Film
While other critics flocked to Utah for Sundance screenings, 10-year-old Olivia Knight took a few hours off her Chilmark School homework and play to give you the lowdown on the high-quality short film collection playing in her town this weekend courtesy of the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival.
The festival organizers have teamed up with the Gazette to bring you reviews by Island kids for each event in the winter series, Film Family Feast.
Island Cineastes Start New Season
Richard Paradise was named 2009’s best regional film festival director at last month’s International Film Festival Summit in Las Vegas. In an Oscar-speech moment with the Gazette, he shared his glory with Island filmgoers: “The success of the festival, the regional coverage, the volunteership, and the exploration of other cultures ... the Vineyard audience contributes.”
Legendary film critic Pauline Kael wrote of The Black Stallion, “It may be the greatest children’s movie ever made” — and so it may be the greatest film ever selected to kick off a new Friday family movie series at the Chilmark Public Library, tonight at 7 p.m.
The library’s plan is family entertainment for almost all ages: movies rated G, PG and PG-13 on Friday nights along with popcorn and juice. Admission, popcorn and juice are free. The series will continue for eight weeks in January and February.
The Chilmark Community Center provided the perfect backdrop for a thorough community experience this past Saturday, an event called Family Film Feast put on by the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival.
The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival’s Family. Film. Feast. series continues this holiday weekend at the Chilmark Community Center with Why Wait?, a program of family friendly shorts featuring Lost & Found, based on the book by Oliver Jeffers.
The Saturday, Dec. 26 evening begins at 5 p.m. with dinner prepared by a local chef using food donated by Island farms; dinner is $10 for adults, $5 for children. There will also be a musical performance by a Vineyard musician, followed by the film; all tickets are $6, available at the door.
The star-stuffed, every-song-has-you-humming, Technicolor spectacular Meet Me in St. Louis will be on the big screen at the Vineyard Playhouse on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m.