Local Filmmakers Share Spotlight with Foreign Film Fare

The Rhode Island International Film Festival, based in Providence, will showcase filmmakers from around the world when it premieres its 11th season. Growing in popularity and notoriety each year, the festival - known as RIIFF - will screen 320 films out of nearly 2500 submitted.

It is exhilarating, informative and fun to view films from Argentina to Zambia. But it is also important to the festival's Executive Director, George Marshall, and his staff to give equal time to showcasing the talents of filmmakers from New England, particularly Rhode Island.

What drives local filmmakers to be so highly focused on their art? Are there common denominators? There is no promise, after all, in the milieu of the independent filmmaker, of any reward. The best most "indie" filmmakers can hope for is to share their passion on screen with an audience. I recently asked a few of the filmmakers those questions.

Mary Healy Jamiel's documentary "Ticks/Hidden in the Leaves" screens Saturday, August 11 at 4pm. Jamiel was horrified when she discovered that 717,000 Rhode Islanders are at risk for being exposed to Lyme disease through ticks - in their own backyards. Lyme disease still often goes undiagnosed and can lead to grave debilitation if left untreated. Working from an altruistic point of view, Jamiel exposes important, often taboo subjects in her work for the good of all. Her documentary footage is dramatic, including aerial shots from a helicopter. Jamiel believes that viewing a particular film can be not only entertaining and informative, "but an utterly transformative experience".