CELEBRATING OUR FOURTH ANNIVERSARY AT NHFF!

Please join us Friday, October 18, 5:30 - 7:00, as we again co-host a reading at RiverRun Bookstore in downtown Portsmouth as part of the NHFF Screenplay Competition's Author Reading. This year features five-time Emmy nominated writer Susan Kim and Edgar-Award winning author Laurence Klavan reading from their new Young Adult dystopian novel Wasteland. (Author, TV Writer, and Playwright Susan Kim is this year's NHFF Screenplay Competition Grand Prize Judge.) 

We'll also have a chance to meet the NHFF Screenplay Competition Grand Prize writers, who are traveling from Alaska to join us for the Festival weekend.  (See a complete write-up on the NHFF Screenplay page.)

Only just slightly dated...

Please accept our apologies for being more couch-surfing Granite SoFFA organizers this past winter. Now that the peepers are back, we're moving again. News of events soon to follow.

...Hmm, now where is that remote?

An early conception sketch of the Granite SoFFA logo.

Granite SoFFA and RiverRun Bookstore to Host Author Joyce Maynard at 2012 New Hampshire Film Festival

(Note: This is an old post that was accidentally removed & now is re-posted as an archived event.)

Plus an Opportunity to Meet the 2012 NHFF Screenplay Competition Grand Prize Winning Scribe

Please join us at RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth to meet Author Joyce Maynard as she reads from, talks briefly about, and answers questions regarding the recent filming of her novel Labor Day, which was adapted to the screen and filmed this summer in New England under the direction of Jason Reitman (who also directed and wrote Up in the Air starring George Clooney; Thank You for Smoking with Aaron Eckhart, and more). The reading is scheduled during the New Hampshire Film Festival, between events on Friday, October 12, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., at RiverRun Bookstore’s Fleet Street location.

Maynard will read a favorite short passage from her novel. “It will be an extremely sexy scene between Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin,” Maynard said of the co-stars who will appear in the film version of Labor Day, which is expected to be released next summer. 


The event will mark the third year that Granite SoFFA (the New Hampshire Society of Female Film Artists) hosts a cocktail hour at NHFF. During this year’s event the three organizing members of Granite SoFFA—Karlina Lyons, Sue Tinkham, and Dana Biscotti Myskowski—will offer attendees wine and light appetizers.The NHFF Screenplay Competition Committee will also introduce this year’s Grand Prize Winning Scribe: Steve Lucas, author of the screenplay La Mujer (“The Woman”), which was selected as the best of the top four finalists by Maynard, who served as this year’s Grand Prize Judge. 

On the set of "Labor Day" with Josh Brolin & Joyce Maynard.

Lucas, who leads a non-profit organization based in Texas that does extensive work in Central America, wrote a tale about a distraught reporter investigating a high-profile murder in Ecuador. While there, the reporter encounters an even greater mystery in rumors of a mysterious and beautiful woman being relentlessly pursued by drug lords.


RiverRun Bookstore, which regularly hosts readings and events, is located at 142 Fleet Street in Portsmouth, and on the web at www.RiverRunBookstore.com. Though no RSVP is necessary, Granite SoFFA invites Facebook aficionados to indicate their interest in attending through the newly created Facebook Event Page for this Oct. 12th, 5:30 to 7 p.m. reading and reception. 

  

Kate Winslet & Joyce Maynard.

Please Join us for an Afternoon Tea with Female Film Artist Ayesha Khan of Pakistan

Granite SoFFA—the New Hampshire Society of Female Film Artists, in cooperation with the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire and the NH Film & Television Office, invites filmmakers to enjoy a free Afternoon Tea with Female Filmmaker Ayesha Khan of Pakistan on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 2:30 p.m. at the law offices of Gallagher, Callahan, and Gartrell, PC, located at 214 North Main Street, Concord. All are welcome.

The event will allow Granite State filmmakers an opportunity to discuss the challenges of filmmaking in Pakistan and of being a woman filmmaker there. Attendees will have an opportunity to talk with the documentarian who is traveling with her film, Made in Pakistan, for which she served as Executive Producer.

The film will screen at Red River Theatres at 7 p.m. that evening ($10 ticket price), followed by a Q&A. The screening, presented by the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire in partnership with the Red River Theatres and the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire, is part of “Caravanserai: A place where cultures meet,” a national pilot program designed to establish greater understanding between American and Muslim societies by showcasing the diversity of Islamic art and culture.

“Caravanserai,” coordinated locally by the Arts Alliance, introduces American audiences to some of the most exciting and dynamic artists from the Muslim world; Pakistani artists are the focus of the first year. The Arts Alliance is one of only five arts organizations nationwide selected to participate in the pilot year. "Caravanserai" is managed nationally by Arts Midwest on behalf of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations, with support from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. The film residencies are coordinated by South Arts.

