LIGHTS ... CAMERA ...
Action: New Bedford Film Festival unspools with help from key cinephiles
Rebecca Schade calls them "bad light days," those days when the ambient light is too harsh, too flat or simply too uninspiring for artists. And she should know. As a film designer, multi-media artist and photographer who frequently moved around the globe, Rebecca depended heavily upon light for her artistic livelihood. As a film design undergraduate of Arizona State with graduate studies at the Sorbonne and Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Rebecca had an impressive resume with which to find work in various international cities. From stage productions in Moscow to designing the world's largest multi-image installation (at the time) for the Kentucky Derby Museum in 1985, Rebecca has excelled in every artistic endeavor she's ever undertaken. With more than 40 national and international awards from New York to Zurich in over 25 years of two- and three-dimensional design projects, her choice of New Bedford as a living and working environment might appear to be a curious choice. On the contrary, she insists this city is the perfect place to have both a theater and performing arts collaborative such as Culture Park, which she co-founded with Patricia Thomas, as well as the French Curve Design Studio, which she initiated herself. "New Bedford was the place to be," she says. "I really wanted to live in this area." Thus, when Rebecca Schade moved here a year and a half ago, she became yet another in a long line of transplanted artists to reinforce what has been called New Bedford's artistic renaissance. New Bedford's light is absolutely captivating, Rebecca says, and that makes it an ideal place for artists of all media. "I haven't had a bad light day since I moved here," Rebecca trills jubilantly. "It's called 'Cape light' and you can see why artists want to be here." In addition to her artistic work, Rebecca Schade is director of The New Bedford Film Festival (NBFF) and it's that hat she's wearing as she speaks with me on this recent October afternoon. The four-day festival, in its second day today and concluding Sunday, was an offshoot of a Regional Community Congress meeting a few years back which addressed items SouthCoast not only wanted, but desperately needed in order to move ahead culturally. The NBFF, co-produced by Culture Park and the NBFF Committee, was as high a priority as the AHA! nights advocated at those same meetings. "I'm considered the festival 'director,' " Rebecca chuckles, making the universal quotation mark sign with both hands. "But we have a committee; Elizabeth LeStage, Claudette Menard, Tom Sexton and Patricia Thomas." She gives full credit to Elizabeth as the primary reason the New Bedford Film Festival exists. "Elizabeth's son is a filmmaker, and she really pushed for it ... but, that said, everybody was pretty much on board with it." Each person on the committee does a wonderful job and brings his or her own expertise to the table, Rebecca says. And this year's schedule reflects this eclectic, yet knowledgeable, approach. The series offers, in four locations, a number of short, medium-length and longer films in a variety of formats. Last night at the Cherry Building in downtown New Bedford, in addition to a grand opening ceremony featuring jazz stylist Lisa Soares, there was a variety of experimental VHS-format films. At 7 tonight, the series switches to the Zeiterion Theatre for a combination 16mm/VHS program. At 11 a.m. tomorrow, the series continues at Fairhaven's Bijou Theater, concentrating on 35mm films. Sunday's program at The Whaling Museum, scheduled to start at 11 a.m., promises to be the longest, with 15 pieces of varying lengths in both DVD and VHS formats. Tickets are $5 for each day's offerings. "One of the reasons for moving around is to have different types of projection available," Rebecca explains before I can even ask the question. "We have short subject videos and experimental films from 3 minutes to half an hour in length, by both local and national film and videomakers." Some are being seen for the very first time, while others have been shown at other venues such as the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. Three hundred people attended last year's first-ever New Bedford Film Festival; she expects many more this year. "We feel we have a great line-up and we hope the community will support the festival as part of the ongoing arts renaissance." Renaissance ... there's that word again. It is precisely what drew Rebecca Schade to New Bedford, in the first place. "There's lots of positive energy here," Rebecca says. "With so many working artists here right now, it's exciting." Certainly, on a personal level, as a photographer, she's shooting more now than she has in a long time, Rebecca clarifies. Again, it all comes back to the quality of New Bedford's light. She simply cannot resist. "I've always shot stills," she explains. "Always had my own darkroom ... I've shot black and white all my life." But besides the superb quality of light, New Bedford has an artistic heart and that really comes through, the designer articulates. Indeed, Rebecca Schade sums up with something many longtime SouthCoast residents have known all along: "It's so beautiful in this area that it's inspirational," she says earnestly. "The New Bedford area is the best kept secret in New England." For additional New Bedford Film Festival information, call (508) 99-0122. Hank Seaman paints "Portraits" for you every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. Telephone: 508 979 4504. E-mail: [email protected]