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Alumni News

Maine Media Alum is Showrunner for Upcoming Oprah's Master Class

Director and producer Annetta Marion took our Directing Episodic Televison workshop in 2011, and recently dropped us a line to fill us in on her latest project. After a decade directing and producing documentary, reality and narrative television as well as narrative film, commercials and music videos, Annetta is now working as the showrunner/supervising producer (and also often segment director) for season 3 of Oprah's Master Class. The series, which airs on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, profiles entertainment icons including Alicia Keyes, Cindy Crawford, and Tom Brokaw. Tune into her latest episode on Stevie Nicks, which airs on Sunday, March 24 at 10pm. Congratulations, Annetta!

Announcing the Spirit of Place Contest Winners!

We were thrilled to announce the winners of our Spirit of Place photo and video competition on March 15th. Thanks to everyone who entered, our talented jurors, and our generous sponsors! More than 3,800 images and videos were submitted to 11 competition categories from image-makers around the world.

Click here to see all the winning images and videos.

Over $25,000 in prizes will be awarded in a special ceremony on June 7 at Maine Media Workshops + College, along with an exhibition in the Maine Media Gallery in Rockport Village. In addition to landscape, seascape, people/culture, portfolio, and youth categories, the competition also included a category devoted to Midcoast Maine. Images and videos submitted for that prize will be donated to create an archive hosted by the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce and available to businesses and nonprofits in the community to promote the midcoast region.

The 11 contest winners are a diverse group of professional and recreational image-makers who hail from six different states, and as far away as Denmark, Germany, and Israel. “We are very pleased with the response to this contest from people all over the U.S. and many other countries around the world and impressed by the quality of images and videos selected by our jurors,” said Meg Weston, president of Maine Media Workshops + College.

Contest Winners

Photo, Portfolio Grand Prize: John Hirsch, Roslindale, MA

Photo, Youth Grand Prize: Kenan Lynch, Grantsboro, NC

Video, Adult Grand Prize: Kwaku Alston, Venice Beach, CA

Video, Youth Grand Prize: Noah LePage, New Sharon, ME

Photo, Landscape: Joseph Mullan, Wilmington, DE

Photo, Seascape: Doron Talmi, Herzliya, Israel

Photo, People/Culture: Sandra White, Bath, ME

Photo, Abstract Expression: Jim Blackstock, Brentwood, TN

Photo, Midcoast Maine: Pamela Heemskerk, Damascus, MD

Video, Midcoast Maine: Derek Kimball, Portland, ME

Video, General: Christian Biernath-Wüpping, Sonderburg, Denmark

…Plus 64 Honorable Mentions!

An esteemed panel of nine jurors representing the fine art, documentary, film, and television professions selected winners. “I was struck by the versatility and expansive points of view that suffused the work I reviewed,” said Norton Museum of Art Curator Tim Wride. “The portfolio submissions, in particular, were thoughtful and inventive, often coupled with a risky sense of depth and complication.” Ben Fowlie, founder and director of the Camden International Film Festival, noted “the quality of the work was exceptional, and provided a glimpse inside both local and global communities.”

Jurors

Stacey Baker, Associate Photo Editor, New York Times Magazine

Roger Dell, Director of Education, Farnsworth Art Museum

Charlotte Dixon, Artist and Educator

Edward Earle, Curator of Collections, International Center of Photography

Ben Fowlie, Founder & Director, Camden International Film Festival

Patricia Luchsinger, Producer, NBC Today

Jessica May, Curator of Contemporary & Modern Art, Portland Museum of Art

Laura Ozment Schenck, Executive Producer of Television & Special Projects, Maine Public Broadcasting Network

Tim B. Wride, William & Sarah Ross Soter Curator of Photography, Norton Museum of Art

 

The contest was sponsored by B&H Photo Video & Pro Audio and Blurb, and ran from October 2012 to February 2013. The competition’s award ceremony will be held on June 7, kicking off a round of festivities celebrating Maine Media Workshops + College’s 40th Anniversary. Contest winners will have their work exhibited at the Maine Media Gallery in Rockport, as well as in an online gallery and eBook. A portion of the contest’s proceeds will fund scholarships for Maine Media students.


Did you miss out on our Spirit of Place competition? Don't worry! We'll be announcing our next competition, Dreams, soon. Stay tuned! 

 

Winning Spirit of Place Images Showcased in Blurb eBook. How About Yours?

We'd like to thank Blurb for sponsoring our Spirit of Place contest, and add that we're really looking forward to seeing the winning photographs in an ebook that designer Mat Thorne is creating with Blurb's fabulous self-publishing tools.

What we really like about Blurb is that it gives you the option to work within other programs, like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, or Lightroom in a pdf to book workflow. You can create hardcover or paperback books, even ebooks--the design possibilities are practically limitless. Want to learn more about how to design your own photo book with Blurb? Click here or sign up for Mat Thorne's Advanced Book Design with Blurb workshop, happening here this August!

Your Words are the Lens

You already know that Maine Media is the very best place to hone your filmmaking, photography and design skills, to learn from the masters and push yourself to the next level of your craft.  But did you know that we also offer some of the best writing workshops around? Whether you're working on a screenplay, memoir, stand-up comedy routine, or novel, our instructors will help you break through those blocks and develop your own unique, personal voice. 

