Nellie’s Farewell Blog Post
August 1, 2013
This is the end of my fourth and final year as Program Assistant at LEF New England; with complete confidence, I’m handing over my keys to the LEF office to Gen Carmel
Reflections on a week at the Flaherty from LEF’s Flaherty Fellows
July 10, 2013
From June 15 – 21, the Flaherty Film Seminar hosted its 59th program: HISTORY IS WHAT’S HAPPENING. For the uninitiated, this annual, intensive weeklong seminar brings filmmakers, programmers, scholars and students together to discuss, dissect and celebrate cinema. Since 2009, LEF Foundation has supported a fellowship program that sends New England-based filmmakers to the seminar for professional development and, importantly, inspiration. This year’s fellows were Beth Balaban, Chico Colvard, Hunter Synder, and Jim Wolpaw.
Hot Docs 2013 – Program Director Sara Archambault pitches at the Forum and lives to tell the tale
May 15, 2013
For several years now, I have sat on a variety of pitch panels. From a privileged seat like this, these are great events where I see new work, hear from smart colleagues, smile at a turn of wit, and wince at the inevitable awkward moments. Like most of my brethren on “that” side of the table, I try to be kind, constructive and fair in my comments to these filmmakers struggling to make their vision come to light. I try to imagine what it must be like to be in their shoes. But what I have learned is that nothing can prepare you for what it must be like to be in those shoes until you are actually IN them. And that, my friends, is what I did in Toronto at the Hot Docs Forum 2013.
The Next Big Thing – Street Fighting Man!
March 13, 2013
The sound stylists at the Boolean Studio house band (aka Twin Goat) tagged yours truly as part of The Next Big Thing.
Neither/Nor at True/False
March 7, 2013
With all the reports filtering back Eastward from the 2013 True/False Film Festival in Columbia, MO as a non-eyewitness I can’t really pin down what happened out there, between the game shows, parades, parties and secret screenings and the festival’s commitment to questioning the genre line between fact and fiction.
Getting the Scoop on Multimedia News at MIT
March 2, 2013
I recently went to “Convergence Journalism? Emerging Documentary and Multimedia Forms of News,” a discussion with Jason Spingarn-Koff, of the New York Times, and Alexandra Garcia, multimedia journalist at the Washington Post and current Neiman Fellow for journalism at Harvard University.
The Future of the Art House Cinema
February 26, 2013
In this time of scarce resources and DIY/DIWO attitudes, it’s rare that a week (or a day) will go by without an alert from a friend about their new Kickstarter campaign raising dollars to start/finish/distribute their film project.
The Cinema Eye Forum and the Inspiration of Indies
January 16, 2013
For the past two years, the LEF Foundation has supported a forum created by the team at the Cinema Eye Honors. The Forum takes place each year the morning of the event, gathering Cinema Eye nominees and industry leaders for a round table discussion. The intent is to engage filmmakers in a discussion of their experiences and challenges, find areas of mutual benefit and concern, and strive to work collectively toward learning and change.
Blue Potato and a Salute to Transparency
January 16, 2013
Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly are the poster children for the new generation of entrepreneurial independent filmmakers.
Moments of Innovation
November 19, 2012
As many of you know, any study of the history of technology reveals that it is often at the moment of invention when a technology is used in the most transgressive, creative, and inspirational ways.
The People Formerly Known As The Subject – Katrina Cizek & Gerry Flahive at The MIT Open Doc Lab
October 24, 2012
We are so fortunate, here in Boston, to have the resources of the MIT Open Doc Lab in our backyard. Last night I attended “The People Formerly Known As the Subject,” a presentation by the amazing Katrina Cizek and Gerry Flahive – the minds and motivation behind HIGHRISE.
2012 Camden International Film Festival
October 5, 2012
This past weekend was the Camden International Film Festival in Camden, ME, and the staff of LEF New England turned out in its entirety.
