PORTLAND – As part of its 2007-2008 season, the Maine Film & Video Association will host a panel discussion on “Storytelling for Film and Television” – featuring several talented Maine filmmakers – Thursday, June 7, at SPACE Gallery.
The event is open to the public.
This discussion offers attendees a chance to learn about the craft of storytelling for both narrative and documentary film, as local professionals detail their experiences in filmmaking, discuss the importance of storytelling to the medium and highlight storytelling techniques and methods. Following the panelists’ individual presentations, audience members will be able to ask questions and participate in discussions.
Currently scheduled to speak are Rushmore DeNooyer, producer and writer for Lone Wolf Documentary Group; Andy Davis, writer and director from Emptyhouse Film; producer, writer and director Veronica Young; and independent documentary filmmaker Dana Rae Warren.
DeNooyer has been writing and producing television documentaries for 15 years, with his work appearing on PBS, The History Channel, National Geographic, and other cable broadcasters. His most recent film, the two-hour special “Titanic’s Final Moments,” was the highest-rated February broadcast in the history of the History Channel. Other recent works include the two-hour specials “Hitler’s Lost Sub,” “Failure Is Not An Option” and “Beyond the Moon.” “Hitler’s Lost Sub” received the Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding television documentary writing and inspired the New York Times best-seller “Shadow Divers,” soon to be a major motion picture.
Beginning with 1996’s TV Nation, Davis has developed a resume replete with popular and independently produced feature films, including the well-received drama “MUD,” the horror feature “I’m Sorry” and the upcoming zombie film “2.” Besides feature films, Davis has produced short films, including “The Pumpkin Man,” “The Dark” and “Beneath the Frost Line.”
Young has produced, written and directed programming for PBS, HBO, The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Health, The Learning Channel, The Health Network, CNBC, and Lifetime. Her “The Pinks and The Blues” earned the APA National Media Award, and “Why Planes Crash,” winner of an Ohio State Film Award, continues to be used for U.S. Air Force and commercial airline training purposes. Her experience with technology and engineering is also reflected in “Skyscraper,” which she co-produced and directed for Channel 4/WGBH. Other subjects she has covered include blindness, sex differences, behaviorist B.F. Skinner, medical malpractice, oceanography, Latin American religion, poet Emily Dickinson, spirituality, and dreaming.
Rae has 15 years in the television documentary and independent film worlds, most recently as series supervising producer for the History Channel’s “Deep Sea Detectives.” She has three independent films in production or post-production: “Her Game,” “Global Citizen” and “Lou of Betty & Lou.” Her “Prisoner of the Past” was selected for Maine PBS as well as the Maine International Film Festival. Some of Rae’s other credits include the Peabody Award-winning and twice Emmy-nominated series “Moon Shot,” Turner Broadcasting’s two-hour special “Abducted,” the national PBS series “Making Sense of the Sixties,” and ongoing award-winning ads in the tobacco-free campaign “Quit For Your Kids.”
The panel discussion will be from 5 to 8 p.m. The gallery is at 538 Congress St. Light refreshments will be provided, and there will be a cash bar. MFVA members may attend the event for free. Tickets for nonmembers are $5. For more information, contact MFVA Chairman Richard Kane at kanelewis@aol.com, or visit www.mainefilm.com.
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