MASS MoCA and the Williamstown Film Festival (WFF) live down the street from each other, were both born in 1999, and are considered major artistic centers—obviously they have become good friends with one another.
This weekend marks the beginning of the 13th Williamstown Film Festival, with two films premiering at MASS Moca, We Need to Talk About Kevin on Saturday, October 22 at 8pm and Never Stand Still on Friday, October 28 at 8pm.
In honor of these events, let’s examine the history of the MASS MoCA + WFF relationship, taking a look at which films and events we have hosted as a part of the festival!
2000
Shadow of the Vampire: Retelling of the making of horror classic Nosferatu, whose director F.W. Murnau, played by John Malkovich, employed a real vampire to play the lead role
2001
Tape: A group of old friends, Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Robert Sean Leonard, reunite at a motel in Michigan where they uncover secrets and lies they have carried since high school
Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes: Â In this suburban film noir insurance agent Hutchinson Rimes, played by Stephen Weber, gets involved in murder plans, as well as his secretaries
2002
The Perfect You: Jenny McCarthy and Chris Eigemann are two single New Yorkers who hate each other, but somehow can’t avoid hooking up with each other
2003
The Event: Olympia Dukakis and Parker Posey star in this emotional film which asks how can people choose to die if the voluntary election of death is illegal
2004
Frankenstein: BQE Project performs an original, live score to the 1931 horror classic
2005
The Dying Gaul: A screenwriter is offered a million dollars for a script, the personal story of his lover who died of AIDS, but only if he changes the film’s male character into a woman
2006
Blackmail: The Alloy Orchestra use horseshoes, truck springs, radiator pipes, sheet metal, and vacuum cleaner canisters to play a live soundtrack to Hitchcock’s first film with sound
2007
Grace is Gone: The story of Stanley Phillips, portrayed by Cusack, a patriot and father of two, who is overwhelmed when he gets news that his wife, Grace, has been killed in the Iraq war
Nosferatu: Hailed by many as the greatest vampire movie of all time, Alloy Orchestra perform a chilling original score to this classic 1922 horror film.
2008
Phoebe in Wonderland: Elle Fanning stars as a nine-year-old whose fascination with Alice in Wonderland is not only an identification with the character, but a link to her mother (Felicity Huffman) who is writing a book about Lewis Carroll’s classic work. When she is cast in a school play version of Alice in Wonderland, her obsession becomes her reality
Gotta Dance: Documenting the New Jersey Nets’ first ever senior hip-hop dance team from auditions to stardom
2009
La Nave de los Monstruos (the Ship of Monsters): ETHEL, the rock-postclassical string quartet, performs their original score to the Mexican sci-fi classic of when two hot women from Venus land in Mexico on the search for other- worldly men
Against the Current: Seeking emotional closure, a young man decides to swim the length of the Hudson River accompanied by two friends in a boat
2010
Alec Baldwin & Robert Osborne: Revisiting Billy Wilder:  Alec Baldwin and Robert Osborne talk with WFF’s executive director Steve Lawson about legendary director Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot, Sabrina, Sunset Boulevard, The Lost Weekend), show clips from Wilder’s extraordinary career, and take questions from the audience
House of Usher: The 1960 cult film of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic is a masterpiece of madness, debauchery, and weird family dynamics, with Marco Benevento performing a new original score.
Posted October 18, 2011 by MASS MoCA
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