Match
By Lisa Green
Its winning formula has kept it a Berkshire fall tradition, but the
Williamstown Film Festival is opening its 16th year with an experiment,
Project Screenplay, and if you’ve ever considered writing a screenplay (or just happen to have one on hand), you shouldn’t miss it.
The Project Screenplay event, the first festival event on Wednesday, November 5 (Rated R for “Real Good Time"), will be presented in a game show format focusing on the art of the pitch. In several rounds, aspiring scribes pitch the audience and act out scenes and the audience decides who gets the green light. Industry pros will offer tips and advice for the page-to-screen process. First prize is a script consultation from
New England Screenwriters and a festival all-access pass.
“We’re the first to do this," says Steve Lawson, the festival’s executive director. “It was conceived in Cambridge by screenwriter
Andrew Osborne. Sandra Thomas, my partner who had been at Images Cinema, heard about it and thought it would be a lot of fun. We’ve enlisted MCLA to be a part of Project Screenplay, which is especially meaningful since this is Mary Grant’s last year as college president."
WildLike
Attendees who’d rather watch than write will not be disappointed with this year’s lineup. “The season is strong because it’s very eclectic," Lawson says. “It’s sort of a smorgasbord. When you have 8 or 9 films, there’s something that will appeal to everyone."
And, of course, there will be the regular lineup of parties and conversations with celebrity artists. Bringing their star credentials this year will be actress
Lili Taylor and her husband, writer
Nick Flynn (they’ll be speaking at a lunch); and writer, director and producer
Tony Gilroy (screenwriter for the Bourne series and
Michael Clayton).
Lawson points out that, unlike some of the bigger film fests, the WFF is a linear festival, meaning no two movies are screened simultaneously. A movie diehard could make every single showing.
“Watching people go from a breakfast event to the cinema is fun," Lawson says. “It becomes a family. There are no barriers — we pride ourselves that [famous] people are here and that you can talk with them."
Among the strong lineup:
Match, starring Patrick Stewart as an aging Juilliard dance professor who is ostensibly being interviewed by a woman for a dissertation she’s writing about dance. (“Witty and suspenseful at the same time," says Lawson.) Writer/director
Stephen Belber will be present.
Like Sunday, Like Rain
Like Sunday, Like Rain, was a festival submission and has already been picked up for distribution next year. The film centers around a 20-something struggling musician who becomes an au pair for a 12-year-old cello prodigy. Writer/director
Frank Whaley, perhaps better known as an actor (
Pulp Fiction, Swimming With Sharks), will be in attendance.
Wild Canaries — A late addition to the lineup, it follows a Brooklyn couple in which one of the pair ascribes to conspiracy theories. When an elderly neighbor dies, they go on a reconnaissance mission and everyone is a potential suspect. Think Woody Allen-New York-offbeat style.
Williamstown Film Festival, November 5-9
To purchase tickets, click
here.
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