This is part of a series of posts from the filmmakers previewing the different films that will be screened at Portsmouth Short Film Night.
This post is from Andrew Gibson, about his film “Cows”:
I studied Communication Arts at the University of New Hampshire, where I began making music videos and short films. Eventually a few friends and I started making comedy shorts under the NEWD FILMS moniker. To this day, most of our work is focused in the comedy genre, and we are currently working on developing several web series, sketches, and hopefully a feature in the future.
My sister is a die-hard vegan. I made the short film “Cows” to piss her off and gross her out. Let’s be honest, no matter where you stand on the issue, who doesn’t love a juicy Hamburger?
Come to Portsmouth Short Film Night on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00pm in The Press Room in Portsmouth, NH to see this and the other great short films being screened!
This is part of a series of posts from the filmmakers previewing the different films that will be screened at Portsmouth Short Film Night.
This post is from Emily Falcigno, about her film “Howlin’ Wind”:
Growing up on Long Island Sound in an adventuresome sailing crew of six, I shared with my family a fascination with the wind. Blizzard Nemo’s whirling winds inspired this piece I made for my family, and for everyone who couldn’t stay up to watch the blizzard that night. In an apartment away from home, with my stream of consciousness as a vessel, we embark on a quiet snowy adventure.
Howlin’ Wind would not exist in its current state without the help of two talented musicians, Jenn Bliss and Mohan Krishnan. Using the film as a visual aid, they played along to dancing and drifting snow to improvise the soundtrack. With minimal direction, they were able to set the mood I wanted to convey.
Based in Somerville, MA, Emily Falcigno is a visual storyteller who is exploring filmmaking using DSLR video. Howlin’ Wind is her first short film to be shown to the public. Most of her video work centers around her family, but she is branching out to include start-up companies among her subjects. She loves meeting new people and learning their stories.
Come to Portsmouth Short Film Night on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00pm in The Press Room in Portsmouth, NH to see this and the other great short films being screened!
This is part of a series of posts from the filmmakers previewing the different films that will be screened at Portsmouth Short Film Night.
This post is from MonkeyDribble Films, about their film “Mum”:
MonkeyDribble Films is made up of two brothers. We are James and Christopher Norton, originally from South Africa, but are now based in Portsmouth, England. We are passionate filmmakers wanting to produce high quality films for people to enjoy:) We started out producing music videos for local bands and over the last year turned our hands to producing short films. ‘Mum’ is the fourth film we have produced.
The idea behind MUM was initially to do something to bridge the gap between projects. We had just finished shooting a Sci-Fi short which had a lot of Post, so we wanted something small to keep us busy. We came up with the concept and wrote the script in a few days and then booked the actors for the next sunday. The two actors and us all got up really early, and filmed it all in one day. We did some rewriting of the script on set and did write a whole new scene that day that we felt was needed. Mum for us was a great piece that showed us what we can achieve with no budget, a small team and not a lot of time. We hope you enjoy!
Come to Portsmouth Short Film Night on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00pm in The Press Room in Portsmouth, NH to see this and the other great short films being screened!
This is part of a series of posts from the filmmakers previewing the different films that will be screened at Portsmouth Short Film Night.
This post is from Jordan Schopick, about his film “This is Chiang Mai”:
I’m 17 years old and a student at Portsmouth High School. I started making films in 8th grade and have continued on in high school with all the media classes my schedule could take with also making films on my own. In January, I took a trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand to visit my brother for 2 and a half weeks. With Thailand being such an amazing place, we wanted to document all the cool places we went and things we saw. We rode around the city and the mountains filming out of tuk tuks and songthaews (taxis) and playing with tigers and monkeys.
Come to Portsmouth Short Film Night on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00pm in The Press Room in Portsmouth, NH to see this and the other great short films being screened!
This is part of a series of posts from the filmmakers previewing the different films that will be screened at Portsmouth Short Film Night.
