NH Film Festival Bigger and Better Than Ever

Hollywood will meet up with Portsmouth when the 12th annual New Hampshire Film Festival rolls out the red carpet on Thursday morning for movie stars and Granite State filmmakers.

The four-day festival runs through Sunday, Oct. 14 and is expected to draw between 6,000 and 9,000 people to the city, according to Nicole Gregg, the festival's executive director. Patch will have coverage everyday right through Sunday.

Gregg said the festival is bigger and better than ever because it will have more films, more venues and two-thirds of the films' directors will be in attendance, which is up from previous years.

A total of 102 films will be screened at the Music Hall, the Music Hall Loft, the Moffatt-Ladd House, and the Seacoast Repertory Theater. In addition, the NHFF 2012 panels and workshops will take place at the Discover Portsmouth Center.

Thanks to a combination of social media marketing tools and word of mouth among the movie-making community, Gregg said the 12-year-old festival has grown substantially and has a much broader reach. It has evolved into an event appreciated by tourists and Portsmouth area residents.

"We are creating a world class film festival experience like Sundance in a quaint, old world seaside village," Gregg said. "We have high expectations of what we do and what we present. Once you go, you want to come back."

New Hampshire Day and Night, featuring a selection of films either created by a New Hampshire resident, acted in by a New Hampshire resident or filmed in the Granite State, kicks off the festival on Thursday. The films will be shown from 10:45 a.m. to 9:50 p.m. before the New Hampshire Night awards ceremony is held.

Portsmouth area filmmakers whose work will be featured include Mike Venn and Marc Dole for In Danger of Being Discovered; John Herman for Coming of Age; Freddie Catalfo for Rocketship; Ryan Scura for Salmon Theory; Alexander Keown for Dance Lady; and Alex Mallis for Spoils: Extraordinary Harvest.

Some of the stars who will attend this year’s festival include actor and writer Mike O’Malley, actor and director Tommy Chong, and novelist and memoirist Joyce Maynard of Durham.

Gregg said O’Malley’s film, “Certainty” will be shown on Thursday night and the director will do a question and answer session following the screening. Other  highlights include the New Hampshire premier of “Celeste & Jesse Forever” starring Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg. Austin Chick's “Girls Against Boys” will be shown on Saturday night.

On Friday night, Maynard will serve as screenplay competition grandeur, or head judge, according to Gregg. She will also give a reading of her new novel, "Labor Day," at River Run Bookstore from 5:30 to 7 p.m., which is sponsored by Granite State SoFFA, which is the New Hampshire Society of Female Film Artists.

On Saturday night, Chong will participate in a comedy panel discussion at the Discover Portsmouth Center along with Dale Launer, who wrote the screenplays for "My Cousin Vinnie" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Chong's two daughters, Rae Dawn Chong and Precious Chong.

More information about the New Hampshire Film Festival is available at www.nhfilmfestival.com. 

The after parties for the festival will be held at restaurants around Portsmouth. On Thursday, the NHPTV New Hampshire Night party will be hosted at Flatbread Co. restaurant, on Friday Absolut Vodka will be sponsoring the after party at The Portsmouth Gaslight Nightclub, and the Saturday night Moet & Chandon party will be hosted by Martingale Wharf, the newest addition to Portsmouth’s waterfront dining scene. The VIP brunch (VIP pass holders only) will be held at the 100 Club.

Tickets and passes are available now through The Music Hall box office at 603-436-2400, or online at www.themusichall.org.