By Alysa Obert
Gordon College News Service

MARBLEHEAD — Marble-head High junior Jessica Doherty competes on the swim and tennis teams, helps out with the recycling club, made the honor roll, and started her film career — all before her 17th birthday.

Melissa Doherty, a junior at Marblehead High, is a volunteer at the Salem Film Fest. Courtesy photo

“It’s important for people my age to get out there and actually do something that they’re interested in,” said Doherty, who is also volunteering at this year’s Salem Film Fest, Feb. 26 to March 4.

Chris Gilbert, director of the festival’s volunteers, said Doherty stood out when he gathered volunteers last week at CinemaSalem, where most of the festival will take place.

“She was inspiring,” Gilbert said. “She was the youngest person in the room and yet the most confident and the most excited.”

But Doherty has always had a passion for the cinema.

“Growing up, I felt like everyone had that one thing, you know, like being good at soccer,” she said. “I never had that with anything but film.”

It might be in her blood. Her aunt and uncle were the executive producers of “Enlighten Up,” a documentary about a man and his journey with yoga. Although the documentary will not be shown at this year’s screenings, it did spark Doherty’s interest in a festival that focused solely on documentaries.

So when her mom made her aware of the volunteer opportunity, Doherty wasted no time applying.

“I figured if it was really awkward, I’d just call my mom to pick me up,” she said.

Instead, the experience has been both a confirmation of her interest and has inspired her to share it with others. She started a film class with the help of English teacher Connor Ryan. Ryan told Doherty he would take the class to the film festival if she took care of the details.

“The best way to spread the word,” Doherty said, “is to get people in the door. Once they’re in, they’ll want to come back.”

Doherty’s confidence in the documentaries lies not only in the variety but in the quality of the films.

“There’s not one that I would say is boring. There’s Brazilian women’s wrestling, a sequel to a film that did really well two years ago, and four submissions from the famous Les Blank,” Doherty said. “This is also the first film festival where Blank and his son are showing films at the same place, which is totally great.”

With 34 films total, the 2010 film festival is the largest in New England.

In the pre-festival stage, volunteers are assigned a film to promote. They tell their friends, families and anyone who will take a flier. Doherty chose to promote “Superman of Malegaon,” which is about filmmaking in India, but as for the details, “you’ll just have to come and watch,” she said.

Doherty said viewers should come expecting to be surprised.

“Most people don’t watch documentaries,” Doherty said. “They will be surprised at how interesting they can be.”

As for her dreams for her future in film, Doherty plans to start with film school.

“But who knows?” she said. “My philosophy is: Take as many chances as I can because no one knows what’s going to happen tomorrow. Today’s the best you’re gonna get.”

By Larry Claflin Jr.
Staff writer

"Good Fortune," produced by former Beverly resident Jeremy Levine, explores how international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the communities they aim to benefit. The film will be screened Saturday, Feb. 27, at 4:15 p.m. Courtesy photo

In just its third year, the Salem Film Fest has grown into the largest festival for documentaries in New England, according to Joe Cultrera, one of the event’s founders and its programming director.

Cultrera and a small selection committee delved into more than 70 films to choose the 34 entries in this year’s festival, to take place at CinemaSalem starting next Friday, Feb. 26, and running through Tuesday, March 4.

“This is a solid lineup, top to bottom, of well-crafted work,” he said. “These are films that tell great stories, and have interesting characters and viewpoints.”

Included in the selection are three U.S. premieres and several New England and Boston area premieres, he continued.

Unlike other festivals, Cultrera said, Salem does not put out calls for entries. Instead, he handpicks the documentaries and puts them before a three-member selection committee, which includes himself; Kereth Cowe-Stigai, CinemaSalem’s manager; and Mike Evers, who along with Cowe-Stigai is a Salem State College English professor.

Cultrera, a filmmaker himself, said this curated method allows the committee to watch each film individually, rather than weed through thousands.

