Amherst Native's Film to be Shown at NH Film Festival

Next month, a film co-produced by an Amherst native is going to be entered in the New Hampshire Film Festival next month as part of a special category designed for films that have ties to the Granite State.

Chris Prine, who grew up in Amherst and graduated from UNH in Durham in 2002, is a co-producer, editor of and actor in the film "Twenty Million People," which will make its New England Premiere at the film festival.

According to his biography on the Twenty Million People website:
"Chris is a writer, director, editor, actor, and composer who took home 'Best Web Series' and 'Best Comedy' at the Independent Television Festival in L.A. for Octane Pistols of Fury, also selected for the New York Television Festival. Previous work as a filmmaker: Man-Man (New York Television Festival), The Stryker Files, Sandwich of Terror, Scissor Cop. He also appeared in Wunderkrafthaus (New York Television Festival). A veteran of the popular video screening series Channel 101, Chris also heads up his own production company, Escape Pod Films."

The 75-minute long comedy follows the life of Brian, whose new girlfriend, a stand-up comedian, suddenly disappears. According to the film description, Brian enlists the help of his brokenhearted best friend (Prine) and imaginary characters from a cliché romantic comedy to find her.

In addition to earning a spot in this year's film festival, Prine has also had two short films in the first two New Hampshire Film Festivals, which at the time was called the New Hampshire Film Expo.

The small production crew has deep roots in New Hampshire as Director of photography Paul Rondeau and gaffer Nate Danilczuk (a Manchester native) both graduated from Keene State College.

According to the website for "Twenty Million People," it has won Best Feature at both the Maryland International Film Festival and the Cape Fear Independent Film Festival and it won the Home Grown Feature Award at the Garden State Film Festival. 

In addition to NHFF, it has also been selected for Cinequest Film Festival, the Raindance Film Festival, the Festival du Nouveau Cinema, The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, the Waterfront Film Festival, the Oaxaca Film Festival, the Bendfilm Festival and the Montclair Film Festival. 

The film will be featured at the the 13th-annual New Hampshire Film Festival, which takes place in Portsmouth, from Oct. 17 to Oct. 20.

New Hampshire Film Festival organizers have released the complete list of nearly 100 selected films that will be screened at several locations throughout the city during next month's festival.

The films listed here will be shown at The Music Hall, The Music Hall Loft, The Seacoast Repertory Theatre and the Moffatt-Ladd House, according to NHFF organizers.  

The festival is made up of two major competitions – the International competition held Friday, Oct. 18 to Sunday, Oct. 20, and the New Hampshire Night competition held on Thursday, Oct. 17. The International competition has five major categories: Feature Narratives, Feature Documentaries, Short Narratives, Short Documentaries and Animation. The New Hampshire Night competition is made up of all New Hampshire films and the NH program.

Here are the 2013 New Hampshire Film Festival selected films by category:

Feature Narratives

• Austenland directed by Jerusha Hess
• Awful Nice directed by Todd Sklar
• The Broken Circle Breakdown directed by Felix Van Groeningen
• Burma directed by Carlos Puga
• Circles directed by Srdan Golubovic
• Doomsdays directed by Eddie Mullins
• Drinking Buddies directed by Joe Swanberg
• The English Teacher directed by Craig Zisk
• Goodbye World directed by Denis Henry Hennely
• Great Expectations directed by Mike Newell
• Greetings From Tim Buckley directed by Daniel Algrant
• Kilimanjaro directed by Walter Strafford
• *Labor Day directed by Jason Reitman
• *Only Daughter directed by Aaron Wiederspahn
• Pasadena directed by Will Slocombe
• *Prince Avalanche directed by David Gordon Greene
• The Retrieval directed by Chris Eska
• Sal directed by Diego Rougier
• Sanatorium directed by Brant Sersen
• Touchy Feely Directed by Lynn Shelton
• The Truth About Emanuel directed by Francesca Gregorini
• Trap for Cinderella directed by Iain Softley
• *Twenty Million People directed by Michael Ferrell

*NH film criteria: subject or story about NH, significant portion of film is filmed in NH, major cast or crew from NH, director/producer/writer from NH; from NH means the person involved has spent over 1 year in New Hampshire

Also featured at the festival are:

Feature Documentaries

America's Longest War directed by Paul Feine

Blackfish directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite

Blood Brother directed by Steve Hoover

The Crash Reel directed by Lucy Walker

Elena directed by Petra Costa

Fire In The Blood directed by Dylan Mohan Gray

Forbidden Voices directed by Barbara Miller

How To Make Money Selling Drugs directed by Matthew Cooke

If You Build It directed by Patrick Creadon

The Kill Team directed by Dan Krauss

Life According To Sam directed by Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine

