Purple Valley Films

Website: http://www.PurpleValleyFilms.com

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. Both projects are at present in the post-production stage. See reports in the Williams Record (April 9, 2008): http://record.williams.edu/record/archives-articles/2008/04/09/seek/216/

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

Contact Information

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