Burns screens preview of "The War"

New Hampshire filmmaker Ken Burns screened a 67-minute preview of his new seven-part documentary, The War, to a crowd of 800 last night at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. The film is set to debut on PBS in September. The Concord Monitor provided a wrap-up of the film and the evening screening in today's paper.

New Hampshire Film Festival seeks volunteers

[From the New Hampshire Film Festival:]

As the New Hampshire Film Festival (NH Film Festival) has grown in size and scope so has its volunteer needs. The NH Film Festival is currently looking for volunteers to staff the 2007 festival, trade show, workshops, and all-after parties. The first volunteer meeting will be held on September 11 at 5:30 p.m. at the IOS building in downtown Portsmouth, 155 Fleet Street. Volunteers will also have an opportunity to watch a few selected short films before the public unveiling at the festival. located at

Staff positions are now open for volunteers who have a love of film and an interest in being the first to see a wide range of films, shorts, and documentaries from around the globe. Volunteer positions are available in four-hour shifts over the NH Film Festival weekend, October 11-14. Volunteers will receive a ticket to a movie or workshop for every four hour shift, a t-shirt, and our undying gratitude. Volunteer opportunities include registration and information tables, screen monitoring, ticket taking, merchandise sales, set-up/tear down at the trade show, panel discussions, and parties. See www.nhfilmfestival.com for more information and call 603-647-6439 or email nicole@nhfilmfestival.com to be a part of the NH Film Festival today!

The Seventh Annual NH Film Festival, the state’s only event of its kind, will take place on Thursday, October 11 through Sunday, October 14, 2007. Opening night will feature all New Hampshire films beginning at 5:00 p.m. at The Music Hall. The festival is one of the largest in New England, this year screening an average of 60 films from more than 25 states and 12 different countries. As many as 3,000 people have attended the films, seminars, ceremonies, and parties in the past.

NH Film Festival presents the best in recent independent cinema from throughout the United States and around the world to New Hampshire and New England audiences. Astonishingly, nearly all of the films shown last year would never have screened in Portsmouth without the festival. “We are excited to present our seventh Annual New Hampshire Film Festival,” says Nicole Gregg, festival director of NH Film Festival. “What has been even more exciting is the reception and the enthusiasm of the public. Our film festival draws a lot of attention with residents and allows them a glimpse into the glamour, and the magic of filmmaking.”

For more information, please log on to www.nhfilmfestival.com. New Hampshire Film Festival is located at the IOS Business Center, 155 Fleet St., Portsmouth, NH 03801. The telephone number is (603) 647-6439; email can be sent to info@nhfilmfestival.com.

Capitol Center for the Arts to screen Burns doc

A preview of The War, Ken Burns's seven-part series on World War II, will be shown at Concord's Capitol Center for the Arts Thursday at 7 p.m. Burns will be at the event and will answer questions in an onstage interview after the preview.

Admission is free, first-come, first-served. Tickets will be available at the Cap Center box office at 5 p.m. the day of the preview. The doors will open at 6:15.

The War is a seven-part, 14-hour documentary that will air on PBS beginning Sept. 23. Four two-hour parts will debut that week and three the following week. The documentary was directed and produced by Burns and Lynn Novick.

Burns, who lives in Walpole, reintroduced Americans to the Civil War in a 1990 series. He has produced many other notable documentaries, including major series on baseball and jazz.

Although comprehensive in scope and chronological in presentation, The War tells the story of World War II through the experiences of people in four American municipalities: Sacramento, Calif.; Luverne, Minn.; Mobile, Ala.; and Waterbury, Conn.

Beth Carroll, a New Hampshire Public Television journalist, will interview Burns onstage after the Concord preview.

Back Lot Films produces PSAs for NHDOE

Fremont, New Hampshire-based Back Lot Films, Inc. has produced a series of public service announcements for the New Hampshire Department of Education. The four :30 television spots deal with dropout prevention and recovery. The spots will air throughout the summer and fall of this year, with another set of PSAs to be produced for 2008.

More information on these PSAs can be found on the Back Lot Films, Inc. blog.

Congrats to Bill Millios and Back Lot Films for being given the opportunity to produce the spots - and our thanks to the Department of Education for utilizing New Hampshire production services for their project. The New Hampshire Film and Television Office encourages all state agencies to use New Hampshire-based talent (both in front of and behind the camera) for their promotional initiatives (In fact, we encourage it so much that in 2005 we put a law on the books regarding such initiatives!)

