Seeing Stars in Woods Hole - the 14th Woods Hole Film Festival

It seems like film festivals are all the rage these days. Not so long ago you had Cannes and Sundance. More and more people are watching indie flicks and bringing them to the edge of the mainstream. Indies have the emotion and heart that sometimes gets lost in Hollywood blockbusters. They tell the stories of everyday people and often project the blood, sweat and tears of their creators. Now there are film festivals in every corner of the country. In fact, the Cape and Islands hosts no less than four with festivals in Provincetown, Nantucket, Plymouth and Woods Hole.

The Woods Hole Film Festival

The Cape Cod film festival season begins in June with Provincetown and Nantucket and finishes with Plymouth followed by Woods Hole. The Woods Hole Film Festival is set to begin this weekend and run from Saturday July 30 through Saturday August 6th. In addition to screenings, the festival will feature parties, workshops, entertainment, readings and last but not least, awards. The festival, in association with the Harvard Square Script Writers and Yankee Classic Pictures, reviews submitted screenplays. The works are judged by local screenwriters, directors and development specialists. There are three award categories: drama & comedy (scripts with 75 to 120 pages), science drama & science fiction and short film drama or comedy (scripts with less than 30 pages). A complete list of finalists can be found here.

Audience awards feature several categories including best film of the festival, best documentary, best short animation and, of course, a special Cape Cod category among others. Ballots are given out at the screenings and collected at the end of the film.

Each year, an increasing number of films are submitted to the festival. There are many interesting full length features, shorts and documentaries to choose from. "Touching the Game", a documentary about the Cape Cod Baseball League, (reviewed here) is included in this year's lineup. Topics of other features include dating woes in "Hot Lunch", a family of lobstermen in "The Wayfarers", Vietnam in "Missing in America" starring Danny Glover and social guidance films of the '50s in "Formosa" (see the review below).

More About Woods Hole

Woods Hole is wonderful little village in Falmouth probably best known as the home of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) and the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory.  It was WHOI's Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV), Alvin, that brought the world images of the Titanic. 

Woods Hole. ccotoday photo.

Not only does Woods Hole host a renown science community, it is also the perfect place to catch a ferry for a day on the Vineyard.  But before you hop on that ferry, be sure to visit some of the Cape's best restaurants and shopping. 

Quick planning:   places to eat     places to stay     things to do 

What better way to spend the day on Cape Cod? A day at the beach and an evening with the stars.

Woods Hole Film Festival tickets are available in advance online through www.ticketweb.com. Tickets for individual screenings are $9. Tickets for staged readings, Xwhaves and parties are $12. "Walk-in" tickets are available at the Woods Hole Film Festival office located at 87B Water Street in Woods Hole. Passes are also available for the true film buff.

Review of "Formosa"

"Formosa" is one of the featured movies at the Woods Hole Film Festival. It is a sweet, nostalgic movie about Sid Silver (played by Steven Gilborn), an Albuquerque man who makes social guidance films. Social guidance films were the black and white documentaries shown to students in the 40s and 50s. The films covered a myriad topics including smoking, good manners, under-aged drinking and promiscuity. If you are not old enough to remember such films, you may have seen them spoofed on the Nickelodeon Channel and Pee-Wee's Playhouse. While Sid did well in the 40s, the school board, his leading backer, insists that he "get with the times" and create more timely and gripping films that will speak to a young 50s audience.

Tara Nulty and Richard Keith. Photo courtesy of "Formosa" website.

His prayers are answered when he and his daughter meet Clay Crawford (played by Jamieson Stern). Clay, a con man who is on the run after a prison break, convinces the Silvers that he is a method actor from the Actor's Studio in New York City. In a sometimes predictable plot, Clay eventually evolves into the honest man he knows he should be.

The film's cast includes such recognizable names as Steven Gilborn who played Ellen's loveable father, Harold, on "Ellen", Geoffrey Lewis, whose role on the sitcom "Flo" earned him a Golden Globe Nomination and Cameron Bender whose credits include appearances on TV shows such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Popular" and "7th Heaven." "Formosa" was written by Jamieson Stern who also stars in the picture.

Steven Gilborn. Photo courtesy of "Formosa" website.

"Formosa", a best comedy winner at the Garden State Film Festival, has the feel of a movie filmed in the 50s. It is a wholesome movie with likeable characters and a straightforward storyline. While most movies today look to push the limit, "Formosa" tells a simple story about a simplier time. There are good guys and bad guys and choices to be made in life. The subject of social guidance films accents the story nicely and actual black and white footage from the original films is cleverly used to separate scenes.

The film is also of note as the director employed state of the art High Def filmmaking technology.

"Formosa" was directed by first time feature director Noah Kadner. Kadner's impressive resume includes visual effects on blockbusters such as "X-Men" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."

The screening of "Formosa" is scheduled for Sunday July 31 at 9pm in the Redfield Auditorium.