Started in 2000 by local business owner Rick Roth (Mirror Image, Inc.), and with the additional support of Herb Weiss from the city's Department of Planning and Redevelopment, the festival has helped the City of Pawtucket further its arts renaissance as well as bring back its once thriving film community. Pawtucket was previously home to eleven operating movie theaters, and when Rick discovered an under utilized theater at the Blackstone Valley Visitor's Center, he saw a great opportunity to bring the spirit of those former theaters back to life. "When we first started out, there were nights when the audience consisted of the filmmaker and my kids. Now we are filling Tolman Auditorium on opening night."

The PFF offers a truly diverse landscape of entertainment. Well connected in the film and music communities, Rick was the first to bring them both together as part of the same festival program.

"We've had anyone from The Dresden Dolls to Roger Miller from Mission to Burma play at the festival."

On any given night at the festival, the audience is treated to Academy Award nominees, such as Frozen River, to long forgotten Black Panther propaganda films from the 1960's. The 10th season was capped by the premiere of "Man with a Movie Camera," the groundbreaking Russian film from 1929, by director Dziga Vertov, projected and scored live by The Alloy Orchestra.

Staying true to its artist first nature, not only does the Pawtucket Film Festival not charge filmmaker's to enter, they are the only festival that pays their artists to participate. Each film presentation is not complete without a hosted Q&A with the filmmaker, be it in person or over the airwaves from around the world, the audience gets to participate in discussions about the making of the film, it's philosophy, or it's impact on the viewers.

"The thing I love about being involved with this festival is that we're not beholden to anyone. We'll show a movie that's 10 years old or we'll show one that we've shown before. It's not always about the latest and greatest. It's sometimes fun to dust something off in the attic and look at it again to see how you've changed around this piece of art that has stayed the same."

*2011 Schedule Information:*
True to form, The Pawtucket Film Festival offers music, movies, and more at every event. Patrons are provided with a unique festival T-Shirt, courtesy of Mirror Image Inc., an array of food from local sponsors such as Iggy's Bread, and beverages, which regularly includes beer donations from Sam Adams.

The full 2011 schedule will be released soon, but will include musician Dana Colley (formerly of the band Morphine) and Chip Hourihan, producer of the Academy Award nominated *Frozen River*. Also included at this year's fest will be a children's program hosted by Jacquie Schnabel, in which kids will get a hands-on movie making experience. Full schedule, when completed, can be found at www.thepff.com.

 

On September 24 - 25, 2011 from 11 am to 5 pm about 100 artists in the historic mills of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, are opening their studios to the public. Art Calendar Magazine included Pawtucket on its list of the 10 most artist-friendly locations in the nation. Through the support of city government and community leaders, artists are flocking from across the country to set up their studios in the spacious mill buildings that formerly served the city's textile industry.

Open studios : pawtucket offers visitors the opportunity to:

• View artwork
• Visit working studios
• Meet and talk with the artists
• Purchase art directly from the artists
• Attend special programs and demos in each mill
• Discover Pawtucket, home of Slater Mill and the Industrial Revolution

Participating Studios

• Lorraine Mill - 560 Mineral Spring Avenue
• Riverfront Lofts - 10 Exchange Court
• Blackstone Studio - 163 Exchange Street
• Hope Artiste Village - 1005 Main Street
• 545 Mill - 545 Pawtucket Avenue
• Montgomery Street Studios - 75 Montgomery Street
• Click Here to Download a Map

For more information, go to: www.openstudiospawtucket.org