Valerie Weiss, filmmaker and BioPhysics PhD, discusses her AFI Women’s Fellowship, the Dudley Film program she created at Harvard, and her film projects Dance by Design, Transgressions, Losing Control, and more.

Transgressions has been described as A Clockwork Orange meets Pleasantville.  It takes place in the not-so-distant future, in a society combining the worst elements of the nanny state and reality TV.    Domestic strife with a darkly ironic twist. 

What does it take to make a movie in Rhode Island and why should a filmmaker ply their craft in the Ocean State?

These questions were discussed on March 9th at Borders in Cranston, RI. Recorded guests included:

• Jonathan Raben, Producer/Director of the documentary film Italian Americans and Federal Hill.
• George T. Marshall, Executive Director of the Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF), one of the country’s premier festivals.
• Steven Feinberg, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Film and Television Office, the state liaison to the filmmaking industry.

We discuss the success and failures of filmmaker/crew member Luke Bittel behind the scenes in LA and his doc on a failed film Help Wanted called Some Assembly Required.

It is rare for a filmmaker to actually admit that their film is a failure – a poorly produced, written, and directed film.  Luke did this and is using it as learning tool and now can laugh at a project that made him miserable.  He uses Some Assembly Required to show others what not to do as a newbie filmmaker.