Cinematography workshop at NHCTC-Laconia

The Media Arts program at the New Hampshire Community Technical College - Laconia will be presenting two cinematography workshops featuring Dr. Andy Opel, Media Production Area Head of the Department of Communication at Florida State. Week one will focus on an introduction to digital video production while week two will concentrate on documentary video production.

To view the brochure from NHCTC-Laconia, click here.

IMAX theater coming to New Hampshire

New Hampshire's first IMAX theater is coming to Hooksett in July. Here's an article about the new cinema, appearing in today's Concord Monitor.

Click here to read the full article.

Lake Winnipesaukee in American Express spot

Anyone catch the new American Express spot now running on TV? This funny ad features Martin Scorsese, Ellen DeGeneres, Andre Agassi and more - and prominently makes mention of our own Lake Winnipesaukee! Okay, so the commercial wasn't filmed in New Hampshire, but we're proud of the publicity, nonetheless.

You can view the :60 spot on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BuCBTn6_L4

Boosting the local film industry

We held our quarterly New Hampshire filmmaker roundtable on Thursday, June 7 at the Granite Media Center in Tilton. It was a nice gathering and the production facility is coming along swimmingly. Here's an article on the roundtable that appeared in the Laconia Citizen on Friday, June 8:

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007106080398

Filmmakers shoot crowds at concert

Here's an article today in the Concord Monitor on the recent filming of a crowd scene at Friday night's Dark Star Orchestra concert at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach. The scene was shot for the upcoming feature film, Losing Jerry, that will begin filming this fall on the New Hampshire seacoast and in Manchester.

To read the full article, click here.

"Abandoned in the Arctic" to screen June 23

[Received this notice about an upcoming screening of this New Hampshire-made film in Portsmouth, NH.]

A final cut preview of the film
Saturday, June 23 at 7 p.m.
The Music Hall, Portsmouth, NH
90 min./NR/2007

A film about one of the most heroic episodes of arctic exploration, The Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. Lieutenant Adolphus W. Greely led 26 men to within 450 miles of the North Pole in 1881, but returned three years later with only six still alive. He received a hero’s welcome on his return to Portsmouth, NH but many questions remained as to what went wrong. One hundred and twenty years later his great, great grandson returned to the arctic to follow in his footsteps. Little did he know that one of his companions would barely return alive.

Producer/Director: Gino Del Guercio
Executive Producer: Geoffrey E. Clark

A Cocked Hat Ventures Production

Visit www.cocked-hat.com for more information.

Part of The Music Hall Wild Card Film Series
Shot in High Definition with Surround Sound

For ticket information, contact the Music Hall box office, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the phone at 603-436-2400, or online at www.themusichall.org.

"Seasons of MacDowell" to screen on June 8

[Received this upcoming screening notice from our friends at Red River Theatres in Concord, NH]

Seasons of MacDowell: A Special Film with Discussion June 8 at NH Technical Institute, 7 p.m.

NHTI's Friday Night Film Series presents a Very Special Evening!

In 2007, The MacDowell Colony celebrates the first 100 years of its history by paying tribute to the value of creativity. Seasons of MacDowell (90 min) is a film created by MacDowell film artists in order to capture the artist residency experience at MacDowell and the impact residencies have on the creative process.

Four MacDowell Fellows (selected by an anonymous panel) were commissioned to each make a 20 minute film with their own script and based on a particular season. The 4 artists selected are known for their creative innovations in the fields of animation (George Griffin), experimental film (Elisabeth Subrin), documentary film (David Petersen), and fiction film (Michael Almereyda). The result is a quartet of outstanding work, executively produced by Michael Sullivan of Frontline and presented as a suite.

The film premiered at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City on May 2nd and it is now touring the U.S. Join us in Concord on June 8th! Cynthia Huntington, former New Hampshire poet laureate, will introduce the film and lead a post-film discussion.

Details at http://www.macdowellcolony.org.

For details about the event at NHTI, contact Steve Ambra, 271-7185. For information about the MacDowell Film and the Centennial celebrations, go to http://www.macdowellcolony.org.

Red River Theatres is proud to recommend this film event! This event is supported by the NH Humanities Council and Citizens Bank. Admission is by donation.

Reminder :: NH Filmmaker Roundtable June 7

Just a reminder that the next New Hampshire Filmmaker Roundtable, presented by the New Hampshire Film and Television Office, will take place on Thursday, June 7 from 12-3 p.m. at the Granite Media Center, 100 Autumn Drive in Tilton, NH.

If you are planning on attending this event, please RSVP to the Film Office (if you haven't done so already) at (603) 271-2220 or via e-mail at film@nh.gov by Tuesday, June 5.

For more information on the roundtable, click here.

For directions to the Granite Media Center, visit www.gmcnh.com.