The LFC is heading up yonder to Montreal to take in 4 days and 3 late nights of ’round the clock flicks! Montreal’s renowned FantasiaFest is brimming with the very best of genre films from around the world, including the premiere of Sushi Girl, the intriguing and most likely shocking new film venture starring Mark Hamill. Hamill will be there IN PERSON to welcome us all — its been a long time, Luke!
Check out all you need to know about FantasiaFest RIGHT HERE.
Enjoy your weekend, all!
Our dear friend Jay Mason — dedicated environmental activist, local architect & Lowell film champion — tipped us off to this stellar series of events taking place during Energy Week Boston, June 10-16. Included in the diverse programming are TWO great film screenings under the catchy title “REEL Power: Dirty Films for a Clean Future” — we couldn’t have said it better than that!
We invite you to check out the full lineup of events, including their film showings of Gasland on Wednesday, June 13 at 6PM (Northeastern University) and Dirty Business on Saturday, June 16 at 6PM (IBEW Local 103, Dorchester).
Though it isn’t an event Energy Week Boston is directly organizing, the Boston premiere of Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle (Coolidge Corner Theatre) is also getting their thumbs up via the EWB calendar. According to the Cape Spin! website, the film will premiere on June 15 and will have four screenings a day — visit the Coolidge Corner Theatre for complete details.
View the full schedule of Energy Week Boston events HERE, and our thanks again to Jay for his dedication to the earth AND to our Lowell film mission!
AUGUST TO JUNE screens Monday, May 21 @ 6PM
at Cape Ann Community Cinema in Gloucester, MA
Special Guests: Directors Amy & Tom Valens
PLUS a school lunch-style dinner served!
After 30 years of watching the public open classroom where his wife taught, and admiring at a distance the model for learning that evolved, Tom Valens couldn’t miss the opportunity to film her last class from beginning to end. And so he was there the day school started and many days thereafter: one man with a camera and a tripod, trying to stay out of the way as kids skipped from one activity to another, listening on headphones for events in other parts of the building, and sometimes rushing, tripod in hand, only to arrive at the action just as it ended.
Slowly but surely kids came into focus. Tom captured their relations with each other, with their teacher, with learning. The film is not meant to suggest there is one right way to teach. Instead, it shows how one unconventional classroom puts schoolwork inside a larger picture, bringing into focus a broader vision of what education should and can be.
So begins the breathtaking description of August to June, the compelling documentary by Amy & Tom Valens, that is winning the hearts of educators, parents, mentors, film enthusiasts and communities. We were thrilled to discover this film through the Cape Ann Community Cinema, which is hosting a very special screening this Monday, May 21 at 6PM with a guest appearance by both Amy & Tom Valens. Film screenings are a real treat when filmmakers or guests are present to share the love of their craft and enlighten us to their movie-making processes — this event is surely not to be missed!
If poignant cinema is your passion, we encourage you to make it to Gloucester this Monday and share in the communal film-watching experience. The Cape Ann Community Cinema is one of our most favorite movie haunts on the East Coast and their unique film programming is absolutely stellar!
The 37th 24-Hour Boston Science Fiction Movie Marathon
Sunday, February 19 – Monday, February 20
12 Noon to 12 Noon
Somerville Theatre, Davis Square
Somerville, MA
It was 1987 when Suzz Cromwell (Twitter’s LowellFilmGrl) experienced her first 24-hour Boston Science Fiction Movie Marathon. I was 18, new to Boston, and still getting used to New England winters when my good friends and co-workers at the Boston Museum of Science introduced me to my first ‘Thon. If you have no clue what I’m talking about, not to worry — you’re not alone. Those that do, know the experience is a wondrous sum of its parts:
I was Suzzanne Ochoa when I worked at Boston University and was interviewed by The Boston Phoenix on just what it was about the Sci-Fi Marathon that turned me on. My responses remain true today, and every year my passion and respect for The ‘Thon grows. It’s the one thing that makes the end of football season a bit more bearable and one of those special times where I can release my inner geek and just be myself.
So this Sunday, Brett & Suzz Cromwell of the Lowell Film Collaborative will both be sitting in the Somerville Theatre surrounded by the finest cinema crowd in the Boston area! We’ll celebrate The ‘Thon’s glorious 37th anniversary, fire our laser guns, and pay homage to monsters, aliens, astronauts, superheroes and mad scientists. It may border on cultish (so I’m told!), but we’re happy to ignore what the outside world thinks.
So … is your curiosity piqued?
If so, come share in my 25-year tradition and snag your ticket to Boston’s own Science Fiction film celebration! Tickets are available online or in person at the Somerville Theatre or click here to order online direct from BostonSci-Fi.com. And if you choose to make the pilgrimage, be sure to seek us out!
Antony Lane's Twitter page is bursting with support and indie film passion!
British indie filmmaker Antony Lane uses Twitter. A LOT. According to his Twitter profile, Lane has been on Twitter 24/7 since 2009 doing fan fundraising for his zombie/horror film Invasion of the Not Quite Dead. With over 86,000 followers, Lane’s efforts seem to have proven successful as updates have just been released that the film crew is scouting for locations to begin shooting.
To people like us who relish the indie film scene, Lane’s goal is a precious one: to produce the first COMPLETELY Twitter fan-funded horror film. His pleas for donations ignite the reader with mixed caps to stress importance, are intensely frequent, and always read with passionate urgency –“if theres any SUPPORTERS OF FILMMAKERS chasing their dreams ONLINE right now, please check out my FILM PROJECT” and “PLS KEEP those DONATIONS/UPGRADES coming in to my film ‘INVASION OF THE NOT QUITE DEAD’, we are 100% twitter fan funded.” We adore this zest, and continue to be wowed by the seemingly endless supply of energy and enthusiasm that Lane displays to the public. But when you’re trying to reach a monetary goal for your life’s dream, that’s pretty much what it takes.
With all that being said, we’d love nothing more than for you to go out to Antony Lane’s Twitter page and project website and experience his determination first hand. And please feel free to support his campaign, especially if the horror genre is your bag. But no matter the end product (and we’re certain it’s gonna be mighty entertaining), Lane has brought the importance of independent film and the ongoing power of social media to the forefront. He’s also allowing all of us to play a part in his dream, and that’s a very special thing indeed.
Learn all you need to know about Antony Lane and his fan-funded film project Invasion of the Not Quite Dead via his campaign video below or by visiting Indywood.co.uk. And if you’re on Twitter, be sure to follow Lane or check in on his progress at @IndywoodFILMS.
