, NH, lead actor Billy Zane and director Louis Morneau.

First making it’s debut in 2001, NHFX has spent the last three years in Derry, running its base of operations at the Adams Memorial Opera House. Hoping to tap into the hip vibe of the new location, organizers decided to move the festival to downtown Portsmouth, a change that Communications Director Dan Hannon sees as a step in the right direction.

“We always felt at home in Derry and they were great to us, but moving to Portsmouth was important in the growth of the festival,” he said. “It’s like a goldfish in a fishbowl. It will grow to the size of its habitat. Well, Portsmouth was our new fishbowl and if you know anything about NHFX you’ll be able to see that we’ve already begun to grow.”

**Still image from FLYAWAY, made by last year's Best Animation winners, Out Of Minds Animation Studios of Winston-Salen, NC.**

And grow they have. Although the festival will screen fewer films this year than last year, the quality of the films and the talent attached will be plenty to pull people into the Granite State to look at something other than the foliage. Hip Hollywood names likes Billy Zane, Alicia Witt and Seth Meyers are a few of the celebrities with films screening in the festival.

Zane is probably best known for his role as the evil Cal in the TITANIC, but he has enjoyed a long and extremely successful career as a versatile actor, appearing in films like, SNIPER with Tom Berenger and the cult horror hit, DEMON KNIGHT. NHFX will screen one of his latest projects, BET YOUR LIFE, a film that stars the winners of the NBC reality show “The Next Action Star,” Sean Carrigan and Corinne Van Ryck de Groot. Carrigan and the film’s director, NH native Louis Morneau, will be on hand to discuss the film beginning at 8 PM on Saturday, October 16.

Worcester native Witt has starred alongside of Tom Cruise in VANILLA SKY and has been directed by John Waters in CECIL B DEMENTED, but it is her latest project, an 11-minute short called GIRLS’ LUNCH that NHFX will be showing local film fanatics. In the short drama, which the actress not only stars in, but wrote as well, three friends meet over lunch in Los Angeles only to find that they have been keeping secrets from one another.

Current “Saturday Night Live” funnyman Meyers will also be a part of the festival when his film MAESTRO screens. The film was directed by Doug Stradley, who has another short comedy screening at NHFX entitled THUNDER ROAD about a boy and his Cub Scouts’ pinewood derby car. Stradley will be on hand at NHFX.

“The submissions we had this year were unbelievable,” said Hannon. “And if you told me four years ago when we started this that we’d be showing films four years later with people like Johnny Depp, I’d have said you were crazy, but I’ll tell you what - it’s those kind of ‘I’ll eat my words’ moments that I’ll happily feast on.”

Outside of screening over thirty films, (which will include features, shorts and animation,) NHFX is also returning with its industry tradeshow, screenwriting competition and a slew of youth, amateur and professional workshops. Other notable names appearing at the festival include Tracy Becker, associate producer of the upcoming FINDING NEVERLAND and Susan Shapiro, writer of CANNES MAN yet another film screening at the festival.

“We’re four years old now and we have a good idea what people are looking for when they trek out to a film festival,” says Hannon “There are so many out there nowadays that it’s important to stand out and be your own creation. I think we do that. I think we’re unique and people pick up on that.”

For a full list of films, events and venue locations, visit www.nhfx.com. Tickets are available online or by purchasing through The Music Hall box office in downtown Portsmouth. Registrations for the tradeshow and youth-oriented workshops, including the 3-day Young Filmmaker’s Workshop, are accepted up until the event.

Jason M Burns is the founder and editor in chief of The Green Room Magazine, and a music columnist for The Sun Chronicle in Massachusetts. An accomplished writer, Burns will be releasing two creator owned comic book series in 2005 published by Viper Comics.