Linsanity directed by Evan Jackson Leong

Little Hope Was Arson directed by Theo Love

Losing Lebron directed by Nicole Hart

Maidentrip directed by Jillian Schlesinger

The Naked Brand directed by Sherng-Lee Huang, Jeff Rosenblum

Somm directed by Jason Wise

The Throwaways directed by Bhawin Suchak; Ira Mckinley

To Them That's Gone directed by Andrew Mckay

*Tom Rush: No Regrets directed by Rob Stegman

When I Walk directed by Jason DaSilva

*William And The Windmill directed by Ben Nabors

*NH film criteria: subject or story about NH, significant portion of film is filmed in NH, major cast or crew from NH, director/producer/writer from NH; from NH means the person involved has spent over 1 year in New Hampshire.

Short Narratives

Alive, Feeling Like A Buck Seventy Five directed by  Michael Neithardt

Allein directed by Stefan Langthaler

Amok directed by Käthe Niemeyer

*Another Grace & Johnny Adventure: Zombie Island! directed by Peter Soby, Jr.

Astarsaga directed by Asa Hjorleifsdottir

Death Of A Shadow directed by Tom Van Avermaet

Ellen Is Leaving directed by Michelle Savill

*Empyrean directed by Sophie Savage

*Epilogue directed by Dylan Allen

*Figments Of A Father directed by Kyle Turgeon

*Frames directed by Zachary Mehrbach

Great directed by Andreas Henn

*Here And Now directed by Julian Higgins

If We Were Adults directed by Michael Fitzgerald

*The Janitor directed by Mark Battle

Mud Lotus directed by Chris White

*Native Boy directed by Henry Roosevelt

Palimpsest directed by Michael Tyburski

Safe directed by Moon Byoung-gon

Salvatore directed by William Shermer

Setup, Punch directed by David Schlussel

Sex And Failures Shorts: Anal Breakup & Bicycle Hooker directed by David McHugh

The Shoemaker directed by Michael Kaves

*Slam Man directed by Alfred Thomas Catalfo

*Social Butterfly directed by Lauren Wolkstein

Troid directed by Fill Seifert

Tyrolean Riviera directed by Tatiana Von Furstenberg

*NH film criteria: subject or story about NH, significant portion of film is filmed in NH, major cast or crew from NH, director/producer/writer from NH; from NH means the person involved has spent over 1 year in New Hampshire.

Short Documentaries

High And Hallowed: Everest 1963 directed by Jake Norton

Irish Folk Furniture directed by Tony Donoghue

Maestra directed by Catherine Murphy

*Mozayik directed by Jon Bougher

*New England Blood directed by Ryan Scura

Slomo directed by Josh Izenberg

Who Shot Rock & Roll directed by Steven Kochones

*NH film criteria: subject or story about NH, significant portion of film is filmed in NH, major cast or crew from NH, director/producer/writer from NH; from NH means the person involved has spent over 1 year in New Hampshire.

Animation

Benjamin’s Flowers directed by Malin Erixon

The Cold Heart directed by Hannes Rall

The Missing Scarf directed by Eoin Duffy

*Moonlight Bait And Ammo directed by Alfred Thomas Catalfo

Oh Willy... directed by Mark James Roels, Emma De Swaef

*NH film criteria: subject or story about NH, significant portion of film is filmed in NH, major cast or crew from NH, director/producer/writer from NH; from NH means the person involved has spent over 1 year in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire Program

The New Hampshire Program consists of films that highlight the year’s uniquely NH productions, and up-and-coming NH filmmakers, producers, actors, and writers.  NH Program films are not part of the International competition. 

*A Coming Out Story directed by Corey Graff

*Click -- With Deb Cram directed by Lars Trodson

*De Rochement The Language Of News directed by Gary David Anderson

*Iceberg directed by Maya Rudolph

*It All Started With Mom directed by Catherine O'Brien

*Jim And The Genie directed by Athlene Ennis

*Ocean Boulevard directed by Simon Harling

*Patti And Me Minus Patti directed by Brian McAllister

*The People's Forest directed by David Huntly

*Pray Me Down directed by Dan Carr

*Q. Cross: The Painter Behind The Portraits directed by Patrick King

*Shuffle directed by Alex Bourgoin, Brandon Elliott, Tyler St. Onge, James Troy

*Something in the Way directed by Ronen Rubinstein

*Tech Roulette directed by Dan Deering

*Many Voices One Song directed by Nancy Pollock

*NH film criteria: subject or story about NH, significant portion of film is filmed in NH, major cast or crew from NH, director/producer/writer from NH; from NH means the person involved has spent over 1 year in New Hampshire.