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| Author | Topic: BFVF Memories & Reflections |
| Devon Damonte |
posted 2/17/04 9:00 PM
Welcome! This is a place for anyone who wants to share memories and reflections about the Boston Film • Video Foundation. |
| Devon Damonte |
posted 2/17/04 9:05 PM
When I heard BFVF was closing, for several days I felt remarkably similar to how I feel when a dear old friend has died after a long illness. Hence, I don't know about anybody else, but I'd like a place to do some grieving and tell stories about the old haunt (I'm sure there's many tales to be told!). Sorta like an online campfire / wake. Which is especially helpful since so many of us from the BFVF community are now in far flung pastures away from Boston. And while the institution is dead, we the community live on (most of us anyway) - and that to me has always been the best part about BFVF. Please note the link here to BFVF's home page where you can read the letter from ultimate Board President Llew Smith which eloquently describes the closing details. Note too therein that many of BFVF's best assets (the New England Film and Video Festival, etc.) will live on under new stewardship, through the new Boston Educational Film and Video Association, housed at Film Shack. Stay tuned to Newenglandfilm.com for updates, and keep up the good fight! |
| Michele Meek |
posted 2/17/04 9:49 PM
I have a great fondness for BFVF for many reasons. I took my first filmmaking course there with the wonderful director and teacher Ellie Lee. The staff of BFVF (Anne Marie Stein, Devon Damonte & Laura Wilson) were extremely supportive of NewEnglandFilm.com in its earliest stages. In fact, BFVF became the first 'web client' of NEFilm and it grew to be a wonderful partnership that lasted many years. It's truly sad to see an organization that has been so supportive to indie filmmakers struggle to survive. I do, however, have hope in the future 'reincarnation' of BFVF through FilmShack and will do what I can to keep the spirit alive through NEFilm as well. http://www.newenglandfilm.com |
| Anne Marie Stein |
posted 2/19/04 10:35 PM
For me, BF/VF closing is a little like someone telling you your ex just passed away. It brings back a flood of memories-- all the people who came through the house, the collective and individual dreams, and the ins and outs of a relationship fraught with its own challenges. BF/VF was a great place and served as an important nexus for the independent film community. I always believed, and still do, that not only should BF/VF have survived, it should have thrived. |
| Scott Anderson |
posted 2/21/04 5:58 AM
I discovered BFVF via a Spaulding Gray. The walls were black, and Spaulding sat behind a card table. We sat on the (dirty) floor. It was a magical night. Spaulding's show was to raise money for BFVF (of course). Now both are gone. They were wonderful and fragile and gave more than they had to give, and I miss them both. http://home.fiam.net/hssw Harvard Square Scriptwriters |
| Felicia Sullivan |
posted 2/25/04 4:16 PM
I first came to know about BFVF through a profile of its Gang PEACE, youth media project, highlighted in an issue of The Independent (i think). When looking for job opportunities after grad school I thought that it was the kind of place I could see myself working. Not knowing if they had any open positions I sent off a resume and cover letter. In no time I got a call from Anne Marie Stein (or perhaps Cherie Martin) asking if I'd be interested in applying for the Director of Education position. I said yes until I saw how much the description entailed and I thought how can one person do all of the things detailed (for any of you who have been staff at BFVF, you know I should have turn tail and run, run fast). But Anne Marie, being the ultimate salesperson, talked me into interviewing and I was hired. BFVF, while at times a stressful and chaotic place to work, introduced me to so many wonderful things. Thanks to BFVF, I have a strong understanding of the field of media arts which has given me much professionally. Thanks to BFVF, my skills and experience in administering arts programs grew significantly. Thanks to BFVF, I became connected to many wonderful makers both seasoned and green. Thanks to BFVF, I was able to work with a wonderful staff (Anne Marie Stein, Cherie Martin, Paul Desaulnier, Shayna Casey, Nine Lambiase, Jared Dubrino, Genevieve Davis). And most noteably, thanks to BFVF, I have two wonderful long terms friends who even dared to share an apartment with me, Shayna Casey and Sarah Hood. Like Devon, I feel as though a long distant aunt (they kind that stretched you and infuriated you) has died and with that passing a part of myself has gone too. Thanks all of you wonderful people (makers, staffers, volunteers, supporters) for connecting with me through the entitiy that was BFVF. http://www.ltc.org current community media gig |
| Alex Tolan |
posted 3/2/04 9:15 PM
I was sad to hear about the closing of BF/VF - I too started my exploration of filmmaking through BF/VF, particularly via the Film Fusion Workshop with Richard Broadman and Rob Todd. I learned alot and remember it fondly. It provided good preparation for my entry into Grad. film school and also put me in touch with people I am still friends with today. |
| Laura Wilson |
posted 3/3/04 4:31 PM
It was sad to hear, last month, about BFVF's demise. Although maybe its time had come, there's no denying the important role BFVF played in supporting local emerging filmmakers, especially in the late 70s and early 80s. News of the closing brought to the surface my many complicated feelings about BFVF. Like many staff over the years, I believed passionately in its mission, while often finding it a difficult and frustrating place to work. Still, I will always be enormously grateful for the ways BFVF helped me grow and change--both personally and professionally. At BFVF, I was given (by the director and board) an extraordinary and fairly unique chance to manage and build an entire program, a level of responsibility then almost completely new to me. In the process, I learned to think strategically and live with my mistakes and successes-- I developed many new skills. I'll never forget this. I'm grateful, too, for the many relationships begun and strengthened at BFVF, from former office manager Paula Ribeiro, who became a good friend and business partner, to Jay Laird, former board member, with whom I've since spent countless hours, days, and weeks co-writing and producing various projects. I think especially about the chance to collaborate closely with my film school mentor, the late Richard Broadman (himself a former BFVF board member!) in creating the innovative, hands-on training initiative that Alex mentioned, above. The many teacher-filmmakers I met at BFVF helped shepherd me beyond my relative fresh-out-of -film-school naivete--people like Bill Anderson, Abby Freedman, and veteran indie filmmaker Roger Corman--it's really because of them that I was able to produce and finish my first feature film with distribution, a life changing experience, to say the least.... So for all this, and for how BFVF worked to make filmmaking accessible to regular people, I mourn its passing. |
