Staff Reports - June 04, 2008
PITTSFIELD - This weekend marks the opening of the 1st annual Berkshire Blossom Film Festival, a first-of-its-kind event intended to inspire and educate.
According to Susan Jameson and Fidel Moreno, the festival's co-directors and co-founders, over 100 films were submitted to the festival, many of them from local filmmakers or with a local focus. With categories including Compass for Compassion, Truth and Consequences, Conscious Community, Voices for Gaia, Sustainable Culture, Life, Spirit and Sacred Spirituality, the film festival aims to encourage dialogue and activism.
"Through short stories, we're bringing people together to form panels, to have conscious dialogue. None of the films are over 30 minutes. We're crafting them to engage people to start asking questions," said Moreno. "This is really about coalition-building, about building cross-collaborative networks with organizations who have never worked together before."
The films at the Berkshire Blossom Film Festival will feature both local and global topics and social issues like human rights, environmental preservation, world hunger, sustainability and spirituality.
"Hopefully, people will get a better understanding of coming together with others and what actions they can take both locally and globally," said Jameson.
More than a dozen regional green organizations and nonprofits will have booths set up at the three-day event which takes place at the Colonial Theatre beginning on Friday.
"Through the powerful medium of film, community dialogue, networking, sharing of resources and forming partnerships, the 1st annual Berkshire Blossom Film Festival -a voice for positive change - hopes to inspire and encourage people to contribute to the improvement of our community and the world by networking shared values and information critical to building a whole and healed community," reads a statement by the Colonial Theatre.
The film festival is also hosting a youth filmmaking 24-hour competition this weekend, beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday when the details of the contest are posted. The best youth short video, a one- to three-minute piece with a positive, inspirational, environmental message will win $1,000. Videos must be submitted in person to the Colonial Theatre at 9 a.m. on Sunday. A panel of judges will nominate the top five films and grand prize will be selected by audience vote.
"We're encouraging people to say, 'How do we make an impact? How do we make real community?'" said Moreno.
Schedule:
Friday, June 6
6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Highly Inspired People's Reception in The Colonial Theatre lobby
Tickets: $20, all inclusive ticket price for Friday night reception, screening of ISH and Funk Buddha performance.
Friday begins with a HIP (Highly Inspired People)'s Reception, Mexican tapas provided by Taqueria Azteca of Great Barrington and live Latin and Spanish music by Juan Basilio Sanchez and Trio Hispanico, performing Gypsy King covers.
The Friday evening program includes a premier screening of ISH, a thirty-minute documentary, shot, directed and edited by B1 Media Youth Group of Pittsfield. This local student team filmed the two-week training by the Amsterdam based hip hop street artists last summer with Pittsfield youth from Taconic and Pittsfield High Schools. ISH was part of the Dutch Arts in the Berkshires program produced by The Colonial Theatre.
Following a festival compilation of socially conscious film and video shorts, Funk Buddha, a New York based modern dancer, aerialist, hip hop and spoken groove performance artist, will provide a live performance focusing on deep ecology, the soul and community activism.
Saturday, June 7
11 a.m. — David Crane – Screenwriting & Creative Applications
12 p.m. — Mati Kiin – Intro to Documentary Filmmaking
2 p.m. — Ryan Kampe – Intro to Directing a Short Dramatic Story for Video
3 p.m. — Thomas Whaley – Basics of Acting and Performance
4 p.m. — Intro to Special Effects & Computer Generated Graphics
5 p.m.— Kent Mikalson – Intro to Artists Renderings and Storyboards
6 p.m — Alexa Green & Thomas Ciaburri – Camera Operation for "Dummies"
10:30 a.m. — 11:40 a.m.
David Grover morning performance and animated film shorts for children
All seats: $5
12:15 p.m. — 1:30 p.m.
Youth Have a Voice film short and panel discussion
All seats: FREE
1:45 p.m. — 6 p.m.
Conscious Community, Compass for Compassion, and Truth and Consequences films and panel discussion
Tickets: $8 for adults, $6 for students, veterans and seniors
7 p.m. — 9:30 p.m.
LifeSpirit films about sacred spirituality, Sacred Run, Global Vietnam, We Are the Ones, and more, with panel discussion
Tickets: $8 for adults, $6 for students, veterans and seniors
Sunday, June 8
11 a.m. — 12:45 p.m.
Voices of Gaia and Sustainable Culture film screenings and panel discussion
All seats: FREE, donations accepted
1 p.m.
VISIONMAKER best youth/student environmental video award with audience participation
All seats: FREE, donations accepted
2 p.m.
Festival's Family Choice Film, The Ultimate Gift
All seats: $5
The 1st Annual Berkshire Blossom Film Festival sponsors include: The Upper Housatonic River Foundation, Aspinwell/Lenox Shops, Chocolate Springs, Soco Creamery, Barefoot Books, Always Young and the Blossom Investment Fund.
The 1st Annual Berkshire Blossom Film Festival is being produced by Healing Winds, Humanity in Concert, and the Berkshire Peace Collaborative in association with the Center for Ecological Technology and The Colonial Theatre.
The last day for Massachusetts residents to register to vote in the Nov. 4 presidential election is Wednesday, Oct. 15. Out of town that day? Apply for an absentee ballot at your town or city clerk's office.
