Documentary celebrates life of Revels founder
It's easy to say that John Langstaff, who died last December at 84, was a seminal member of the Cambridge community. In 1971 he founded the Christmas Revels, a musical and theatrical celebration of the winter solstice. It's now a tradition that is presented annually at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre, and it has spawned an organization that puts on events in 10 cities year-round.
Director David Nath says that what Langstaff really was, though, is a force of nature, and he's made a film that explains why. Called ''To Drive the Dark Away: A Vision of John Langstaff," it premieres Wednesday at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Capitol Theatre in Arlington, with a 6 p.m. reception and celebration of Langstaff's life held between screenings.
Nath had his first interaction with the Revels as a child cast member in 1986 (he's 28 now). He began collecting footage when Langstaff was still alive, conducting on-camera interviews with the musician and teacher beginning in December 2004. The intention initially was to create archival material for future Revels staff. It soon evolved into making a full-blown documentary.
''The goal was always to get the personal side of him," says Nath, who grew up in Winchester and now runs Monarch Media Productions in New York. ''We knew his songs and children's books, but we didn't know Jack."
Langstaff became enormously involved in the project -- so much so that he's given a co-writing credit. ''He was a guiding force in telling us what parts of his life he wanted to focus on," says Nath. The film draws from older footage collected by DigiNovations of Concord, and Nash used his interviews to push Langstaff past his comfort zone. ''He'd say, 'I don't want to talk about that -- it's personal,' and I'd say, 'Well, that's the point.' "
Information about the screenings and celebration is at 617-972-8300 ext. 22 and www.revels.org.
INTERNATIONAL ACTION: Sian Heder, who grew up in Cambridge (her mother, sculptor Mags Harries, created the bronze gloves that pepper the length of the escalator at the Porter Square T station), will be traveling to the Cannes Film Festival to present her film ''Mother." The festival opens this week and her movie will be screened May 25 and 26. She writes that it's a ''meditation on a kind of narcissism that seems to exist in abundance among the wealthiest of Los Angeles." It recently won the Grand Jury Prize at the Florida Film Festival and will make its local debut June 8 at the Boston International Film Festival.
Heder produced her movie as part of a yearlong program called the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women. Two more of the eight participants this past year are onetime Boston residents: Jennifer Getzinger went to Boston University, and Valerie Weiss founded Harvard University's Dudley Film Program and became a filmmaker-in-residence.
Weiss has a PhD in biophysics from Harvard and shot her first two films in Boston. She says her next one, a feature called ''Losing Control," is about a ''Bridget Jones-like biochemist" and set here. Her website, www.phdproductions.com, has more information.
The AFI workshop is designed to combat the small percentage of women employed in the business. According to statistics cited by the AFI, 4 percent of directors working in Hollywood are female. The films of the eight workshop members have their first screening tomorrow night in Hollywood.
NEW FESTIVAL IN TOWN: The first SOWA Film Festival takes place next weekend at 500 Harrison Ave., in the ''south of Washington" section of Boston's South End. Among the films is ''Chaos and Order: Making American Theater," a 68-minute documentary by the faculty, students, and alumni of the New England Institute of Art about the history of American theater. It is narrated by actress Cherry Jones and plays at 10 a.m. next Sunday.
That same day, Cambridge's A.G. Vermouth will present his ''Balloonhat" at 3:30 p.m. and take questions about traveling to Sarajevo, Jerusalem, Ghana, and Rio de Janeiro to document one man's quest to bring balloon hats -- yes, balloon hats -- to the world (617-699-9023 and www.sowafilmfestival.com).
IN TOWN: Director Jon Jost presents his digital videos at the Harvard Film Archive Wednesday at 7 p.m. and next Sunday, also at 7 p.m. Jost will talk about the challenges and advantages of using digital video as a medium. Among the films that will screen are his 2001 ''Oui Non" and 2004 ''Homecoming," about post-Sept. 11 America (617-495-4700 and www.harvardfilmarchive.org).
SCREENINGS OF NOTE: The Harvard Film Archive is presenting ''A Tribute to Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov," a program of eight films, featuring music by Ovchinnikov, who was a major composer for Soviet films in the 1960s and '70s. The program is in honor of the composer's 70th birthday. The selection was curated by Matthew Packwood, a producer at WGBH Radio, who will introduce today's 7 p.m. screening of director Alexander Dovzhenko's 1930 silent film ''Earth." The program continues over the next two weeks (617-495-4700 and www.harvardfilmarchive.org).
Today is the final day of the
''Stone Rising: The Work of Dan Snow" (2005, by Camilla Rockwell) plays on Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. and Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts. Snow is a master in building outdoor walls and lives in Vermont; his book ''In the Company of Stone: The Art of the Stone Wall" is lovely. Snow was shadowed by Rockwell for 18 months as she gathered material for her documentary. The film also screens Saturday and May 27 (617-267-9300 and www.mfa.org/film).
Leslie Brokaw can be reached at lbrokaw@globe.com. 
