Posts Tagged ‘New Hampshire Film Festival’

After the success of indie film Joy and the Apocalypse, MyTV New England is teaming up with Double Midnight Productions, an offshoot of Double Midnight Comics of Manchester, NH, to announce a new feature film – The Unseen.

To be produced as part of MyTV New England’s new Independent Film Series, The Unseen will be the first comic book movie to ever be produced by owners of a comic book store. The film will also be the newest project to use the exclusive branded entertainment model developed by Christopher Murphy at MyTV New England Studios.

According to Murphy, The Unseen is slated for a limited theatrical release in Fall 2011 and an exclusive broadcast premiere on Christmas Eve with a 2-hour prime time special from 8-10 p.m. on the MyTV New England channel. The broadcast is scheduled to include the full movie, Filmmaker Q & A, cast & crew interviews and behind the scenes footage.

Co-founder of the New Hampshire Film Festival, Brett Parker, said in a press release for the new project, “We’re excited to be collaborating with Christopher on The Unseen. We’re looking to make this a fun experience, it brings together our love of film and comic books and we’re planning on making this an interactive experience for our customers!”

The New Hampshire Film Festival, October 14th-17th, is a world-class festival showcasing independent films in Portsmouth, NH. Viewers can not only see films and shorts, but can participate in workshops, round table discussions and after-parties throughout the weekend. The NHFF has films in six categories: Features, documentaries, dramas, comedies, animations and student films.

This festival strives to showcase and encourage the independent arts. Students, producers and filmmakers will have the opportunity to connect with experts in the film industry over a four-day period. Since 2001, the NHFF has become one of the most noted independent film festivals in New England.

This year, on the 10anniversary of the festival, the NHFF will screen over 80 films in four days.  The Burning Plain with Charlize Theron and Kim Basinger, and the Boston-filmed Don McKay with Thomas Haden Church, are two of the films on the lengthy scheduled this year.

The festival boasts a new website, Twitter updates, and a moving festival trailer. And don’t miss the New Hampshire Film Festival’s annual media party on October, 6th at 5 p.m. at The Page at 172 Hanover Street in Portsmouth.

Visit here for ticketing info.

New England Film.com is one of the most popular film sites viewed by professionals in the film and television industry. According to Google Analytics, the site receives over 65,000 visitors and over 150,000 page views monthly. The dot com is home to over 5,000 industry related jobs, events and classifieds — and it’s free!  This year, New England Film has announced that their Second Annual Online New England Film Festival is collaborating with the Rhode Island Film Festival and the New Hampshire Film Festival by hand picking the 2010 roster for this year’s online festival.

Last year, New England Film did have an open call for entries but decided to spice it up this year and go find the best short films out there to feature. The festival will showcase short films online from New England this coming September. The 2010 Online Film Festival is also being sponsored by several local industry-related businesses: Rule; Talamas; and Modulus Studios. So get those submissions into one of the many festivals happening right now in New England because your short film might just be hand picked for the 45 day online festival.

Summer may be the time when a lot of film festivals are happening, but don’t forget that many others are already looking for next season’s submissions. For filmmakers with a recently completed a film, you can capitalize on submitting early to some of the New England festivals that are already seeking submissions for next year.

Student filmmakers can submit to the second annual Providence Children’s Film Festival for free until July 15. After July 15, it will cost students $5 and $15-$25 for others who submit before November 1, 2010. Taking place February 18-22, 2011, the Providence Children’s Film Festival was founded “to bring high quality, independent and international children’s films, animation and documentaries to Rhode Island.” Submissions guidelines can be found on their website.

The third annual Southeast New England Film, Music & Arts Festival (SENE) is also now accepting film submissions. Taking place April 6-10, filmmakers can either submit online through Withoutabox.com or download a paper submission form through their site. Films can be submitted before September 17, 2010 for an entry fee of $25. Entries will be accepted until December 30, 2010, but will cost you $40 if submitted after the beginning of September. Also based in Rhode Island, SENE combines film, music and art into year-round events designed to cross-promote the works of filmmakers, musicians and artists to new audiences.

The New Hampshire Film Festival (NHFF) will take place from October 14-17, 2010 and is still accepting submissions through Withoutabox.com until August 5. NHFF is described as presenting “the best in recent independent cinema from throughout the United States and around the world to New Hampshire and New England audiences.” Several films that have previously screened at NHFF have even gone on to receive critical acclaim and national distribution.