This post is from Pam Severns, about her film “Ben & Eric Go Drinking”:
Ben and Eric Go Drinking is the result of a project deadline, a camera, a puppet, and a man who was willing to act on the spot. It started what became a comedy web series starring Eric Mearns and his puppet roommate, Ben Green, and their adventures together as a man and puppet duo. More Ben & Eric episodes have since been made which have screened at puppet slams and comedy shows in Boston and Los Angeles. Ben & Eric have also performed live on both coasts.
Pam Severns is based in Boston, and is the creator of Ben & Eric, a puppeteer, and a filmmaker. Much of her work involves puppetry, but she is currently directing a puppet-less comedy short with the Rhode Island Film Collaborative. Eric Mearns reached his comedy peak when he exposed his buttocks to both the Goodyear Blimp and Air Force One in the same day. He writes, acts, and performs in comedy videos and live shows in Boston.
Come to Portsmouth Short Film Night on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00pm in The Press Room in Portsmouth, NH to see this and the other great short films being screened!
This is part of a series of posts from the filmmakers previewing the different films that will be screened at Portsmouth Short Film Night.
This post is from Amy Kaczur, about her film “Requiem for Black Gold”:
A little background on me:
I picked up video and Super 8 film after many years of painting. Painting just wasn’t enough. Video gave the lens to a traveler’s raw discovery and the pleasures of inquisitive searching. I love a good adventure and a great story. My passion in art is directed toward subjects of social and political conflict, debate and change – the subjects that we are not supposed to talk about at the dinner table, but are crucial to being openly discussed. Currently, my video and art work is grounded in environmental concerns, community, land use, and a formative love of the aesthetics of experimental landscape cinema, language and social space.
I grew up outside the Cleveland area in the Rust Belt. My working class family roots had a huge impact on how I saw and appreciated landscape, both urban and rural. They worked in food, healthcare, education, auto industry, manufacturing and worked the land, feed, mills and livestock in rural Southern Ohio down to the edges of Appalachia. I moved to Boston to go to college and lived in Cambridge, Long Beach and now Los Angeles. Graduate of Tufts University and University of California, Irvine.
A little background on the video:
While in graduate school, and I had a strange attraction to the refineries in the Long Beach port area. They became a beacon. A friend and I went on a few night rides to see the glittering lights of the port and refineries. Oddly they reminded me of home and provided a comfort that can only be explained as nostalgia.
The video really began in 2001 when I first saw a sunset from Keys View in Joshua Tree National Park. The sunset was candy-colored, spectacular, brilliant. Dense smog rolled out from the Los Angeles basin through the pass between St. Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains, past Palm Springs and all the way to the Salton Sea. The smog was a key ingredient to the beauty we witnessed. I was struck by this conflict and wanted to explore the conflict between beauty and danger, and the balance of vulnerability and industriousness. Requiem for Black Gold is a visual poem of complex nostalgia for an industrial age fueled by petroleum, a call for hope for newly discovered energy sources, and for things not always being what they appear to be. Someday, even a plastic bottle will be obsolete
Come to Portsmouth Short Film Night on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00pm in The Press Room in Portsmouth, NH to see this and the other great short films being screened!
This is part of a series of posts from the filmmakers previewing the different films that will be screened at Portsmouth Short Film Night.
This post is from Mike Costello, about his film “Dead Astronaut”:
Mike Costello is a 25 year old filmmaker originally from New Jersey, currently living with his fiancee in Deerfield, New Hampshire. He is a graduate from the New York Film Academy, with a strong style of directing and a dark sense of humor. He is currently working on a new short horror film that will be shot in New Hampshire and New Jersey this summer.
Dead Astronaut is the result of budgeting issues. After underestimating the budget required for his thesis film, in an act of desperation, with less than a month to prep a new project, Mike Costello cooked up the first draft of the shoe-string budgeted bloodbath that is Dead Astronaut in one night. The film heavily draws inspiration from the original Evil Dead and the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and was shot in one day.
Come to Portsmouth Short Film Night on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00pm in The Press Room in Portsmouth, NH to see this and the other great short films being screened!
We’re happy to announce that the next Portsmouth Short Film Night is 7:00pm, Thursday, May 9 upstairs at The Press Room! Portsmouth Short Film Night is a free event for up-and-coming independent filmmakers to screen and discuss their work and for cinema lovers to get a front-row seat to emerging talent.
