24th Annual Nantucket Film Festival Announces All Female Lineup For 2019 Screenwriters Tribute
The Nantucket Film Festival (NFF) has announced a complete female slate of honorees and focus for the 2019 Screenwriters Tribute, one of the festival’s tentpole events. Saturday Night Live writers and performers Jane Curtin, Anne Beatts, Sudi Green, and Sarah Schneider will be awarded the Creative Impact in Television Award, which will be presented by Cecily Strong; and screenwriter and film producer Leslie Dixon will receive the Screenwriters Tribute Award, presented by actresses Brittany Snow and Nikki Blonsky, who starred opposite each other in Hairspray. The Screenwriters Tribute will take place on Saturday, June 22 as part of the festival, which takes place June 19 – 24, celebrating the art of screenwriting and storytelling in cinema and television, on a beautiful island rich with history.
In a writer’s room that has been often seen as a boy’s club, these women have distinguished themselves with notable and hilarious wit, sketches, jokes, deliveries and performances. Curtin, an Emmy-Award-winning and Golden Globe nominated actress, was a SNL regular from 1975-1980 when she debuted as one of the original members of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. Curtin has also starred in films and TV series including 3rd Rock From The Sun, Kate & Allie, Coneheads, and I Love You, Man. Beatts is an Emmy-Award-winning and WGA-winning writer who joined the creative team at SNL in the early years and was part of the show from 1975-1979. Schneider was a writer with SNL from 2011-2017 and youngest co-head writers in the show’s history and is the co-creator of Comedy Central’s latest sitcom The Other Two. Emmy-Award-nominated writer Green is currently a writer at SNL, starting her career with the show in 2015. Strong has been an SNL series regular since 2012, known for her characters Cathy Anne on “Weekend Update” and Gemma. She has also appeared in the reboot of Ghostbusters, The Bronze, and The Boss. Previous recipients of the award include Beau Willimon, Jeffrey Klarik, and David Crane.
The festival’s prestigious Screenwriters Tribute Award is given to a screenwriter whose writing has had a distinct impact on the landscape of cinema. With a career spanning over 30 years in the industry Dixon’s resume of work includes notable titles from Mrs. Doubtfire, Hairspray, The Thomas Crown Affair, and Overboard to Outrageous Fortune, Freaky Friday, and The Heartbreak Kid. Previous recipients of the award include Noah Baumbach, Nancy Meyers, Tom McCarthy, Oliver Stone, David O. Russell, Judd Apatow, Paul Haggis, Aaron Sorkin, and Steve Martin, among others. Actresses Brittany Snow and Nikki Blonsky will present her with the award. Snow is known for her roles in the Pitch Perfect series and directed a short film Milkshake playing at NFF. Blonsky has also starred in films, including Waiting For Forever and Geography Club.
Americana: A New Voice For A New Nation to Debut at Historic Yarmouth New Church
A six-part voice and verse series, following the arc of American music, is being presented in the beautifully restored Gothic Revival styled Yarmouth New Church (originally built around 1870 for a congregation of the Swedenborgian faith). Audiences will hear an extensive range of music from six distinct historic movements: the fife and drums, sacred songs and fiddle tunes of The Revolutionary War; the soldier songs, songs of freedom, and songs of home from The Civil War; the rallying songs for Suffrage, Abolition, Unions and the religious revival of the Third Great Awakening; the profound cultural contributions of American Immigrants; the wild new freedoms and fun of the Roaring 20s; and the Dustbowl blues, movie musicals and Broadway tunes of the 1930s. Excerpts from prose and poetry will enhance the music of each era. Performances take place at 5 p.m. on the following Sundays: June 9, July 14, August 11, September 15, and October 13. Tickets ($20) and series passes ($90) are available at the door or online at yarmouthportcommon.org. website. A portion of the proceeds will go to the restoration of the historic church building. The Yarmouth New Church is located at 266 Main St., Yarmouth Port. Visit the New Church website for more information about the series and the ongoing restoration efforts.
Storycorps Launches “Stonewall Outloud” to Record the Stories of LGBTQ Elders for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots
StoryCorps, the groundbreaking effort to document the American story, which has given 500,000 Americans across all 50 states the chance to record conversations about their lives and preserve them for future generations, is preparing to launch Stonewall OutLoud, a participatory initiative to gather the stories of LGBTQ elders before they are lost to history.
This June, in honor of the 50th anniversary of what became known as the Stonewall Riots, StoryCorps will ask people across the country to use the free StoryCorps mobile App to record the stories of people within the LGBTQ community who were born before the events of Stonewall. Each of these interviews will become a permanent part of American history at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Stonewall OutLoud will reach deep into LGBTQ communities across the country to ensure that as wide a collection of voices as possible are recorded and preserved. With special emphasis given to rural communities, communities of color, and transgender elders, the initiative seeks to connect older and younger generations through the powerful StoryCorps interview experience, preserve these stories for the future, and share the voices of the LGBTQ community with a broad general audience through educational and broadcast partnerships.
The StoryCorps App enables anyone, anywhere to record conversations with another person for archiving at the Library of Congress. The app guides users through the interview experience, from recording to archiving to sharing their stories with the world. It provides easy-to-use tools to help people prepare interview questions; record high-quality conversations on their mobile devices; and upload the audio to the archive.storycorps.orgwebsite which serves as a home for these recordings and also provides interview and editing resources. Individuals and organizations can pledge to take part at storycorps.org/outloud.
