All screenings will take place at the Somerville Theater over two weekends: Saturday and Sunday, October 1st/2nd & 8th/9th, 2011.
The Somerville Theater is located in Davis Square in Somerville:
55 Davis Square, Somerville, MA 02144
Saturday, October 1, 2011
2pm
The Economics of Happiness with Prayers For Peace
The Economics of Happiness (Green Film Spotlight)
Documentary
”The Economics of Happiness” describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – an economics of localization.
Prayers for Peace (Filmshift Alumni Spotlight)
Dramatic Short
“Prayers for Peace” is a narrative stop-motion animation confronting the memory of the artist’s younger brother killed in the current conflict in Iraq. Drawn entirely with pastels on a slate chalkboard, the materials used to create the animation become a metaphor for the impermanence of life.
3:30pm
Baystate Blues
Baystate Blues (Massachusetts Local Spotlight)
Dramatic Feature
An intimate, true-to-life, and sometimes gritty look at life in a small town. The story centers on Mike and Devon, a married couple in their 30’s who are trying to cope with the aftermath of a car accident. Also in the mix are Devon’s two sisters, the superficially controlled Virgina and the much flightier Alex. On one particular night together in their small town, the paths of their lives are changed forever.
5:15pm
Shifty Shorts – Program I
This collection of short films includes 2 award-winning shorts from the Boston 48 hour film festival and Comic Con Best Film award winner, The Legacy, among other local films. Shorts in the animated, thriller, comedy, and music video categories are also represented. The full listing of films are as follows: Nuit Blanche, Entanglement, When Im Yours, Burden, Outbound, One Step Forward, Rook, The Lifter Upper, Stalked, The Legacy.
6:45pm
Orbiting Texas with The Night Divine and When I’m Yours
Orbiting Texas (Local Boston Spotlight)
Documentary
An intimate look at the seminal 90′s Boston band, Orbit, by a former WFNX DJ Mike Gioscia. The documentary chronicles the trials and tribulations of a local band as the they deal with achieving national recognition and the harsh realities of the music business.
Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
1pm
How To Boil A Frog
How To Boil A Frog (Green Film Spotlight Alumni)
Documentary
“How to Boil a Frog” is a comedic documentary that shows the consequences of overshoot, aka: Too many people using up too little planet. An everyman Dad gives us the scoop on the imminent end of the world as we have come to know it, and five surprising ways that we can save civilization while making our own lives richer.
3pm
Shifty Shorts – Program II
This collection of short films includes a comedy by the local Somerville Road Runners, 2 animated shorts, an experimental film, and a drama. The full list of films screening in this program are as follows: Nuit Blanche, Scrutinized, One Step Forward, To Each His Own, 5 Minutes Each, Taking Care of Business, Threads, Rook, A Walk Through Fire.
5:00pm
Steve Saves LA with The Legacy
Steve Saves LA (Boston Local Spotlight)
Comedic Feature
It’s Steve’s birthday. He thinks he’s going to a quiet dinner with his friend Jason, but Jason has other plans. Steve doesn’t realize that Jason has set him up for one of the most elaborate hidden camera pranks ever caught on camera.
The Legacy (Boston Local Spotlight)
Dramatic Short
What would you do if you believed your father was a superhero? The Legacy brings to life a story about fathers and sons, imagination and magic, and believing in something larger than ourselves. Starring Paul Butcher, ( “Zoey 101,”) Louis Iacoviello, and Jo McGinley, “The Legacy” is a fun and exciting romp for audiences of all ages.
6:30pm
Art From The Streets
Art From The Streets
Documentary
“Art from the Streets” is a feature length documentary about a program for homeless artists called Art From the Streets. This all-volunteer program was established in 1991 with the idea of providing a safe and nurturing environment for homeless people to produce art. They accomplish this mission by sponsoring twice weekly art “classes” and an annual show to sell their work.
Saturday, October 8th, 2011
1:30 pm
Performance by Kate Vargas
Click here for tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/199277
Singer/songwriter (and former FNSP volunteer) Kate Vargas, a will open the event with an acoustic set of her songs as well as some covers.
2pm
On Coal River
On Coal River (Green Film Spotlight)
Documentary
“On Coal River” takes viewers on a gripping emotional journey into the Coal River Valley of West Virginia — a community surrounded by lush mountains and a looming toxic threat. The film follows a former coal miner and his neighbors in a David-and-Goliath struggle for the future of their valley, their children, and life as they know it.