“We’re looking for films that tell great stories, have great characters and are well-told technically,” he said.

Ultimately, Cultrera, Evers and Cowe-Stigai make the final decisions and their votes are usually unanimous, he said.

And the team won’t limit themselves geographically.

“We’re trying to give a range of stories from different places, in order to have an international feel to the festival,” he said. “We’re looking for films from around the world, as well as the United States.”

If you go

What: Salem Film Fest

When: Friday, Feb. 26, to Tuesday, March 4

Where: CinemaSalem; Peabody Essex Museum

How much: $10 per show; All-Access Pass, $150 adults, $120 seniors; Three-Day Weekend Pass, $100 adults, $75 seniors

More information: salemfilmfest.com

2010 highlights

Some highlights of this year’s presentation include:

Independent documentary film legend Les Blank will attend to screen his latest work along with some of his classics, including “The Blues According to Lightnin’ Hopkins” — a 1969 cinema verite portrait of the Texas blues legend — and “Burden of Dreams,” his portrayal of German director Werner Herzog’s obsessive effort to complete his film “Fitzcarraldo” in the Amazon basin.

Five Minute Student Film Contest Awards Presentation, Thursday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m., CinemaSalem. VIP Reception, Friday, Feb. 26, from 5 to 7 p.m., CinemaSalem Cafe.

Family-friendly Film Fest Programming, Saturday, Feb. 27, from 9 a.m. to noon, CinemaSalem.

Filmmaker Dialogue, Saturday, Feb. 27, 10 a.m. to noon, Salem Theatre Company, 90 Lafayette St., Salem.

Filmmaker Breakfast, Sunday, Feb. 28, 9 to 11:30 a.m., Caffe Graziani, 133 Washington St., Salem.

Groups are welcome at the festival

If you’re an educator or organizer, you should be aware that the Salem Film Fest offers significant discounts for college, high school, middle school, and elementary field trips during festival hours and also during weekdays between February 22 and March 4. Groups of 50 can enjoy individual admission price of $6, with teachers/chaperones attending for free. Furthermore, educational institutions who schedule one such field trip qualify all teachers, staff, and students at that institution for a $6 individual admission for all films throughout the festival! Contact us for more information.

courtesy image

The Salem Film Fest Selection Committee recently got good news when one of the films already selected for the festival was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Feature Documentary category.

“The Cove” will screen at the Salem Film Fest on Monday, March 1, at 7:30 pm, six days before the Oscar ceremonies on Sunday, March 7.

“We loved the film, so it’s gratifying that the Academy concurs. Fortunately, the festival is timed perfectly to give it a good showcase before the awards are announced,” comment Paul Van Ness, one of the festival founders.

The nominated documentary is a riveting environmental suspense drama about dolphins. In the 1960s, Richard O’Barry enjoyed a lucrative career as a specialized animal trainer; he captured the five dolphins that were used in the popular television series Flipper, and taught them the tricks and special commands they used on the show.

Four decades later, O’Barry has renounced his former life as a trainer and become an animal rights activist, speaking out against the hunting of aquatic mammals and keeping them in captivity. O’Barry is not welcome in Taiji, a town along the Japanese coast where hunting dolphins is a major part of the local economy, but he and a group of activist filmmakers made their way into the city as well as the carefully guarded harbor in hopes of documenting the abuse of dolphins by fisherman and the poisoning of the waters that has taken a toll on the marine ecology.

O’Barry and his colleagues captured some beautiful underwater footage as well as shocking images of how the town’s fisherman have sullied the dolphins and their habitat, and director Louie Psihoyos has used this material as the basis for the documentary The Cove, which received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

The film is one of 34 documentaries which will be screened during the seven-day film festival, entering it’s third year, which has grown to be the largest all-documentary festival in New England. The 2010 fest will feature live appearances by 14 visiting filmmakers, who will conduct Q&A discussions after their film’s screenings.