It's an honor for five in film industry
Imagine magazine, the 40,000-circulation Cambridge publication that focuses on "the business of film, television, and new-media production in New England," will honor five film-industry players on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at its annual New Year's celebration party. The networking event takes place at the Regattabar in Cambridge and is open to the public.
Dubbed "Imaginnaires" for being "rich in creativity, thoughts, and ideas," the honorees are Christy Scott Cashman, president of Boston script-development company Saint Aire Productions (and actress alongside Matthew Modine in the indie film "Kettle of Fish"); Steven Feinberg, executive director of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office; David Kleiler, founder of Local Sightings, a support services organization in Brookline for independent filmmakers; John Rule, president of the Watertown film equipment rental agency Rule Broadcast Systems; and state Representative Brian Wallace, a member of the Legislature's joint committee on tourism, arts , and cultural development.
The awards are the first given out by the magazine. "We're starting our 10th year of publication, and we feel like we know the industry well enough now to do such a thing," says publisher Carol Patton. The honorees were chosen, she says, for both their enthusiastic spirit and their contributions to the regional film business.
The $30 ticket includes a one-year subscription to the monthly magazine. Information is at 617-576-0773 and imaginenews.com.
WMBR DOCUMENTARY: Back in 1977, the MIT radio station WMBR started a morning program called "The Late Risers Club." It featured punk rock and what would become known as alternative music, and set a new direction for the college radio format.
Filmmaker Marissa Acosta has made a documentary called "Late Risers Club," which features interviews with current and former ' MBR luminaries including Joanie Lindstrom, Jon Bernhardt, Bob Weston, and Peter Choyce. Acosta and DJs from the station past and present will be at a screening of the film on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the MIT campus, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Room 6-120, to talk about their respective labors of love. The free event is the first of the 2007 " Chicks Make Flicks" series presented by Women in Film & Video/ New England (781-788-6607 and womeninfilmvideo.org; also see laterisersmovie.com).
GOINGS ON AT THE BRATTLE: On Thursday at 6 p.m., the Brattle Theatre will present an encore screening of the 2006 "Do It Your Own Damn Self!" National Youth Video and Film Festival. The collection of short film narratives, music videos, documentaries, and public service announcements is curated by the Teen Media Project at the Community Art Center in Cambridge.
On Friday, the Brattle starts a weeklong engagement of "Red Doors," a 2005 film by a trio of recent Harvard grads -- Georgia Lee, Jane Chen, and Mia Riverton -- about a Chinese-American family with three daughters in their teens and 20s living in the suburbs of New York. "Red Doors" won the "Made in New York" best narrative feature award at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival and an Audience Award at the 2005 Outfest .
Also on Friday, the Brattle launches its second watch-a-thon fund - raiser: For a $50 registration fee ($30 for students), you get to watch as many movies at the Brattle as you want for free between Jan. 12 and Feb. 18. If you get friends to pledge per film you watch and manage to raise $1,000 for your grueling efforts, your registration fee is reimbursed (617-876-6837 and brattlefilm.org).
CALL FOR SUBMISSION: The 32nd annual Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, a 24-hour marathon event on Feb. 18-19 at the Somerville Theatre, is inviting filmmakers to submit shorts to a juried competition. Details are at bostonsci-fi.com.
CONVERSATION WITH: Ellen Block, the sister of director Doug Block, will be at today's 2 p.m. show at the Museum of Fine Arts of "51 Birch Street," a documentary about their parents' marriage (617-267-9300 and mfa.org/film).
SCREENINGS OF NOTE: There are many films to choose from today. The Institute of Contemporary Art's first movie series in its new 325-seat theater started this weekend and continues this afternoon with a 3 p.m. showing of Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth." Globe critic Ty Burr put the movie on his 2006 top-10 list, writing that the "Hellboy" director "comes of age with a violent, exquisitely touching phantasmagoria. Set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, it's one of those movies dealing with a young girl's imaginative response to horrible situations." It's free with museum admission; tickets can be reserved by calling the box office at 617-478-3103 . Information about all the films in the "Super Vision" series is online at icaboston.org.
Also today, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., the Harvard Film Archive presents Jacques Rivette's 1974 "Céline and Julie Go Boating," about the friendship between two women in Paris. The HFA is presenting a retrospective of 16 of Rivette's films through mid-February (617-495-4700 and hcl.harvard.edu/hfa). And "Family Law," Argentinean director Daniel Burman's sweet portrait of a young man making his way into adulthood, has its final screening in its MFA run this afternoon at 3:45 .
Jeff Stern, of Boston's Roadside Pictures, has created film segments to accompany the theater production of "Bombs and Manifestos." It plays today at 2 p.m. and Thursdays through Sundays until Jan. 20 at the Black Box Theater at the Boston Center for the Arts. Written by Brian Polak, it's a solo piece about a subway musician musing about Unabomber Ted Kaczynski's manifesto (617-933-8600 and bostontheatrescene.com)
"Romántico," by Needham-raised director Mark Becker, opened this weekend in the Coolidge Corner Theatre's Screening Room and plays through Jan. 27. The film is a documentary about the bittersweet return of 57-year - old Mexican musician Carmelo Muñiz Sánchez to his hometown after years in California (617-734-2500 and coolidge.org).
And "Climates," the quiet and chilly middle-age relationship movie from Turkey, plays five times this week at the MFA, including Wednesday at 8 p.m. and Friday at 8:15 p.m. Check the museum for the full schedule.
Leslie Brokaw can be reached at lbrokaw@globe.com. 
