NFF discusses filmmaking, writing with students
The Nantucket Film Festival continues to augment the cultural fabric of the island, long after the last film has screened over the summer. As part of the festival's outreach in the community, Executive Director Jill Burkhart and Artistic Director Mystelle Brabbee joined NFF Screenwriters Colony director and filmmaker Chase Palmer to speak with Nantucket students in English classes about the process of translating an idea into a film, from the conception to the fundraising to the execution. Underwritten by the Nantucket Children's Charity, the trio spoke to Ann Phaneuf's Nantucket High School freshman English class as well as Linda Zola's eighth grade English class at the Nantucket New School.

Nantucket Film Festival artistic director Mystelle Brabbee, far left, and director/writer Chase Palmer, far right, discuss the creative process of filmmaking at the High School on Tuesday. Above, Nantucket New School 8th-Graders listen to Chase after viewing his short film "Neo-Noir." Students include, from left, Drew Moore, Carly Jensen, Maddie Malenfant, Samantha Lockley and Haley Congdon. Seated at right is festival executive director Jill Burkhart.

Palmer, who is currently shooting a film about Alfred Hitchcock with Ewen McGregor called "No. 13," brought two of his short films to screen for the students: "Neo-Noir" (2002) and "Shock and Awe" (2004).

The former is a fun, fast and colorful pop-noir film set in the 1950s about a suicide investigation. The latter is about a family in Baghdad trying to eat dinner when a bombing run begins overhead; they take shelter under the table, the food cooling above them. The dialogue is entirely in Arabic, and the film is without subtitles. Palmer did this to elicit a universal sympathy independent of language: Most everyone knows what it's like to sit down to dinner with their family.

The classes responded with insight and maturity. "When I asked the kids why they thought I didn't use subtitles, they knew what I was trying to do," Palmer said.

Burkhart, who graduated from Nantucket High School in 1977, said the NFF is happy to be able to share the value of writing with Nantucket students.

"When you have any kind of program where kids are exposed to writing and filmmaking, it's a great opportunity to get kids excited about writing because they see how it can translate into art," she said.

- Marli Guzzetta