It will be another packed evening of short films, featuring everything from horror to comedy, drama, documentary, and experimental works. Most films will be followed by a brief Q&A. The screenings and talks will last roughly 90 minutes in total, and everyone is welcome to stay later to talk. It’s all about getting filmmakers and film fans together to show off their work, have fun, meet like-minded people, and maybe even be inspired. If that sounds like your cup of tea, why not come along?
Our line-up for the evening:
Exit 7A
William Peters
This is Chiang Mai
Jordan Schopick
Dead Astronaut
Michael Costello
Simpatica
Dean Merrill
Mum
James Norton
Ben & Eric Go Drinking
Pam Severns
Requiem for Black Gold
Amy Kaczur
Cows
Andrew Gibson
Howlin’ Wind
Emily Falcigno
We have more room than last time, but seating is still limited and we expect to fill up again, so be there early to make sure you get a seat. Why not come grab some food or a drink beforehand? Screenings start promptly at 7:00.
Please note that The Press Room has a 21+ license, so attendees under 21 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.
What: An evening of watching and talking film When: Thursday, May 9 at 7pm (get there early!) Where: The Press Room (second floor), 77 Daniel St., Portsmouth, NH 03801 How much: Free!
Portsmouth Short Film Night is happening again in mid-April (date and venue TBD; open to suggestions), and you know what that means — time to send in your films! We’re looking for all kinds of interesting shorts to screen and filmmakers to talk to.
photo credit: Fernando H. C. Oliveira (http://www.flickr.com/photos/leftyjoe/8373725162/) cc (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/)
Remember, we’re open to basically anything from anyone and ideally we’re looking for filmmakers who can attend to talk about their work. Try to send in your film by April 1, because that’s when we’ll start making decisions about what we can screen this time.
Finally, if you already submitted your film, don’t worry — we still have it, so no need to resubmit. Otherwise, head on over to the submissions page for details and to submit your film. Can’t wait to watch it!
The first Portsmouth Short Film Night is done, and what a night it was! One week ago, on a snowy Sunday night, on the day that the Oscars were on, celebrating big budget, big studio feature films, we packed the Store Gallery at 3S Artspace from wall to wall and celebrated independent short films of all descriptions.
We caught up with old friends and made new acquaintances. We enjoyed some great food from the Flatbread Company and the Portsmouth Brewery. Best of all, we saw nine varied and interesting films and talked with the filmmakers.
If you couldn’t make it out because of the snow, don’t worry, because:
A) We’re going to do this again.
The turnout was so excellent, the support was so fantastic, the feedback was so enthusiastic, that we can’t not. There are so many more great films to show and be seen! There’s so much more to learn and experience from our fellow filmmakers and film fans. As long as people want to make and watch films, we want there to be events like this.
Not only are we going to do this again, but we’re going to do it better. We’re going to keep showing wide varieties of films, and we’re going to keep bringing together filmmakers and aficionados — that will never change — but there’s plenty of room to grow and improve. We’re going to move to a bigger, but still intimate, venue to more comfortably accommodate everyone. We’re going to improve the screening quality so everyone can enjoy the films even more. We’re going to bring in some films and filmmakers from an even broader area, whether in-person from Portland, Boston, or New York, or via internet video from the other side of the world. Most importantly, we’re going to keep bringing together people like you who want to watch films and talk filmmaking.
So if you’ve made a short film, why not send it in? Come talk about how you made it and why, what you learned, and what you’re doing next. Come check out what others are doing; learn; be inspired.
The next Portsmouth Short Film Night will be in mid-April. Watch out for an announcement of the exact date soon.
B) You can catch up on what you missed.
You might not be able to enjoy the same good vibes or good food we had on the night from home, but you can watch all the films online. Here they are:
I studied Communication Arts at the University of New Hampshire, where I began making music videos and short films. Eventually a few friends and I started making comedy shorts under the NEWD FILMS moniker. To this day, most of our work is focused in the comedy genre, and we are currently working on developing several web series, sketches, and hopefully a feature in the future.