4pm
The Clean Bin Project
The Clean Bin Project (Green Film Spotlight)
Documentary
This award winning documentary follows a year in the life of a young couple trying to live consumer and waste-free. It explores the larger issues of garbage in North America.
5:30pm
Shifty Shorts – Program III
This collection of short films include the charming drama, Missile Crisis, the unsettling thriller, Stalked, and the amazing sci-fi short, Burden, among others. The complete listing of films are as follows: Burden, The Night Divine, Threads, Missile Crisis, A Path Through Fire, Reflect, Echo, Stalked.
7pm
Dynamite Swine
Dynamite Swine (Filmshift Alumni)
Comedic Feature
“Dynamite Swine” won the Best Feature Comedy Award at the 2010 Indie Gathering. Rebel, A down-on-his luck gambler, promises to save his girlfriend’s “Hair Salon For The Homeless,” from foreclosure, but instead only falls deeper into debt to a sadistic Russian quadriplegic. After his adopted brother and their bumbling friends complicate things even further, Rebel must enter the biggest card tournament of his life in order to save the salon, himself, his brother, and the life of a very special pig.
8:30pm
Conned
This film contains violence and brief nudity. The Boston Underworld is too small for all the eccentric and dysfunctional gangsters that have yet to be jailed, and there’s only one big prize left, the biggest horse race that everyone knows is fixed. They are desperate to cash out on it, not knowing they are about to be conned, in a nasty twist that leaves everyone stunned!
Sunday, October 9th, 2011
2pm
Director’s Cut
Director’s Cut
Comedic Feature
Director’s Cut is the story of Cassie Thompson, a college dropout and ex-film student who decides to make a movie in an attempt to turn her dead-end life around. However, her movie is about the Zombie Cannibal Vampire Pirate Queen, and her cast and crew are neurotic and inexperienced, to say the least. The film chronicles Cassie’s misadventures and mishaps as she attempts to get her movie made.
4pm
Shifty Shorts – Program IV
This collection of shorts include the locally produced Toolbox Bandit, Taking Care of Business, and Outbound. The full list of films in this program are as follows: Missile Crisis, Entanglement, Echo, Burden, 5 Minutes Each, Taking Care of Business, Outbound, Toolbox Bandit.
6pm
Marwencol
Marwencol
Documentary
“Marwencol” is a documentary about the fantasy world of Mark Hogancamp. After being beaten into a brain-damaging coma by five men outside a bar, Mark builds a 1/6th scale World War II-era town in his backyard. When Mark and his photographs are discovered, a prestigious New York gallery sets up an art show. Suddenly Mark’s homemade therapy is deemed “art”, forcing him to choose between the safety of his fantasy life in Marwencol and the real world that he’s avoided since the attack.
Our Fundraiser for FNSP this March was a fantastic success! Check back here in the Fall for our Filmshift 2011 Film Selections!
Filmshift Special Screening/Music Performance Fundraiser for the Friday Night Supper Program
Sunday, March 20th @ 3pm
The Somerville Theater — Davis Square — Somerville
55 Davis Square
Somerville, MA 02144 [map]
(617) 625-5700
In our 2nd year, the Filmshift Festival has expanded to include regular screenings that will lead up to our main festival in October 2011.
Our first event is on Sunday, March 20th at the Somerville Theater at 3pm. All proceeds from these events will be donated to different charities, starting with The Friday Night Supper Program. Tickets are $10 per person.
FNSP provides a warm nutritious meal to anyone in need in a safe and dignified environment every Friday night. Filmshift Founder and Director, Jeremy Jed Hammel, volunteers weekly at FNSP and is strongly committed to supporting the cause.
Our March screening features 3 varied offerings:
“Art From The Streets”
A feature documentary that follows the lives of handful of people who create and share their art while participating at a resource/community center for homeless individuals.
The film tells this story by tracking five of the artists over the course of a year. Viewers will visit homeless camps, learn the daily challenges of street life, and witness the strengths of human character. You will also experience the 2-day show and sale where the artists’ work is sold and where they interact with people that they rarely have a chance to encounter in such a positive way.
Learn more at the official “Art From The Streets” website »
“The Legacy”
A critically acclaimed short film produced by Jeremy Jed Hammel, that recently won the Best Comic-Related Film at the world famous Comic Con 2010. “The Legacy” is about a young boy who believes his father is a Super Hero.
Performance by Kate Vargas
And as a bonus, singer/songwriter (and former FNSP volunteer) Kate Vargas, a will open the event with an acoustic set of her songs as well as some covers.
