A Premiere in Pittsfield, NH

Last night Pittsfield Middle High School premiered our video In Charge, the first of what we hope to be six longitudinal videos documenting different aspects of their work redesigning their school around student-centered learning.

The event was a lot of fun - they literally rolled out a red carpet!  We had a great discussion that included school staff, families, leaders from the NH Department of Education, and representatives from project funder Nellie Mae Education Foundation.

The 13-minute video shows how this small rural school uses Student-Led Conferences, in which students prepare a portfolio of work and lead a presentation with their parents, adviser, and an invited guest. Attendance at the conferences is much higher than that of previous Parent-Teacher Conferences.

We are currently in production on two more videos: on one the school district's administrative re-organization that replaced its two principals with a Dean of Instruction and a Dean of Operations; and one about its Extended Learning Opportunities program, in which students can pursue job shadows, internships, and community service for high school credit.

Festival Update

We are excited to announce that Indelible Lalita will be screening at hree more festivals: the Arpa International Film Festival, the Mumbai Women's International Film Festival, and the Arlington International Film Festival! Please check out our website for more details on our upcoming screenings. 

Lalita in a Park

What fun to show Indelible Lalita outdoors for the first time - at Dover Street Park in Oakland, California, which has occasional public events and an awesome community garden!

Student-Led Conferences

In Charge: Student-Led Conferences at Pittsfield Middle High School from Julie Mallozzi on Vimeo.

Hot off the press - a new video we created for Pittsfield Middle High School  in rural New Hampshire, which is undergoing major school change towards more student-centered learning. The video showcases the school's use of Student-Led Conferences, in which high school students prepare a portfolio of work and lead a presentation with their parents, advisor, and invited guest. Attendance at the conferences is far higher than the school ever experienced with traditional Parent-Teacher Conferences.

We are producing a series of longitudinal videos documenting several aspects of Pittsfield MHS's amazing transformation. These pieces, generally 5-15 minutes in length, go far beyond the typical promotional web video. They aim to help schools around the country learn from Pittsfield's experience, and possibly replicate some of the changes themselves.

The project is funded in part by the Nellie Mae Educational Foundation, and produced in collaboration with Jane Feinberg at Full Frame Communications.

Behind the Doc Lens Launched

The new web series Behind the Doc Lens has launched, with the goal of "demystifying the world of documentary filmmaking." I was interviewed for episode 5, about my film Indelible Lalita, and it's live this week - check it out!

This was a lot of fun to do, and I admire producer Isabel Garcia for taking on such an ambitious project.

Driff Records Festival

Just got home from a great time at the Driff Records Festival, launching four new CDs.  I had never seen a drum trio before this one - with Curt Newton, Eric Rosenthal, and Luther Gray - and I loved it.  I found the music from Pandelis Karayorgis's new CD Cocoon concise, poetic, and beautifully played.  And this was the first time I heard my husband's new group BOLT, a high-energy dose of complex improvisation.

The format was fun, with five short sets in three hours, and breaks for drinks and snacks in between.  Looking forward to more "transatlantic improvisation" from Driff!

Associate Producer Minhae Shim

Congratulations to Minhae Shim on her recent graduation from UMass Boston!  Minhae has been working with us for two and a half years, doing everything from web design to assistant editing, copyediting, production assistance, and graphic design. And I'm very pleased that she is staying on at Julie Mallozzi Productions as Associate Producer.

Pictured above is Minhae's very cool installation Video Sasson, which she describes as "a phantasmagorical meditation on media, remediation, and the editing process. Discarded strips of videotape are repurposed to create a screen through which a digital video is projected. In the video, newly severed pieces of hair float across the screen to the tune of a familiar funeral ballad that has been rendered unrecognizable by the editing process. The work uses the inescapably human material of hair to comment on the omnipresence of media and its evolution, and to connect video editing to a familiar, tactile experience." I saw the piece at the Nowhere/No Here show at the Harbor Art Gallery in January, and loved its very concrete yet ethereal presence. Minhae's film Color Theory (co-directed with Danny Roth) won the 2013 Short Waves competition and will screen at the Boston Asian American Film Festival in October. In addition to her production work, Minhae is an active writer (see her recent piece in the Independent or her blog).

It's great to work with people you admire!