Purple Valley Films

Website: http://www.PurpleValleyFilms.com

To see screening schedules, upcoming projects, meeting time and place, visit our website.

Who we are

Endorsed and funded by Williams College, Purple Valley Films (PVF) is a student‐run organization that promotes student independent filmmaking. It was founded with the goal that students should be exposed to an eclectic range of motion pictures from various backgrounds, and that eventually they are able to express their ideas through filmmaking.

In a nutshell, PVF organizes three types of activities:

Watch movies

Screenings are held every Friday evening. Titles range from the classic (e.g. My Fair Lady), the cult (e.g. The Rocky Horror Picture Show), to Chinese (e.g. Chungking Express) – movies you don’t find in local cinemas. In addition, screenings are scheduled based on themes. For instance, January 2007 was our French Month, with screenings of musicals, dramas and comedies made in France.

Workshops

We conduct workshops to reveal the magic behind the scenes. Earlier in January, Amelie was screened. It was a movie notable for its cinematography, particularly its smooth fluid camera movement. Thus we shared with our members how to stabilize the camera, by constructing on the spot an amateur SteadiCam out of a normal tripod.

Make movies

Project Berkshire Currently, we are collaborating with Williams Rural Literacy Project (now renamed as the Global Education Project) on a documentary about education and illiteracy among immigrants in Berkshire. We interviewed immigrants in Williamstown, North Adams and Pittsfield and had them share with us their stories in front of camera.

See reports in the North Adams Transcript: http://williams.edu/home/focus/literacy_film/

Project New Orleans From March 23-29, we organized an eight-student team to New Orleans to make a documentary - in the hope of inspiring more college student to volunteer there. The documentary is entitled Beyond the French Quarter. See http://www.purplevalleyfilms.com/nola

Webcast Also known as the Purple Cow Cast, we also provide free live webcast on athletic events at Williams College. It is a collaboration between Purple Valley Films and and Sports Information. Run by students, this service covers major home games, so family, friends and alumni can watch the game online in real time. See http://www.purplevalleyfilms.com/webcast

http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v193/5/7/1045920063/n1045920063_42944_3969.jpg

Above PVF members involved in Project New Orleans, March 2008

Below Talking with kids at Broadmoor, New Orleans

http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v195/96/112/33163/n33163_34147131_9541.jpg

To view our current and past projects, refer to our website at http://www.PurpleValleyFilms.com/productions

Awards

Our joint production with the Computer Science Dept, Yang Fan is Born, was screened in NPAR 2008 as a part of the Annecy Film Festival in France.

http://graphics.cs.williams.edu/projects/YangFan/background.jpg

For more information, visit our website at http://www.purplevalleyfilms.com/pvf/theatre/.

Join us

To get weekly updates on our activities, screening schedules and film projects, join our

• mailing list
• facebook group

or just email us. You can find our contact information below.

Contact Information

For general enquiries, please email info [at] purplevalleyfilms [dot] com

Danny Y. Huang
Co-president, treasurer
yh1 [at] williams [dot] edu

Ariel Kavoussi
Co-president
ak1 [at] williams [dot] edu

Helen Cha
Vice-president
hjc1 [at] williams [dot] edu

Mailing Address

1716 Paresky Center
39 Chapin Hall Drive
Williams College
Williamstown
MA 01267 USA