Story Archives of 'Film'

The new documentary “The Other Side of Immigration” tells the story of immigration entirely from the Mexican side of the border, from the towns the produce the highest amount of immigrants, the planning that happens before they begin to cross and the families who are left behind. Roy Germano joins us to talk about his new documentary and this less discussed side of the immigration issue.

Guest

• Roy Germano, producer, cinematographer and editor of the documentary “The Other Side of Immigration”

Two New Hampshire film festivals offer star-powered movies and locally grown features.

From the water problem to water as metaphor. Our story begins in a former woolen mill on the banks of the Sugar River in Newport, NH. To get there, I drove past The Dollar Store and strip malls, the spray-painted signs advertising cord wood and coal, and onto South Main Street, where space for rent signs fade in store front windows.

Newport is one of the American towns where Sturm, Ruger and Co. has been manufacturing guns since 1949. Firearms magnate William Ruger, Jr., meticulously restored the old mill to house his extensive collection of antique cars. Bill Ruger then turned over an entire floor - 20,000 square feet – of the mill bulding to H20: Film on Water. It’s a collection of films, video, photographs and contemporary installations linked to the Connecticut River waterways.

The Newport Mill is the main exhibition space. I visited the grand brick building on a sparkling fall afternoon. The windows were blackened. Muffled sounds of buoy bells, sparse lighting, and the movement of projected films created a sense of dark immersion.

Cynthia Reeves runs the contemporary art gallery Cynthia Reeves in New York City, and Spheris Gallery in Hanover. A decade ago, she started Great River Arts based in Bellows Falls, Vt. To mark its ten-year anniversary, Cynthia opened up a juried competition centered on water. Her team pared more than 200 submissions down to 75 works of video, photography and site-specific works to create H20: Film on Water.

There’s a great variety of work. One film evokes Hurricane Katrina, another, the effect of oil on water. Some are direct, others more subtle. On Saturday, the top three juried H20: Film on Water videos will be awarded at the mill in Newport. The exhibition, and Saturday’s awards event are free and open to the public.

Boston Globe: Shimmering downriver: Exhibition’s four venues celebrate sight, sound of water

Keene State College's Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery is also hosting an exhibition on water titled Downstream: Current Works on Water By Six Artists.

Over Labor Day weekend, the cinerati pulled on their hiking boots and gathered in the Rocky Mountains to view some of the most anticipated films of the fall season. Colorado has hosted the Telluride Film Festival since 1974. Films chosen for this elite, intimate event often go on to become national favorites, including "Capote", "Brokeback Mountain" and, most recently, "Slumdog Millionaire".

Six films from this year’s festival have been selected to screen at Telluride By the Sea in the picturesque eastern city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

John Horn is film critic for the Los Angeles Times. He recently returned from Telluride in the mountains and joins us with a preview of Telluride By the Sea festival at The Music Hall in Portsmouth this weekend.

Telluride By the Sea at The Music Hall

John Horn in the Los Angeles Times: "Telluride picks films bound for glory"

John Horn in the Los Angeles Times: "The Last Station" finally feels the love

In March of 2007, The New York Times ran a story called “The Year Without Toilet Paper,” about Colin Beavan, Michelle Conlin and their daughter Isabella. Almost instantly, No Impact Man was thrust into the spotlight.

Colin and his wife decided to live for a year generating as little waste as possible. They avoided carbon-fueled transportation and shopped for nothing other than food which was grown within a 250-mile radius of their East Village apartment. Eventually they stopped using electricity all together, in a kind of 9th floor walk-up version of Walden Pond.

The Times profile generated a stream of critics and some defenders. Colin’s year, and his blog from the time inspired the book No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries he Makes about Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process. A documentary film rolls out in U.S. cities this month.

As part of our "next green thing" series, Colin Beavan joins us to talk about his experiment and whether it's possible for one family to truly make a difference.

No Impact Man Blog

No Impact Project

The New Yorker: What's Wrong with Eco-Stunts