film

Plimpton! Comes To Massachusetts

Virginia Prescott — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:38:31 +0000

If there was ever a man who knew how to fail fabulously, it was writer, journalist, and editor George Plimpton. Ten years after his death, and sixty since he helped launch esteemed literary magazine The Paris Review, Plimpton is probably best known for his amateur antics among pro athletes – taking hits from light-heavyweight champ Archie Moore, playing quarterback for the Detroit Lions, and taking the mound at Yankee Stadium. His accounts of these stories, now acknowledged as the beginning of participatory journalism, effectively transformed Plimpton one of the greatest everyman writers in modern memory.

For the new documentary Plimpton!, directors Tom Bean and Luke Polling combed through countless hours of footage to create a film posthumously narrated by its own subject. Already out in select cities, Plimpton! opens Friday, June 21^st at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Making Movies With The Pentagon

Taylor Quimby — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:09:19 +0000

The Pentagon has often played a role in shaping blockbuster films…at least those featuring tanks, ships, and other military gear. We wondered about the relationship between Hollywood and the D.O.D.…what do filmmakers have to do to get access to all that firepower?

To find out, producer Taylor Quimby called Sean McElwee. He’s a freelance writer who blogged about what studios that collaborate with the military have to give up – in terms of creative – and even ideological – control of their movies.

A Beer Genius With Autism Embarks On A Cross-Country Brewery Tour

Virginia Prescott — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:59:38 +0000

Meet Lance and Aaron Rice, whose project “Lance’s Brewery Tour” will be taking them across the country to some the best breweries in North America. Since launching “Lance’s Brewery Tour; A Beer Genius with Autism and His Dream.” on Kickstarter on May 13th, they have begun to receive national attention for the project.

Lance Rice is a brewery historian, who for forty years has been becoming an expert on all things beerish. He plans to write a book about North American breweries and their history, based partially on the trip he hopes to take with his nephew, Aaron. The kicker in all this is that Lance has autism.

Life. Support. Music.

Virginia Prescott — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:36:30 +0000

We dug up this interview from 2008 with Jason Crigler, the composer of the musical score for Make Sure it’s Me.

In August of 2004, Jason Crigler, a highly-regarded guitarist, suffered a brain hemorrhage during a gig in New York City. His pregnant wife rushed him to the hospital and got the bad news: doctors told Jason’s family that he might not live through the night, and if he did, little of the Jason they knew would be left.

The Documentary That Helped Convict Rios Montt

Virginia Prescott — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:48:05 +0000

Last year we interviewed Pamela Yates about her documentary Granito: How to Nail A Dictator which details the indictment of General Efrain Rios Montt, believed to be responsible for the murder of 200,000 mostly indigenous Mayan Ixil people during the Guatemalan genocide.

The Hard Science Behind A Hit Screenplay

Virginia Prescott — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:33:15 +0000

Nate Silver opened the public’s eyes to the power of predictive statistics… now, having already conquered politics, marketing, and social media, data-crunchers are taking on their next big challenge: Hollywood. Brooks Barnes is a media reporter for the New York Times – he recently wrote about Vinny Bruzzese, a statistician and former professor who’s using big data to slice and dice Hollywood screenplays

The Reality Of Domestic Violence in New Hampshire

Virginia Prescott — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:34:07 +0000

The Crisis Center of Central New Hampshire marks its 35th anniversary with an event tonight at Red River Theatres in Concord. On the program is a screening of The Invisible War, the Oscar-nominated documentary about sexual assault in the military that is now being used to educate members of the Armed Forces. We spoke on this program to the film’s director about how sexual violence is tolerated – even expected in the military culture – and how rarely such offenses are prosecuted. But the reality is that those experiences are not unique to the military… in a new study to be released by the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Violence, the similarities between what happens here and in the military are made evident. It is a sobering reminder that domestic and sexual violence crimes are an all too common occurrence, even in New Hampshire. joining us today to discuss their roles in educating the public about domestic violence are two women who are on the front lines.

I Saw The Sign: The Old-Fashioned Art Of Sign-Painting

Taylor Quimby — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:15:42 +0000

Hand-painted signs once dotted the landscape. They brought color, style, and distinction to stores and products, and were the nation’s first form of advertising…and today, with computer graphics and large-scale printing available for cheap, they are pretty much going the way of the horse and buggy… But a number of hand-painting holdouts are sticking with brushes – and are the subject of Sign Painters, a new documentary film about the craft directed by Sam Macon and Faythe Levine.

Word Of Mouth 04.06.2013

Rebecca Lavoie — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 17:48:04 +0000

We bring you a collection of tasty segments we know you'll love, using the powers of public radio telepathy.

The Invisible War

Virginia Prescott — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Testimony by victims and military officials in front of congress this month has shed light on the scope of sexual assault in the military service. Men and women who sign up for military service put their lives on the line for our country. Yet a woman serving in the military is more likely to be sexually assaulted than killed by enemy fire.

"Girl Rising": A Global Movement Through Film

Virginia Prescott — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000

“Girl Rising” is a new documentary directed by Academy-Award nominee Richard Robbins and the centerpiece of a global campaign called 10X10 (“Ten Times Ten”), which is dedicated to educating and empowering girls. The film is premiering this Thursday, March 7^th, at hundreds of simultaneous public screenings across the U.S, including one at Fox Run Stadium in Newington, New Hampshire.

"Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry"

Virginia Prescott — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:13:35 +0000

Ai Weiwei is China’s best known artist and the sharpest thorn in the side of its government. He’s a humorous and clever digital dissident, whose installations, viral videos, and tweets mock Chinese censors, and have made him an international symbol for freedom.

After years of attempting to cozy up to him with bribes and favors, the Chinese government turned on Ai Weiwei, charging him with tax evasion and bulldozing his freshly built studio in Shanghai. Then, on April 3, 2011, he disappeared.

Bombino: Music With A Tuareg's Heart

Virginia Prescott — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 17:52:40 +0000

The Tuareg have been fighting the government of Mali on and off for more than a century. Their rebellion intensified when the fiercely independent Tuareg allied themselves with Islamic Jihadists to fight the government and made huge territorial gains in the north of the country.

This week, the French launched a military intervention in Mali- once a French colony. The U.S. State Department is also considering limited involvement, including logistical support and training for intervention forces in the region. The Tuareg, however, just want to continue eeking out their lives in the desert.

Filmmaker Ron Wyman tracked Bombino down in Burkina Faso, where he was living in exile. That was the beginning of a creative collaboration that produced the iTunes best-selling album, Agadez and the feature film, Aga dez : The Music and the Rebellion. We spoke with Ron in March about discovering Bombino, and we thought hearing him again would provide a timely window into a little known tribe of nomads who are now in the news.

"The Hobbit": A Scholar's Perspective

Taylor Quimby — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 19:24:37 +0000

Corey Olsen, English Professor at Washington College and author of the book “Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit”, discusses the lasting appeal and tonal evolution of the classic children’s novel.

And The Oscar Goes To...Ben Affleck's Beard

Virginia Prescott — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:56:54 +0000

Virginia Prescott notices that recent movie reviews include as much critical analysis into facial hair as they do to cinematography, sound design and acting. Check out Virginia's take on the phenomenon here: