Student festival tickets are free and open to the public; limited tickets are available for the Boston premiere of Kopple’s Running from Crazy
Announcement
Boston, MA —
On Wednesday, March 26, and Thursday, March 27, Emerson College will celebrate exceptional nonfiction work by students at It’s All True, the College’s third annual documentary festival. The two-day event is open to the public and will showcase screenings of original student films as well as Academy Award–winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple’s new documentary Running from Crazy—about actress Mariel Hemingway’s struggle to survive a family legacy of creativity and fame paired with mental illness, addiction, and suicide.
“Emerson College has a vibrant documentary filmmaking culture,” said Marc Fields, associate professor in Visual and Media Arts and acting graduate program director at Emerson. “This annual event highlights the diverse concerns of our undergraduate and graduate students as they try to break new ground in personal, political, historical, and experimental nonfiction filmmaking,” said Fields.
Selected by Visual and Media Arts faculty at Emerson, this year’s documentaries cover a wide range of topics. American Murder Ballads by Jean-Paul DiSciscio, MFA ’17, features the late Doc Watson and explores America’s tradition of tragic tales told through song; On Being Sane by Dane Shubert, BFA ’13, is a personal journey of coming to terms with bipolar disorder; and Garcia, an excerpt from Liss LaFleur’s MFA ’14 interactive documentary One Way Home, tells the story of HIV and AIDS survivors from a small community in Texas.
Kopple, a two–time Academy Award winner, will share insight on her career during classroom visits and following the screening of her new film Running from Crazy. "I am very excited to be part of this celebration of documentary films at Emerson College and look forward to seeing the work of these young media makers as they begin their journey into a world of storytelling that has so much potential to make a difference,” she said.
Additional Student Documentaries to Be Screened
It Moves—Director: Jeremy Latour, MFA ’13
A graphic collage of family photos leads the way for a son to open dialogue with his parents over previously unsaid feelings.
Exchange—Director/Cinematographer: Manual LaValle ’14; Co-Producers/Co-Editors: Manuel LaValle, Eva Nguyen Van Dan ’14
An unusual encounter is captured cinema vérité style when roommates search for the owner of a portfolio of found artwork.
An Improvised Life—Producer/Director/Editor: Hannah Engleson ’15
Harvey Diamond, a jazz pianist since age five, lives a life of devoted improvisation, humor, and sincerity.
The Fight Inside—Producers/Directors: Jillian Carvalho ’14, Divya Kehr ’14, Sam Steele ’14
A refugee from Hurricane Katrina, Curtis Thomas, a gifted dancer at the Boston Conservatory, discovers the healing power of dance.
Screenings (Open to the public)
Wednesday, March 26, 7:00 p.m.—Student documentary films, hosted by filmmaker Barbara Kopple, will be screened in the Bright Family Screening Room at Emerson/Paramount Center (559 Washington Street, Boston). The event is free and open to the public; seating is first come, first served. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Sponsored by Creative Pro Users Group, Boston Avid Users Group, & Rule Broadcast.
Thursday, March 27, 7:00 p.m.—Filmmaker Barbara Kopple’s Boston premiere of Running from Crazy. The feature documentary is showing at film festivals nationwide and makes its television debut on OWN Cable Network next month. The screening will take place at the Paramount Mainstage at Emerson/Paramount Center (559 Washington Street, Boston). Sponsored by ArtsEmerson. A limited number of tickets are available to the public. Please email RFCScreeningAtEmerson [at] gmail.com (RFCScreeningAtEmerson[at]gmail[dot]com) to request a ticket. If you are notified that you have secured a ticket, you must pick it up at the Paramount box office between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. on March 27.
About the College
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, opposite the historic Boston Common and in the heart of the city’s Theatre District, Emerson College educates individuals who will solve problems and change the world through engaged leadership in communication and the arts, a mission informed by liberal learning. The College has 3,780 undergraduates and 670 graduate students from across the United States and 50 countries. Supported by state-of-the-art facilities and a renowned faculty, students participate in more than 90 student organizations and performance groups. Emerson is known for its experiential learning programs in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, the Netherlands, London, China, and the Czech Republic as well as its new Global Portals, with the first opening last fall in Paris. The College has an active network of 51,000 alumni who hold leadership positions in communication and the arts. For more information, visit Emerson.edu.