Funspot showcased in buzz-generating doc

I was tipped off by the folks at Funspot in Weirs Beach today that the entertainment supercenter is prominently featured in Seth Gordon's documentary, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - which is already being shown in film festivals nationwide and will hit theaters in limited release on August 17 (Picturehouse).

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters follows a middle school science teacher as he battles a hot sauce mogul for the Guinness World Record on the arcade classic Donkey Kong.

Word on the street is that New Line Cinema has greenlit a Hollywood reworking of the story - and you can bet that this friendly neighborhood film office and Funspot will be courting New Line to make a return trip to Weirs Beach, for sure.

More information on the documentary, including a trailer, can be found at the film's official website: www.billyvssteve.com.

"Frida" screenwriter to judge scripts at NHFF

[Recent press release from the New Hampshire Film Festival in Portsmouth, NH.]

Diane Lake Selected to Judge Screenplays for 7th Annual Festival

Portsmouth, N.H., July 26, 2007 - Diane Lake, a screenwriter on the 2003 Academy Award-winning film Frida, has been named the first-ever screenwriting judge at the seventh annual New Hampshire Film Festival (NHFF). Lake, a screenwriting professor at Boston's Emerson College, will judge the top three screenplays submitted to the Festival, which is scheduled for October 11-14. She also hosts a session during the Festival entitled "How to Break into the Business of Screenwriting."

"We're thrilled to have a professional of Diane's caliber on our panel of judges," says Nicole Gregg, executive director of NHFF. "Her session on screenwriting will be a highlight of our industry expert panels."

A working screenwriter since 1993, Lake has been commissioned to write films for many major film studios, including Columbia, Disney, Miramax and Paramount. She has also written a mini-series for NBC and created a half-hour series for CBS. She has written work for numerous independent producers as well as actors such as Dustin Hoffman and directors like Harold Becker. Projects currently in development include Distance, the story of Berthe Morisot, the French Impressionist painter, optioned by Blue Collar Films; Chandler, a film noir set in 1930s Los Angeles where the writer Raymond Chandler becomes involved in the kind of murder cases he only writes about, being packaged by Roth/Arnold Productions; and A Thousand Cranes, an epic love story set against the backdrop of the bombing of Hiroshima in WWII, produced by Digital Domain Studios. Frida opened the Venice Film Festival in 2002 and was named one of the 10 Best Films of 2002 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute, among others. Frida was also nominated for six Academy Awards in 2003.

The mission of the non-profit New Hampshire Film Festival is to celebrate the art of filmmaking. NHFF unites highly talented students, professional filmmakers, and screenwriters with industry experts, educators, avid movie-goers, and film connoisseurs from around the globe for a highly interactive weekend of nationally recognized and undiscovered gems, culminating in a gala award ceremony on the historic shores of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. For more information, visit www.nhfilmfestival.com or call (603) 647-6439.

News from the SNOB Film Festival

The SNOB (Somewhat North of Boston) Film Festival (November 9, 10, 11 in Concord, NH) has extended its film submission deadline to August 31, 2007. Submission information is available on their website.

SNOB has also started a new e-zine with updates and other information pertaining to the festival. You can sign up for their e-zine here.

"Live Free or Die" available on DVD July 24

Live Free or Die, the comedy starring Aaron Stanford, Paul Schneider and Michael Rapaport and directed by former Seinfeld scribes Gregg Kavet and Andy Robin will be released on DVD July 24. The film was shot entirely in Claremont, New Hampshire. No - this is not the Bruce Willis action flick of nearly the same name - just so we're clear.

ThinkFilm is releasing the DVD and, according to their website, can be ordered online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Location scout video blog on YouTube

After posting our new Film New Hampshire promo onto YouTube, we were happy to discover a short video blog also posted on the site from a pair of location scouts hiking New Hampshire's Rattlesnake Mountain and driving on the Kancamagus Highway in the dead of winter earlier this year for a project we knew nothing about (with no general filming permits, it's not the first time). We'll have to follow-up with the production and learn more about this project. This definitely falls under the "Man, it's cold here" category.

Voice of celebrity promoting NH filmmaking

Our new Film New Hampshire promo featuring Orson Welles is getting great response. Lori Ingham wrote a nice piece about the video in today's Laconia Citizen.

Film New Hampshire promo goes live

(Concord, NH) – The New Hampshire Film and Television Office has produced a new promotional video to showcase the Granite State as a potential filmmaking destination featuring New Hampshire personality Fritz Wetherbee and a narration track from the late and legendary Orson Welles.

The nine-minute video was released on July 6 and posted onto the popular online web sites YouTube and MySpace. It will also be used in a forthcoming DVD promotional piece and in an e-mail marketing campaign to motion picture and television studios as well as production companies and advertising agencies worldwide.

“Orson Welles was one of the greats and has been a lifelong influence on me in both theatre and film,” says Van McLeod, Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Resources. “It was thrilling to revisit this piece and bring his voice back to life.”

Welles originally recorded narration for a similar video to promote filmmaking in the state back in 1982. The New Hampshire Film and Television Office decided to update the video, laying Welles’ voice track over fresh, high-definition footage of the state and included bookend remarks by Fritz Wetherbee. The video was produced with Gary Anderson of New Hampshire Movies, Inc. in Deerfield.

Matthew Newton, Film Specialist managing the New Hampshire Film and Television Office, is looking to capitalize on the viral nature of videos distributed over the internet to have the piece reach its target audience.

“Independent filmmakers are increasingly using online distribution as a means to having their work seen,” says Newton. “It makes sense to tap into the same online resources that filmmakers are using to generate viewership. It’s really an innovative and fun way to get our message directly to filmmakers on a global scale.”

The video can be seen on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM5REtS3hUM and on the New Hampshire Film and Television Office page on MySpace at www.myspace.com/nhfilmoffice.

The New Hampshire Film and Television Office, as part of the New Hampshire Department of Cultural Resources, works to expand business activity and employment throughout the state by acting as a liaison between the film industry and an established network of government agencies, the state’s film industry workforce, and local property owners. The office is responsible for location assistance, public relations, and general production support in an effort to broaden the cultural and economic impact of film and television production in the state. For more information about film and television production in New Hampshire, call (603) 271-2220 or visit www.nh.gov/film.

"Live Free or Die" the Die Hard way

So, the new Die Hard film is out in theaters, and reaction is mixed in New Hampshire over the use of the state motto in the movie's title. Don Aucoin penned this piece about the use of "Live Free or Die" in film and television in yesterday's Boston Globe.