2006 Independent Film Series

On Saturday afternoon, Herring Run ArtsFest transforms the lower level of the library into an independent film theater where short new works by upcoming writers, directors, and producers are aired. ArtsFest 2005 featured animated films and ArtsFest2004 featured short and feature-length documentaries (see film archives). ArtsFest 2006 continues to enthusiastically support independent films.

The Best of Boston from the 2006 48-Hour Film Festival coordinated by Boston project organizer Ben Guaraldi will be the main film offering at this year's Herring Run ArtsFest (Saturday, September 9th from 12:00 noon to 3:00PM).  This national and international film competition sends teams of filmmakers out on a wild weekend in which a seven or eight minute film must be written, cast, shot and edited in just 48 hours from start to finish.  All the entries must include a prop, this year a bicycle pump, a particular line, “That’s why I don’t trust her anymore,” a genre such as sci-fi or horror, a named character, and a theme, this year’s being competitive eating.

Students from the Burt Wood School for the Performing Arts of Middleboro under the direction of filmmaker Andrew Osborne participated in the shooting of an entry this year, entitled SHOE, which was a science-fiction parody of the popular television drama, LOST.

All the films were shown at the Kendall Cinema in Cambridge and three Boston movie critics chose The Best of Boston 2006, short films to then be entered in national and international competition.  The films in this year’s festival run the gamut from scrappy projects made by teenagers, in it for the fun, to serious efforts by professional filmmakers with titles such as “Eat to Defeat,” “The Tell-Tale Stomach” and “The Guts and the Glory”.

The Boston area is fast becoming the home of a major independent film movement and a Boston-based group known as Midnight Chimes Productions will also be featured at this year’s ArtsFest.  This loosely assembled group of filmmakers and actors under the leadership of Kevin Anderton has been featured at over twenty-five film festivals including events in Los Angeles and New York and throughout New England.  Their collective short-comedy films, The Boston Comedy Shorts Collection, target everything from OJ Simpson and bad television to ninja movies and current politics.  All these short films and more will be shown at this year’s Herring Run ArtsFest.  A Q&A will follow the screenings and the audience can interact with filmmakers, writers and actors at the Artist’s Reception following the film segment from 3 to 3:30 PM.

(2004 Film archive)
(2005 Film archive)
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