Good Morning Gloucester

Don’t Forget The Farmers’ Market Tomorrow!

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Rockport, Massachusetts

You Be the Judge!

Filmgoers in Rockport, Massachusetts, will unite with audiences in over 300 cities spanning six continents to view and judge the work of the next generation of filmmakers from around the world when the 15th Annual MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival screens at The Shalin Liu Performance Center Sun Sept 30 at 3:00pm & 7:00pm and the following Friday Oct 5th at 8:00pm. For tickets, please visit the Rockport Music website at http://www.rockportmusic.org or call the box office at 978-546-7391.

Out of 520 entries received from 49 countries around the world, MANHATTAN SHORT selected ten short films as finalists. Each film is 18 minutes or under in length. Countries represented this year include Norway, The Netherlands, Russia, England, Ireland, Peru, France, Romania, Spain and the USA, in what festival organizers describe as the “United Nations of Film Festivals.”

These short films will not only entertain a global audience, but will be judged by them as well. Filmgoers will be handed a voting card upon entry and asked to vote for the one film they feel should win. Votes are tallied at each participating cinema and submitted to festival headquarters where the winner will be announced in New York City, as well as posted on the net at http://www.ManhattanShort.com on Sunday, October 7th, at 10:00 PM.

With past finalists achieving the ultimate in recognition by being nominated and even winning the Oscar in the short film category, the Manhattan Short has become known as a breeding ground for the next big thing.

In one week, over 100,000 people from as far north as St. Petersburg, Russia, to as far south as Buenos Aires, Argentina, as far east as Kathmandu, Nepal, and as far west as Perth, Australia, to over 150 cinemas in 47 US States will come together to view and vote on these 10 films. “While the goal of any festival is to discover and promote new talent, the real aim of this festival is bringing communities together via stories from around the world,” says Nicholas Mason, MANHATTAN SHORT founder and director.

“Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that what started as a small, relatively simple event when I projected a handful of short films onto the side of a truck on a downtown Manhattan street 15 years ago, would grow into what it is today, with communities all over the world getting together to celebrate via ten short films…it’s become like Earth Day—but with film,” adds Mason.

For more information on the Festival and to read detailed interviews with the 10 Finalists visit http://www.ManhattanShort.com or click on the following links: 

Download 300 dpi stills of the finalists’ films – http://www.manhattanshort.com/p_press_finalist_stills.html
                              To see a list of cinemas taking part in 2012 – http://www.manhattanshort.com/cinemas.html
                              To read interviews and view film trailers – http://www.manhattanshort.com/finalists.html
                             To view the trailer of the Festival: -  http://www.manhattanshort.com/trailer.html

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WED, Sept 12, 7pm : Goeteman Resident Viktor Valasek

Introductory Slide Presentation at The Cultural Center at Rocky Neck

This Used to be My Spot, Viktor Valasek, spray, acrylic ,oil on board; 210×407

Painter Viktor Valasek is a native of Czechoslovakia and has a Master’s Degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. He studied at Cooper Union in NYC in 2009 and his work from that time was included in an Exchange Students Exhibition. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions including at Trafo Gallery and AVU gallery both in Prague. He is currently a resident artist at Meetfactory, a center of contemporary art in Prague.

Artist Statement: Even though I have been recently working on a body of work that is more abstract, most of my work is figurative. I am trying to comment and depict my own surrounding, including cultural stereotypes and memories from my own nation’s collective consciousness. It is a view which is only possible after a person leaves his own culture and looks back from the ‘other’ location. At once, one feels trapped within his or her own stereotype. This is who I am. This is who I am expected to be. We are expected to conform to the view imposed by ‘them’ on ‘us’. I am balancing on the edge between doing a good show – as ‘expected’ and self-reflection. The ‘folklore’ otherness of Central European post communist contemporary art is the product which is delivered to the spectator, yet it comes with a self-critical edge. Is it myself, or is it the image of myself, as defined by others? The most recent abstract paintings are different not only in the attitude but also in the whole visual impact on the viewer. By covering the space of the painting with a symbol of thinking, I am also stepping out of the previous stereotypes. viktorvalasek.com/

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Note to artists from Viktor

For my project here, in Gloucester, I need old canvases, nothing very valuable, rather something damaged or something that noone needs or wants anymore. It is not important what is in the painting or how old it is, as long as it is about to be thrown away. Instead of creating brand new paintings I will try to investigate possibilities of the "recycling idea" in art, painting in particular. By removing and adding layers of paint, I will, in fact, make my own paintings but on top of someone else’s work.

If you have old canvases for Viktor, please drop them off at the Residency Studio, 51A Rocky Neck Ave.

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Wine & Cheese tasting – half price dinner entrees at the Castle Manor Inn – Wednesday, 9/12 5:30pm

Wine and cheese pairings on the deck Wednesday, September 12 from 5:30-6:30
with dinner reservations with all entrees at 1/2 price tomorrow evening.  We
will be filming a commercial for the restaurant so you may even be a
celebrity!  Join us at the Castle Manor Inn  Please RSVP as to number in
party with phone number

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Temple Ahavat Achim (86 Middle Street, Gloucester, MA) invites you to the High Holiday Services!
Come celebrate Rosh Hashanah on:
Saturday, September 16th at 6:30 pm
Monday, September 17th at 9 am
Tuesday, September 18th at 9 am
… and Kol Nidre & Yom Kippur on:
Tuesday, September 25th at 6:30 pm
Wednesday, September 26th at 9 am
… and Sukkot on:
Sunday, September 30th at 6 pm
Monday, October 1st at 9 am
All are welcome!!! No tickets required!!
Interfaith families welcome!
For more information, please visit www.taagloucester.org