Kerry Kazokas

Kerry Kazokas, a respected local artist, teacher, actor and filmmaker will share her experiences as a screenwriter and film director on Sunday, December 12, from 4:30 to 6:00 PM at the Pioneer Valley Regional School’s Kiva Auditorium. Her talk is the third in a series of presentations by local professional filmmakers, held this fall as part of the Transition Towns film project, “Envisioning Our Communities in 2030—Looking Back to Our Future.”

A PVRS graduate, Kazokas spent much of her childhood in Northfield. She plans to speak about the process of writing the screenplay, “Free to Fly”, which then led to co-directing and co-producing, with Michael Schena, the film with a local production company, Northern Lights. Kazokas will elaborate on the process of character and story development and will discuss, from an artistic perspective, the importance of camera angles and shots to effectively create the tone of the story. Additionally, she will talk about engaging local talent and working with a “zero budget project.”

The local professional filmmaker series is sponsored by the Northfield and Warwick Transition Towns, Bernardston Northfield Community Television (BNC-TV), and the Pioneer Valley Institute. Following this filmmakers series, in early 2011 a new series of “Tools of the Trade” video training workshops will be conducted by BNC-TV to teach budding filmmakers, of all ages, how to shoot and edit video films. In late spring 2011, participants may choose to enter a local film festival planned by the sponsors. BNC-TV will provide free use of video equipment and technical support throughout the project. Film Festival entries will relate an element of life in their community’s history to new
ideas and practices that will help the communities become economically and environmentally sustainable over the next 20 years. The film festival committee is available to answer 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.