It was a ridiculously beautiful Indian summer Saturday when I followed through on my promise to myself to attend Newburyport’s Northern Lights Documentary Film Festival. After a few detours, I was late for the noon movie, so festival producer Michelle Fino directed me to the 1 p.m. film, “the breast cancer movie.” I blanched. “It’s good,” she assured. Walking through town from the festival’s HQ at the Firehouse Center for the Arts to the Screening Room, I started thinking about why I was struggling to go inside, since I love documentaries. The problem is— sunny weather and recent hit documentaries about penguins and spelling bee champions and juvenile ballroom dancers aside— they’re rarely alluring and, worse yet, they ask something of us. No one at the cineplex cares if you or I show up. But documentaries want interaction, participation, they want us to change. They want to tell us that our society accepts a 50 percent increase in the breast cancer rate since the 1940s (“One in Eight”). They introduce us to people we’d ordinarily overlook, like birders and bakers (“Life List,” “The Bakers of Montreal”) or a woman in prison for smuggling other people (“Veronica’s Thread”). They want us to see that one person, even an undereducated youth in a drug-infested favela, has the power to change things for thousands more (“Favela Rising”). Attendance was low this year—the Red Sox were playing, blue skies were calling—but yeah, it was worth it.
When Lake Trout hits Red Hook Brewery on Friday, try to picture their next video. It might be made by Stefan Glidden, Rochester native and Boston University graduate. The former film student has hit the real world with a series of projects in process, including a project for a Lake Trout music video. He met the band at a show about a year and a half ago. “I loved their music, so I wanted to chat with them about movies and music, because their music is very cinematic at times,” he says. They’re still in the planning process, but in the meantime you can catch Glidden’s work at NHFX, where “S. Katz, V.P.” (his senior thesis) will play on Friday night.

Local production company Laurelin Films (“Golyadkin”) seeks “a TON of extras” for the final wedding scene of their current independent feature, a comedy. According to principal Ti Chase, the company needs about 200 extras dressed for a wedding (no children, please) at the First Congregational Church of Barrington, on Route 9, ½ mile west of Route 125. For more information, write This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Back Lot Films’ Bill Millios is entering pre-production on his third feature, “Death & Glory,” set for release in the summer of 2007. But the real big news for the Goffstown-based producer is that “Dangerous Crosswinds,” his 2005 release, has been chosen to be part of a new weekly television series highlighting independent films. The series is a joint experiment between Comcast and Film Baby. “Dangerous Crosswinds” and seven other films, chosen from a pool of several hundred movies, will air on Comcast’s cable service in Oregon and Washington. After the airing, it will be available for one week on their on-demand service. If the initial run goes well, the plan is to expand the series to 13.5 million Comcast subscribers nationwide by year end. If you missed it on its summer tour through independent theaters around the state, “Dangerous Crosswinds” will return to the Palace Theatre in Manchester on Jan. 12.
—Karen Marzloff