| Pam Korza |
posted 3/14/04 4:52 PM
As codirector of the New England Film & Video Festival for many years, my connection to BF/VF spanned a good part of its life. The memories I have of the festival, BF/VF, and the media artists who were a part of it are among my most cherished; so hearing that BF/VF is no longer, makes me sad. I remember showing NEFVF winners for the first time in Boston at the old Allston space and then later on at Boylston Street. I remember the day Julie Levinson and I trekked all dressed up into The Boston Globe’s office and walked out with our first big sponsorship. The annual cycle of judging was exhilarating, a tangible marker of a year of creative energy on the sets, in editing suites, and processing houses throughout New England. The cumulative list of judges and award winners now read like a who’s who in the history of independent media arts. The festival was mounted each year with the sweat labor and smarts of countless interns, behind the scenes folks like Paul Desaulniers, master of lists, and Dan Hartnett and Nine Lambiase who steadfastly projected for hours on end with temperamental equipment. The festival saw at least four BF/VF directors. For most of my involvement, friend and partner Anne Marie Stein lent her vision and ideas in so many important ways that advanced the festival. Advisors and cheerleaders like Toni Treadway and Bob Brodsky, Clare Andrade-Watkins, Beau Smith, Michael Blowen, and successor NEFVF directors Cherie Martin and Devon Damonte were instrumental. There are just too many to name. I’m so glad to hear that the festival will live on and wish all good things for its next era of leaders, workers, and audiences. New England shines blindingly bright as a locus of important and amazing work because BF/VF was there for artists for so long. BF/VF is one of those places that can never be relicated, because it was inspired by its times, many times over, and served its community well, even in the worst of times. BF/VF was influential, instrumental, and important and, even in its absence, I’m guessing its impact will still be felt for a long time to come. |
| Cherie Martin |
posted 3/18/04 6:24 PM
My time at BFVF was a formative time both in my career and in my getting to know the New England film community. My first job after moving to Boston was running the NEA's film grant program at BFVF and creating the Meet the Director series. It was an exciting time and I second Felicia's comment about how special the staff was during those later years. I was honored to follow the formative leadership of Pam Korza in taking on the New England Film & Video Festival and have fond memories of NEFVF pre-screenings and the road trip Anne Marie and I took to check out other media arts organizations. It's sad that so many of them, like BFVF, have foundered and folded but they served an important service to our community during a growth period and touched the careers and lives of many - both through the work and in making the work. To all those I have known and worked with, I wish much success and many new opportunities. |
| Chris Brooks |
posted 5/27/04 2:36 AM
I have just found out this sad news of the passing of BFVF. I see that it was earlier this year and nobody is still responding. Regardless, as I read this news I felt a need to share with someone my feelings. I spent many days and nights at the Boylston office when it was brand new, filthy dirty, chaotic and full of the most energetic and devoted people that I had ever met. It was the experiences there that provided my entre into what now has become a fruitful and exciting career. I have no idea where most of the people from that time have gone but I often miss them and their zest for filmmaking. They were as talented and interesting as anyone I have met in the major feature filmmaking communities here in LA or in New York or London. I'm truely sad that the opportunities afforded me will no longer be available to young film and video artists. Chris Brooks, Film Music Producer, Sherman Oaks, CA. |
| marisa creed |
posted 8/26/04 7:05 PM
I can't believe BFVF closed! I work at a for-profit film company now & it will never have the same artistic energy, fun & sometimes overwhelming atmosphere of BFVF. What a loss for Boston.BFVF is so special to me. What other place would let a 20 year old turning 21 film student be their office manager for the summer?! thanks to Anne Marie Stein and Lillian Baulding for giving me that oppurtunity. Working there opened my eyes to what I was capable of and what good people with artistic/community goals could accomplish together. We had a lot of fun and did a lot of good on a small budget. Someone should make a film about that! Best of all was the spirit of the place and the people who used it. I haven't worked in such a cooperative/creative film atmosphere since. I hope I do again. Anyone that wants to e-mail me I'd love to say hi...Laura, Paula,Anne Marie, John, Lillian, Devon...anyone! Best to all. |
| marisa creed |
posted 8/26/04 7:07 PM
I can't believe BFVF closed! I work at a for-profit film company now & it will never have the same artistic energy, fun & sometimes overwhelming atmosphere of BFVF. What a loss for Boston.BFVF is so special to me. What other place would let a 20 year old turning 21 film student be their office manager for the summer?! thanks to Anne Marie Stein and Lillian Baulding for giving me that oppurtunity. Working there opened my eyes to what I was capable of and what good people with artistic/community goals could accomplish together. We had a lot of fun and did a lot of good on a small budget. Someone should make a film about that! Best of all was the spirit of the place and the people who used it. I haven't worked in such a cooperative/creative film atmosphere since. I hope I do again. Anyone that wants to e-mail me I'd love to say hi...Laura, Paula,Anne Marie, John, Lillian, Devon...anyone! Best to all. |
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