By Rocco Colella
Movie buffs and ambitious filmmakers alike were able to interact and network with members of the industry last Friday at the Boston Filmmakers’ Expo in the Curry Student Center.
The Filmmakers Collaborative, an independent filmmakers nonprofit organization in Boston, organized the expo with hopes to make it an annual event.
Most of the expo’s events were held in theBallroom, with seminars and panels taking place in the conference rooms on the third and fourth floors.
The keynote speaker for the day was Geralyn Dreyfous, the executive producer of the documentary, “Born into Brothels,” which won this past year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary. Dreyfous explained his strategies on how to capture wider audiences for documentaries while showing clips from “Brothels” and her upcoming “Doctors Without Borders.”
Dreyfous spoke in the Ballroom after the 5 p.m. cocktail party.
Tables and booths were set up in the Ballroom before and after the events for trade shows and consultations with the professionals.
Screenwriting teacher Sandy Jaffe offered techniques to beef up rookie screenplays, while professors from Boston University, Emerson College and Northeastern discussed their respective film and video programs. Cinema studies and interdisciplinary studies professor Louise McBryde spoke on behalf of Northeastern.
As Northeastern’s facilitator of the event, McBryde tried her best to make her way around the different panels to listen to the speakers and gauge the responses to them.
“The levels of interest in the panels were high and general feedback to the event was very positive,” she said. “This could easily build into an annual event that will grow in stature and scope as it develops.”
The panels and seminars held throughout the day helped give ambitious filmmakers advice on how to produce and market their films. Richard Bock, Franco Sacchi and Tom Williams led a panel on the role of sound in production and post-production. Filmmaker Dave Bigelow spoke about his film, “The Legend of Lucy Keyes,” starring Julie Delpy and Justin Theroux, and about the revolutionary post-production process for the film.
Paula Silver, former president of marketing and publicity for Columbia Studios, lectured about her numerous marketing projects. At Columbia, she helped execute the marketing campaigns for “A League of Their Own” and “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” Silver’s latest hit was “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” which grossed over $250 million.
Junior English and cinema studies dual major Rebecca Smoler was a student volunteer for the expo.
“I got to meet many successful people in the industry and hang out with film majors from other area schools,” she said.
And the excitement generated by the event only reflected positively on the university, McBryde said.
“The expo brought Northeastern into the spotlight for some of the many members of the Boston filmmaking community who were in attendance and impressed by the organization of the event,” McBryde said.
For more information about Filmmakers Collaborative and their special events, visit their Web site at www.filmmakerscollab.org.