Remember that the earlier in a festival’s submission process that you can submit your film the better as it often leads to cheaper or no fees. It is also important to keep in mind whether the festival you are submitting to is relevant to your film’s subject matter. For more information on all of the film festivals in New England, check out our film festival page.

The New Hampshire Film and Television Office held the New Hampshire High School Film Festival last Saturday at the New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord. Students grades 9-12 submitted their short films earlier this year and 32 films were chosen for screening.

The film festival originated in 2007 and has had a growing response rate ever since. It was created for high school students to showcase their work in a larger and more competitive setting. The festival will soon offer a comprehensive online resource for New Hampshire film students and teachers, providing them with tips, forms and documents to aid in the filmmaking process.

All of the genres were judged together to come out with one over all winner (the Jury Award). This year Home vs. Homeless by Jeremy Holber, Tim Taylor and Ben Pacocha of Pinkerton Academy in Derry, NH., took away the Jury award. Their film just made the 10-minute time limit at nine minutes and 56 seconds and was about a homeless person who steals a blank check and uses it to live a more comfortable life until he finds out that the house has a different plan for him.

Second place, or the Jury Award Runner-Up was David Nieman’s Beginning’s End, about a girl singing alone in an empty building. Keller Nunley’s Mustache received an honorable mention for his film about how a little lip hair can go a long way.  Watch Beginning’s End here:

The Jury Award winner and Jury Award Runner-Up will be screened at the the New Hampshire Film Festival in Portsmouth this October, at the Red River Theater in Concord and on New Hampshire Public Television over the summer. All films screened were featured in the showcase program and put on a DVD that will be released later this summer.

With the New Hampshire Film Festival beginning Thursday and lasting until Sunday the 18^th, many independent and small-budget films are getting their time in the New England spotlight, including the Massachusetts-shot feature film, Don McKay.

Written and directed by Jake Goldberger and produced by James M. Young, Don McKay is an independent dramatic thriller that follows the late-year adventures of title character, Don McKay. After receiving a letter from his dying high school girlfriend, Sonny, McKay returns to his hometown 25 years after a tragedy forced him to relocate. Forced to reconcile with unresolved issues, McKay is drawn back into more trouble than he left including confusion, deceit and murder.

The film stars Thomas Haden Church in the lead role as well as Elisabeth Shue, Melissa Leo, M. Emmet Walsh, and Keith David. The feature was filmed in small towns around Massachusetts including Andover, Lawrence, Middleton and North Andover. Don McKay will be shown at 4:30 pm on Sunday, October 18^th.

For more films shot in New England area, keep an eye out for Delta Rising, a documentary about the history of blues music around Clarksdale, Mississippi that has a couple of scenes from around the Boston area. The film, co-directed by Laura Bernieri, Matt Goff and Michael Afendakis will be shown at 2:55 pm on Sunday, October 18^th.

For tickets to the New Hampshire Film Festival, visit their website or, alternatively, call or visit their box office at (603) 436-2400 in the Music Hall Box office at 28 Chestnut Street in Portsmouth, NH.

Clear your calendar for a long weekend of foliage and film at the New Hampshire Film Festival (NHFF) running in Portsmouth, NH from October 15-18. The festival boasts a screening schedule of over 80 independent films, including big-wigs like Food, Inc., Serious Moonlight, and The Burning Plain. Prepare for a quality sampling of features, documentaries, short dramas, short comedies, animations, and student films. A winner in each category will receive the “Granny”–an award paying homage to The Granite State itself.

The festival has grown exponentially since its 2001 debut at the New Hampshire Film Expo thanks to sponsorship by industry establishments like Avid and Regal Cinemas. Yet NHFF has not lost sight of its simple, yet poetic mission statement: “to celebrate the art of filmmaking.”

Festival attendees–everyone from film students and educators to professional filmmakers and moviegoers–are united not only by the promise of fantastic flicks, but also by the potential for networking and interaction through Q&A sessions with directors, workshops, panel discussions, and gala after-parties. Want to get even more involved? NHFF volunteers are eligible for some pretty sweet perks.

Check out the 2009 trailer on the festival homepage. The clip’s music track guarantees waterworks, so grab a box of tissues; you won’t want to miss a tearful blink of the stunning shots that these films have to offer.