Frame to Fame II
In Art New England’s July/August issue, film critic Ethan Gilsdorf follows the path of four independent films by New England filmmakers as they navigate the festival circuit, in this second iteration of ANE’s popular “Frame to Fame” series. Can’t wait to read the feature? Get a sneak peak at our filmmaker’s biographies and view the film trailers, below!
Raeshelle Cooke, Sometime Around January
Raeshelle Cooke is an independent filmmaker who lives in Taunton, MA. She has written and directed seven short films and two music videos.
Cooke got her start in 2014 when her film On Her Way was a Finalist at the BSU Campus Movie Festival, placing in the top 16 of 44 films. Her short film Last Words placed in the same festival the next year. In 2014, Cooke won Best Newcomer for her independent short film Monae’s Room at the Shawna Shea Film Festival; in 2015, it won Best Genre Blend at the Stories by the River Film Festival. Also in 2015, her sixth short film, Sometime Around January was nominated for Best Short Film at the Shawna Shea Film Festival.
Her latest production, Mt. Washington, is a short film that was inspired by a song from the Los Angeles-based, indie rock band, Local Natives. It will be released later this year and will attempt its festival run soon. Cooke hopes to shoot more films as she has three story ideas already percolating.
Today Cooke is entering Sometime Around January to more festivals. You can view her work at vimeo.com/raeshelle.
Sometime Around January | Teaser from Raeshelle Cooke on Vimeo.
Jeff Griecci, Year-round Metal Enjoyment
Jeff Griecci has written and directed numerous short narrative films, music videos and commercials. He works as a freelancer in film and television, on projects such as the feature film Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon; the HBO documentary Suited, produced by Lena Dunham; the NBC television series Grimm; and the feature films Five Nights in Maine, Night of the Living Deb and Island Zero, all produced in Maine.
Jeff is the founding member of Mint Films and is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine’s Media Studies department. He is currently submitting his first feature-length documentary, Year-round Metal Enjoyment to film festivals both in the U.S. and internationally.
Year-round Metal Enjoyment | Official Trailer from Mint Films on Vimeo.
Michal Goldman, Nasser’s Republic, The Making of Modern Egypt
Michal Goldman is a third-generation American who grew up near Boston. She didn’t go to film school got her education working for the Maysles Brothers and Ed Pincus—pioneering documentary filmmakers—as well as in the cutting rooms of some Hollywood features, including The Exorcist. Coming of age during the civil rights and women’s movements, Goldman has always believed in the importance of non-commercially driven voices in film. She founded Filmmakers Collaborative and the Boston Jewish Film Festival to support and highlight those voices. For the past five years of turmoil in the Middle East, Goldman has been working in Egypt on her film about Gamal Abdel Nasser—the Arab world’s iconic leader. Her connection to Egypt goes back to the 1990s, when she lived and worked in Cairo for several years while making her film Umm Kulthum, A Voice Like Egypt about Arab music’s greatest diva.
Nasser’s Republic is Goldman’s first film about politics – America’s as well as Egypt’s.
TRAILER: Nasser’s Republic: The Making of Modern Egypt from Michal Goldman on Vimeo.
Alexander Janko, Year by the Sea
An award-winning writer/director/composer, Alexander Janko’s repertoire spans the music, literary, stage, TV and film industries. A graduate of Princeton, he has worked on more than 65 major motion pictures, including the Oscar-nominated Anastasia and Grammy-nominated Man on the Moon. A career milestone, he composed the score for the indie sensation My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the highest grossing romantic comedy in history. As a writer, he has penned a one-act stage play and five screenplays, including Home Town, which became a semifinalist in Final Draft’s “Big Break” competition. He has also written two TV pilots, and his first mini-series, Lost Hope (based on the Walsh-McLean family’s pursuit of the Hope Diamond) is now in development. His book, VMS (the first in a tween action-adventure series), will soon be published. Year by the Sea is Mr. Janko’s feature film directorial debut.
Learn more at yearbythesea.com