Learn screenplay structure, character development, as well as the art of pitching your project from accomplished screenwriter and director Wayne Beach. Beach has written screenplays for Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Disney, and TNT, developed projects for both film and television, and directed a film based on his own screenplay. We're thrilled to have him back with us again this summer, teaching basic and advanced screenwriting courses to adults as well as Young Artists. 

Take a class with four-time Emmy Award-winning comedy writer Steve O'Donnell, and you'll at least make your friends happier to be with you. The long-time head writer for both David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel, O'Donnell has also written for The Chris Rock Show, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and Sports Show with Norm Macdonald. And of all audiences to practice on, we really do think we're the best. If we don't laugh, it's just because our mouths are too full of lobster.  

Also new to Maine Media this summer is essayist, syndicated columnist, novelist, and storyteller Joyce Maynard. Maynard's Personal Storytelling workshop is offered as a one or two week intensive, with the first week open to all levels of writers. You'll not only have time to write during Maynard's workshop, but you'll also learn to identify your best material, develop the tools of a good editor, and participate in oral storytelling events, building not just a connection to your own story, but also to the journey of your audience.

 

New Monograph by Gary Briechle


Maine Media photography alum Gary Briechle has just published a striking new monograph, Gary Briechle, with Twin Palms Publishers | Twelvetrees Press. Tim Whelan, owner of Tim Whelan's Photography Books located within the Maine Media Gallery, gives it a great review:

For the past ten years, Gary Briechle has been photographing daily life on the streets of midcoast Maine. Briechle took workshops with Debbie Caffery, Norman Mauskopf, and Andrea Modica. They helped him connect with gifted book maker Jack Woody, the founder of Twin Palms Press,  now recognized as one of the worlds finest photography book publishers. Gary’s brilliant and unflinching photography, and Jack’s exceptional design, sequencing, and editing have crafted a powerful book featuring 65 of Briechle's most stunning photographs. These are tough, beautiful images of Gary’s sons and parents, as well as young people he photographed while driving around the area with his large format camera and darkroom in the back of his car. Photographing in wet plate collodion, the images are intuitive, done with an enthusiasm, and deeply felt. They offer a glimpse into his unique insight and vision. This book reminds me of first seeing the work of Diane Arbus in her Aperture monograph. It is striking, and it will grow on you. The book is printed using two different paper stocks. A matte paper used for some of Gary’s journal extracts, and a high gloss varnish applied to the image area on a black paper that convey the feel of his glass plates. They seem to float on the page.
 
Signed copies of Gary Briechle are available for $60.00 in the Maine Media Workshops Gallery, or can be ordered by calling 207-763-4192, or emailing photobks@midcoast.com.

Alumni News

 

Gabriela Bohm Featured at Maine Jewish Film Festival

Maine Media MFA graduate and filmmaker Gabriela Bohm will be presenting her new documentary, In Raquel's Footsteps, at the 16th annual Maine Jewish Film Festival being held March 9-16 in Portland. Bohm's film tells the story of Raquel Liberman, one of more that 30,000 Jewish women who were lured from Europe into Argentinean prostitution rings run by Jewish criminals.

Join us in welcoming Bohm at a reception prior to the screening at the Maine Historical Society, 489 Congress St., on March 14 at 4:15pm. Bohm will also be part of the Women Filmmakers Forum Panel held on March 10 at the Nickelodeon Cinemas, 1 Temple St., Portland, at 11:30am.

Watch a trailer of In Raquel's Footsteps, and a trailer for other films featured during the Maine Jewish Film Festival.

MMW Alumni Reunite On ESPN Set

Filmmakers Kevin McRoberts and Jordan Gantz, who met in Bestor Cram's Documentary Camera course in 2010, recently teamed up with MMW Production Sound Mixing alum, Matt Daly, to shoot a 30-second player feature for ESPN's Under Armor High School All American Football Game. Shot at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, their nationally broadcast profile features Christian Hackenberg, one of the country's top high school football recruits. We're thrilled to hear that they've kept up with each other, and put their Maine Media connections to work!

Upcoming Maine Jewish Film Festival Features Maine Media MFA Grad

This year's Maine Jewish Film Festival, running from March 9-16 in Portland, will feature Maine Media MFA graduate Gabriela Bohm and her documentary, In Raquel's Footsteps. Bringing to light for the first time the story of one Jewish woman among more than 30,000 who were lured from Europe into Argentinean prostitution rings run by Jewish criminals, Bohm's film traces Raquel Liberman's journey from wife and mother, through exploitation, and finally to defiant freedom. Join us in welcoming Bohm at a reception prior to the screening, at the Maine Historical Society, 489 Congress St., Portland, on March 14 at 4:15pm. The film will be screened at 5:15pm, followed by a discussion with Bohm. Bohm will also be part of the Women Filmmakers Forum Panel held on March 10 at the Nickelodeon Cinemas, 1 Temple St., Portland, at 11:30am.

Be sure to check the Maine Jewish Film Festival's website for festival updates and tickets. 

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