You may not know how much filmmaking and animation talent finds its home in the Valley. Take Larry Jackson of Amherst, formerly of Los Angeles, who earlier in his career was senior vice president for production for the Samuel Goldwyn Company as well as an executive with Miramax and Orion. Now an independent producer and director, Jackson teaches film at New York University and has created iArtHouse.com, a downloadable film library.
Then there’s Eugene Mamut of Lee, who won an Oscar in 1986 for inventing a device called the Compu-Quad Special Effects Optical Printer. He is known for his technical work on Predator and Ghost Dad and earlier helped create special effects in Dirty Dancing. Mamut and his wife, artist and set designer Irina Borisova, run the Animagic Museum in Lee, which displays work produced in special effects, animation and video game studios in the Berkshires.
If you want to meet and learn about these and other highly credentialed people from the film industry who live closer to you than you think, you’ll have a chance to do it at Easthampton’s Eastworks on Saturday, April 24 or Saturday, May 8 at the Hidden Hollywood event organized by Valleywood. Lectures and workshops on special effects and animation, including activities for children, begin at 10 a.m. The evening program, with Jackson as featured speaker, begins at 7 p.m. For details and admission prices, check http://a-zinternational.com/conferences/HiddenHollywood2010. Valleywood, based in Amherst, creates events that promote digital artists and people in all aspects of filmmaking from the Berkshires, southern Vermont and New Hampshire through the Valley to Hartford and New Haven.
