Local filmmaker Steve Alves will be speaking at the Pioneer Valley Regional School on Wednesday, November 10, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. The talk is part of a series of presentations featuring local filmmakers being held this fall.Alves is a documentary filmmaker who owns his own film production company. His films focus on  intergenerational ties and the role of community in American life. They have been featured in dozens of film festivals and have won numerous awards.  His talk will feature highlights from “Where We Live,” his collection of six films about the culture, landscape, economy, and people of western Massachusetts. Currently Alves is working on a documentary about the history of the cooperative movement in the United States and the role that food co-ops play in the creation of regional food systems.

The local filmmaker series is sponsored by the Northfield Town Transition Group, Bernardston-Northfield Community Television, and the Pioneer Valley Institute. In addition to hearing from local filmmakers about their work, the talks are an opportunity to learn about upcoming video training workshops and about how to make films and enter them into a local film festival. Anyone living in the Northern Pioneer Valley is encouraged to participate by creating a short film that depicts some element of historic life in their community that we can learn from in order to become economically and environmentally sustainable over the next 20 years. A local film festival featuring these films will take place in 2011. BNCTV will be providing free use of video equipment and technical support throughout the project and will provide assistance with filming and editing. The film festival committee will be available to asnwer questions and provide information about film entry guidelines. Volunteers from the community are encouraged to get involved and share resources, guidance or expertise.

For more information, contact the Film Festival Committee: Judy Phillips, 978.544.2653 judy-dharma@crocker.com or Sue Ross, 413.498.2700 suross@comcast.net