 Preacher Jack/ Musician/ Music
Preacher Jack bio from www.myspace.com/preacherjack
“’Preacher’ Jack Lincoln Coughlin was born Feb 12, 1942 and grew up in Malden MA (now residing in the lovely seaside town of Salem Ma). Known as much for his rambling, sometimes mind numbing, recitations and righteous holier-than-tho diatribes on life & love as for his brilliant "boogie-woogie" style piano playing, Jack has thrilled and mystified fans for well over 45 years with his often over the top performances and self taught country style and honky-tonk tales (Jack is also the possessor of an encyclopedic knowledge of classic honky-tonk, rockabilly and boogie-woogie.)
Now signed to Bill Hunt's Cow Island Music -- a new CD, Pictures From Life's Other Side, has just been released -- Jack has also recorded for Ken Irwin's Rounder Records and for Black Rose Records, which is run by Al Cocorochio (Jack's friend and former Manager). Influenced by people as diverse as The Hillbilly Bard Hank Williams to Liberace, from Mahalia Jackson to Jerry Lee Lewis, Jack's sets often reflected the mood he was in or (in most cases) WHATEVER came to his fingertips first.”
 Chip Hourihan/ Frozen River/ Feature
Synopsis from Rottentomatoes.com
Courtney Hunt's feature directorial debut FROZEN RIVER is a powerfully unflinching tale of two women, who, driven by economic hardship, form an unlikely partnership smuggling illegal immigrants smuggling illegal immigrants across the Canadian border. Melissa Leo turns in a gritty performance as Ray, a struggling dollar-store cashier and mother living in a trailer home in upstate New York who is desperate to make ends meet. When Ray's gambling-addicted husband runs off with the family's payment on a new doublewide trailer, her life quickly spirals into a financial tailspin. During a frenzied search for her deadbeat spouse, she apprehends Lila (Misty Upham), a Mohawk Indian from an area reservation, attempting to steal her car. In the process of taking back her vehicle, she learns of Lila's smuggling operation through an unpatrolled corridor within Mohawk territory--the frozen St. Lawrence River that forms part of the border between the U.S. and Canada. Out of necessity, they form an uneasy alliance: Ray, working to meet the payment's deadline, and Lila, who scrambles to earn money to redeem herself to her estranged in-laws and infant child. Within a stark, mostly minimalist screenplay, Hunt seamlessly works in contemporary anxieties: economic recession, immigration, and trafficking. As the plot heats up, the stakes Ray and Lila encounter get higher and the danger, more real. FROZEN RIVER is more than a somber meditation on lives in peril, it's a complex portrait of women from different walks of life struggling to find their ethical bearings in a harsh, unforgiving, and corrupt world.
Review of Frozen River: http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/movies/01froz.html
Profile of Chip Hourihan: www.imdb.com/name/nm1165220/
Interivew with Chip Hourihan: http://www.fest21.com/en/blog/sharonabella/interview_with_chip_hourihanproducer_along_with_heather_rae_of_frozen_river
Melissa Lohman Wild/ Rooftop Bees/ Short
Melissa Lohman's Blog: www.melissalohmanwild.com/index.php
About Melissa Lohman: www.melissalohmanwild.com/about.php
Melissa Lohman Wild first picked up a video camera as a teenager at a community access station in her hometown of Somerville, Massachusetts and she has been involved in image-making ever since. She studied media theory and production at Hampshire College, where she produced her thesis documentary, Look This Way, and received a B.A. in 1992. After college she worked for several years in independent film production in New York City, working in the art department on such films as Steve Buscemi’s Tree’s Lounge, Jim McKay’sGirlstown, and Hal Hartley’s Henry Fool. In 2000 Melissa began teaching documentary video production to New York City public high school students while enrolled in the Media Studies graduate program at New School University, where she produced her graduate thesis film,Grandpa’s Apartment and received an M.A. in 2002. Melissa continues to make short films and to teach youth media through Downtown Community Television Center. While film-making is her vocation, Melissa is happiest when she is cutting up pieces of paper and glueing them together. Her crafty interests include collage, mail art, and screen printing. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, son, and cat.
About her documenary Rooftop Bees:
www.melissalohmanwild.com/film.php#rooftopBees
John has an unusual hobby for a longtime resident of New York City. As a way to connect to nature within the city, he maintains three beehives on his Brooklyn rooftop. Following John the beekeeper as he examines his bees’ in their hives, laboriously harvests their honey, and then sells the local honey in his Forte Greene neighborhood, Rooftop Bees gives a glimpse into the practice of urban beekeeping and shows how John’s bees are helping to pollinate the Big Apple.
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