About the filmmaker:

A native of Pakistan, Ayesha Khan is a film director and producer. In 2004, Ayesha founded Indus Valley Productions, a company that produces feature films, documentaries, and music videos for the international market. Ayesha previously worked with Made in Pakistan’s Director Nasir Khan as writer, director, and producer for Kashf, The Lifting of the Veil. She has directed and acted in theatrical productions in London and New York City and has been actively involved in the arts, theater, and film since 1994.

About the film:

In October 2007, Newsweek magazine labeled Pakistan “The Most Dangerous Country in the World.” Made in Pakistan, a documentary about four young professionals in Lahore, Pakistan, attempts to tell a different story about the country’s past and future. With honest and tender vignettes that offer a glimpse of the four individuals’ careers, personal lives, traditions, and political views, Made in Pakistan showcases the diversity of contemporary Pakistan—and demonstrates this new generation’s hope and direction for their homeland.

Filmmakers are invited to meet Ayesha Khan at the Law Offices of Gallagher, Callahan, & Gartrell, which has generously donated the Pierce Room at the 214 North Main Street offices for the event. An RSVP is appreciated via Facebook’s Granite SoFFA “Made in Pakistan” Afternoon Tea events page or by emailing info@granitesoffa.org. Special thanks to the NH Film & Television Office and the Arts Alliance of Northern NH for help in coordinating this event.

Harpist Katelyn Croft to Serenade Attendees of the 6th Annual NH Film & Television Office Holiday Gathering

Katelyn Croft and her harp will join us at the NH Film & Television Office Holiday Gathering, co-hosted by Granite SoFFA--the NH Society of Female Film Artists, on Thursday, Dec. 22, 6-9 pm at Red River Theatres in downtown Concord, NH.  Please bring a Potluck item to share; cash bar provided by the theatre's concession stand. RSVP encouraged, but not absolutely necessary: film@nh.gov, 603-271-2220, or via our Facebook event page. 

Holiday Party!

You’re Invited to

the 6^th Annual

New Hampshire Film & Television Office

Holiday Gathering!

Co-hosted by our Friends at

Granite SoFFA-

The NH Society of Female Film Artists

This Year’s Theme is

Holiday Potluck

Please bring a dish to share!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

6-9 p.m. at Red River Theatres

11 South Main Street, Concord, NH

Beer, wine, and soft drinks available for purchase at the Red River Theatres concession stand.

RSVP requested

(though not absolutely necessary)

film@nh.gov

603.271.2220

Granite SoFFA Celebrates One Year Anniversary!

The New Hampshire Film Festival marks the one year anniversary of the launch of Granite SoFFA, the New Hampshire Society of Female Film Artists.

To celebrate, organizers Karen Sampson, Susan Tinkham, and Dana Biscotti Myskowski have planned a Social at Fat Belly's on Two Bow Street in Portsmouth. Appetizers will be available, as well as a cash bar, on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. All are welcome and encouraged to join us.

Last year's kick-off celebration at the now closed Foobar saw approximately 60 filmmakers toast to the newly minted organization that celebrates Granite State women filmmakers, with a nod toward the men who love and support them.

The idea for Granite SoFFA was born in late spring last year when the trio plus one more--Annette Sousa, who now makes her home in LA--met after a screening of Hatchling Studios double billing of MITO KIDS and DEAF PERCEPTION at Red River Theatres in Concord, NH. Discussing the unique stressors of being a woman filmmaker, with all the care-taking duties of family, the foursome agreed that some sort of social and support group would be a welcome relief.

That support group has bumped along from a few foursome brainstorming sessions to a launch party at last year's NHFF, and an unavoidable hiatus during the early part of this year. But with renewed energy, the group has jumped into a commitment to offering a once-monthly schedule of events around the state. From meeting in members' homes, to hosting a panel at the SNOB Film Festival, the group hopes to engage fellow female filmmakers (and those darling men we can't live without!) as we support each other in our goals of making quality films in the Granite State.

Future events include a social at the Sharon Arts Center in Peterborough, supporting the annual New Hampshire Film & Television Office Holiday Party, and a weekend retreat in early 2012 in which members can share their projects--old and new--with each other.

Brainstorming at a recent meeting also identified several workshops for members, by members, in which we can share our expertise with each other, and learn together. It is even hoped that one day in the not so distant future we will produce a Granite SoFFA film together.

We welcome you to this year's One Year Anniversary Social. Whether it is your first time to a Granite SoFFA Social or your fifth, we look forward to seeing you at Fat Belly's on Saturday.