Made In The USA:
Northampton Film Festival 2000

by Laura Bernieri

Film festivals live and die not only based on the creativity and concept of the festival directors, their vision and choice of programming, but also their location. Northampton has proven to be fertile ground for Dee DeGeiso, Howard Polonsky and a Great Film. They began their campaign to launch the first Northampton Film Festival six years ago, they were encouraged by the response of the Northampton Arts Council who applauded an idea whose time had come: "Finally someone is going to do this."

Self-described "recovering lawyers" DeGeiso and Polonsky had decided to launch a local fest, but their definition of local kept changing. In '95, they defined their boundaries from Maine to Washington D.C. That first year, they fielded 112 entries. This year they welcomed 450 entries. Noho Film Festival has expanded its borders to accept films from all across America. "Made in the USA" is their motto. Although they have gotten requests from around the world–including one from the Dalai Lama–they want to focus on national product since American filmmakers don't get support from the government. (Also, customs can be a nightmare.)

Beginning as a weekend festival, Noho has grown over the years to sprawl out over the period of a week with two "sidebars."

OUT & ABOUT offers a smorgasbord of films and shorts chronicling the gay experience, a response to the greater than two-in-twenty ratio of homosexuals in the community. This year's headliner is Zach Stratis' COULD BE WORSE! A Sundance favorite, Stratis cast his real life family as themselves in a hilarious and poignant musical soap opera. JUST ONE TIME sounds like it might have something for everyone, described as, "A comedy that enlightens us about how silly our sexual divisions can be." LIVING WITH PRIDE, an hour long documentary about Ruth Ellis and Scott McQueenesbian, has received kudos around the country. Noho brings it to you as a regional exclusive.

L'CHAIM!, the Jewish Film Series, evolved out of DeGeiso and Polonsky's desire to show films that explore the Jewish experience to a wider audience. This year, Noho has expanded to a new venue, thanks to the generous and continued support of Showcase Cinemas. Their West Springfield complex will host TRAIN OF LIFE, winner of the 1999 Sundance Audience Award. Also the winner of numerous festival awards, CHILDREN OF CHABANNES, a powerful documentary, has been a tried and true crowd pleaser in the marketplace. Ditto for another regional exclusive, THE LIFE & TIMES OF HANK GREENBERG.

The film festival founders have discerned that the Northampton natives are careful consumers. Well-read and artistically sophisticated, Noho folks appreciate films that have been preceded by a good buzz. Still, there is a plethora of edgy World Premieres for consumption. This year, Boston's beloved Alloy Orchestra is back for two special events. The multi-dexterous trio will perform their original music to Fritz Lang's classic 1926 silent futuristic fantasy METROPOLIS. (Bostonians like myself who drive through the Big Dig every day will relate to this one!) Also on the docket is F.W. Murnau's classic about vampires, NOSFERATU accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra playing a new original score. The print is newly restored from one of two existing original nitrates.

Over 50 shorts and features will unspool , a record number for the first year of the new Millennium. Some notable highlights: TWO DEGREES, a short by Sarah Burns, Hampshire College alum and PBS darling Ken Burns' daughter. Sarah entered Yale this year. And. UNCLE SADDAM, first runner up for Best Documentary, is an intimate peek (pique?!) at the Iraqi president by Joel Soler who just barely lived to tell the tale.

COMING TO LIGHT: EDWARD S. CURTIS AND THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS is a magnificent documentary on the famous Wild West photographer. I saw this one at Sundance with Uta Briesewitz, one of Anne Makepeace's cinematographers. Friends of Native Americans, of which there are many in the Pioneer Valley, will also appreciate Vermont native Tantoo Cardinal, a chain-smoking waitress who teams up with a mail order bride from Russia in pursuit of the American Dream in this year's Best Feature Film, POSTMARK PARADISE. Finally, don't miss Mary Stuart Masterson, a New York-bred actress, co-starring in the film THE BOOK OF STARS with Delroy Lindo. Masterson grew up the child of two creative giants, the founding partners with her godfather, Robert Redford, of Sundance Institute. Best known for her unforgettable performance in FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, she is always tackling interesting scripts that enhance her range as an actress.

Last year, Noho drew a record number of New Yorkers as participants and revelers. James Schamus, business partner of Ted Hope in their Gotham-based company Good Machine, writer and producer of films with director Ang Lee (THE ICE STORM, SENSE & SENSIBILITY), captivated an audience for two hours, dispensing words of wisdom.

LOCAL POINTS OF INTEREST

The Pioneer Valley offers many rugged hiking areas and spectacular views. Look Park in Northampton has picnic sites, fields for frisbee-throwing; streams and serene forestry for meditation. The Valley is big-time farm country, lots of cows and sheep. Ornithologists will be delighted, too.

Smith College campus is highly picturesque for strolls. Being a five college area (Mt. Holyoke, Amherst, U Mass, Hampshire) makes for lots of intellectual stimulation and, of course, the best new and used bookstores. Northampton even has its own answer to Urban Outfitters, a funky store called Faces.

There are more artists per square foot in Northampton than any place between Soho and Montreal. Explore Northampton Center for the Arts. Check out the galleries. A tradition of craftmakers feeds a plethora of shops specializing in unique designs, yarn, jewelry, glass-blowing, woodworking, chimes, crystals, candles, especially holistic oils, essences, herbal remedies, antiques galore and tribal art. Great holiday shopping for those hard-to-find discriminating people on your list. Thorne's is an indoor mall with a Harvard Square's Garage type design. Debbie Zimmerman, executive director of Women Make Movies based in Manhattan, bought three pairs of shoes there and Imagine publisher Carol Patton was seen exiting with a motley array of feather boas.

Laura Bernieri, Hampshire '75, is a Boston-based writer, producer and restaurant lover.