Filmmaker Lindsey Copeland admits to “an odd fascination with comedians” that dates to when she was a child. She can’t explain it, but the 2008 Boston University graduate says she was eventually drawn to stories about the Boston comedy boom of the late ’80s and early ’90s. She poured all of that knowledge and passion for funny into making her second feature, “Hedgehog,” which just wrapped shooting in and around Boston.
The movie is about an aspiring stand-up comic, Allie (Madeline Brewer of “Orange Is the New Black” and “Grimm”), struggling to avoid the self-destructive path of her late father, a legendary Boston comedian. Holyoke native Ann Dowd (“The Leftovers,” “Our Brand Is Crisis”) plays a professor who hires Allie as her assistant and becomes her mentor and friend. She counsels Allie that if “you keep avoiding vulnerability, you end up alone,” says Copeland. “Ann crushed it. She was a dream to work with. You become a better director working with her.”
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Copeland also filmed in the Boston area when she shot her feature debut, “Girls Night,” a comedy about five college friends who reunite for a concert. It played the festival circuit earlier this year, including the Woods Hole Film Festival.
Her “Hedgehog” script went through many revisions over many years, says Copeland. Authenticity extended to the setting. “The thing I love is the intimacy of Boston,” she says. “It can feel like a small town.”
“Hedgehog” is expected to be released next year. For information on “Girls Night,” go to www.girlsnightfilm.com.
Science project
The Coolidge Corner Theatre will continue to expand its popular Science on Screen program to more theaters nationwide, thanks to another two-year grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The $748,392 grant allows the Coolidge and the Foundation to award a minimum of 60 grants of up to $8,500 each for independent cinemas to develop their own Science on Screen programs. Launched at the Coolidge in 2005, the monthly Science on Screen series presents classic, cult, science fiction, and nonfiction films introduced by experts in science and technology.
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For more information go to www
.coolidge.org
BLIFF turns 14
The Boston Latino International Film Festival kicks off its 14th year Nov. 18 and 19 at Harvard University’s Tsai Auditorium and continues Nov. 20 and 21 at Northeastern University. The festival presents feature films, shorts, and documentaries that offer diverse depictions of Latino and Latin American communities.
For more information go to www
.bliff.org