The Vermont International Film Festival runs from Oct. 23 – 26 at the Palace 9 movie theater and the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center’s Waterfront Theater in Burlington. They need volunteers to help run the show. They are offering free passes to films and the respect and admiration of the film-going community in exchange. Consider becoming a VIFF volunteer and contact Bridget Meyer for more info. Her email address is bmeyer1038 at aol dot com.

A complete schedule of films and events at this year’s festival is available at the VIFF website.

One of the most divisive programs in VCAM’s 24-year history in terms of viewer response is calling it quits.  Subterranean SINema, produced by Magister Matthew G. Paradise, has aired its last episode on VCAM channel 15.  Matt began producing the show back in 1997 and over the years, “SubSIN” has been notable both as one of the shows that generated the most viewer response, and as a show with particularly high production values.  Matt used to edit his episodes of SubSIN at the channel 15 studios, but as his production skills improved and editing software became more readily available, he started producing the shows totally in his own home, from soup to nuts.

Matt writes…

 … somewhere in there also lurks the reality that much of the material the show was famous for can now be seen around the world by visiting online sites such as Break.com and YouTube. Back in the late-90s, SubSIN was highly sought after, whether its live transmission, VHS copies, or, later on, the DVD. But, alas, the Internet changed all of that and I, intelligently, must change with the times. If you loved the show, the spirit of Subterranean SINema certainly permeates the online world in ways public access television never could on its own. That’s my indirect way of saying that I love you, VCAM — and you need to put a streaming feed of your programming (not just a few shows) on the Internet. Merely a helpful, if not belabored, suggestion.

It was a very good time. Subterranean SINema, like so many things I do, serves as a roadmap through a period of my life — in this case, my 30s. SubSIN, believe it or not, prompted me to go back to college and get serious about video, and VCAM was instrumental in that regard, giving me exposure to editing, shooting, lighting, and producing an actual show. How can I not be grateful to both public access TV and that little controversial show monikered by a pentagram-trapped skull and crossbones?

VCAM is indeed looking at putting all locally-produced VCAM programming online — though probably in an on-demand way rather than as a 24/7 live stream.  There are some organizational concerns to tackle first, which are surprisingly more complex than the technical issues, which seem pretty straight forward.  Stay tuned for more info on that.

Matt also produced the show Satanism Today, which aired on VCAM’s channel 15 a few years ago.  As a result of Matt’s involvement here at VCAM, we are still sometimes asked if VCAM is the home of “that Satan channel.”   It’s interesting that featuring shows like Victory For You!, Calvary Life, Good News Broadcast, Key to the Kingdom, Time of God, Heavenly Sonshine, Revelations, Tomorrow’s World, Living Bread and the weekly Catholic mass (all shows currently in our playback rotation) doesn’t get people to ask us if we are the home of “that Jesus channel,” but I guess the word “Satan” is particularly memorable in a TV show title (take note, future VCAM producers!).

Good luck in your future endeavors, Matt!

Here we are again.  Since VCAM moved to the south end in December of 2001, we’ve participated every year in the South End Art Hop — the state’s largest public art event.  Each year proves bigger than the last and this year is shaping up to be no exception.  If you haven’t been down to the VCAM space for Art Hop before, you really shouldn’t miss it.  We get hundreds of people through the door, we have excellent work from lots of great artists and filmmakers, and we’ve earned a reputation for having the best food at the Hop.

The fun begins on Friday at 5 PM and runs all Friday evening and Saturday from 10-5.

Plus we’re situated in the 208 Flynn complex, which is hosting some of the best work of the whole event.  Be sure to check out RETN, Propeller Media Works and Select Design, in particular.

See you at the Hop!

Graham Raubvogel, a local film/video director, BHS student and inspired VCAM Producer, recently took first prize at the Santa Monica Teen Film Festival with his short film Keeping Time.

Graham’s award winning piece is about a young man named Oscar who is haunted by his past and struggling to move forward with his life. It is one of Graham’s very first short films (many of which can be viewed on his You Tube channel) and was shot during his freshman year at Burlington High School. It is clear he is a talented young filmmaker with a bright future ahead.

Congratulations Graham on all your hard work and momentous award! We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for new projects in the future…

Forest, Bill, Paul and Charlie from The Advocacy Team were in the VCAM studio today recording their 100th episode. Above is a snapshot from their preproduction session where they met with their special guests from the Green Mountain Self Advocates. As you’ll likely notice on their website, the GMSA is:

a statewide self-advocacy network run and operated by people with developmental disabilities [and they're] building a movement for self-advocacy through public education and awareness, peer mentoring, support, advocacy and direct action.

The folks from the GMSA are a few of the guests among the dozens of individuals and organizations featured on The Advocacy Team since 2003. The list includes Special Olympics Vermont, Vermont Expos, Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, VSA Arts and the former mayor of Burlington, Peter Clavelle.

The Advocacy Team is sponsored by Champlain Community Services and can be seen Sundays at 8:30am, Wednesdays at 10:00am and Thursdays at 9:00pm on VCAM Channel 15 . We’d like to congratulate to all the members of the Advocacy Team for reaching this milestone and thank them for all their hard work and ongoing commitment to community media.

This is an update for all you folks out there who read VCAM’s blog post from last August about Jackie Yantachka , the senior from CVU who as of yesterday has completed her Senior Grad Challenge in Broadcast Television at the VCAM studio.

It was a delight to attend her final presentation yesterday. She was in front of a packed house, filled with family, community consultants and a sizable panel of teachers and instructors.

Jackie covered everything from the appropriate use of a lapel mic to the work flow in master control. She employed an impressive Power Point presentation that included still images of nearly every component to the VCAM studio, screen captures of her FCP timeline and bin structure, plus images illustrating the strategy behind the different shots she incorporated. She concluded her presentation with a short segment from her video project highlighting a variety of footage including interviews with moviegoers, film reviews and movie clips. The uproarious applause from the crowded room was indicative of the the quality of Jackie’s work.

It was obvious from the start she arrived at VCAM with a good deal of experience, however throughout her time at the VCAM studio her skills grew even sharper. By the end, her ability to navigate the FCP interface was quite impressive.

As part of her grad challenge, Jackie was also required to write at length about her learning experience in a final paper that she concludes by saying:

For years I’ve been interested in the production of the shows that I see on TV. At the local public access channel VCAM, I was able to take on the challenge of making my own TV show and airing it – something that I have never been able to do with my previous films. VCAM is all about encouraging others in the community to learn the filming and editing processes to make their ideas come to life. For the first time, I was able to film in a studio and learn how to work the multifaceted equipment. For CVU Filmmaker’s Club, the movies I’ve been involved in have always had crews of at least four people, so with my project at VCAM, I felt that I had more control, and there was better communication with my cameraman. I was able to create a show that incorporated footage from the field, studio, and additional movie clips, and then broadcast it for many others to see. Hopefully, I will be able to continue using my skills and explore more techniques for creating TV shows like the ones I have always admired.

There’s little doubt Jackie’s wishes will be granted as she will be attending the school of communications at Syracuse University in the fall. Way to go Jackie!

Thank you for all the hard work and best of luck from all of us at VCAM!

VCAM, CCTV and RETN are once again collaborating on the Vermont blogging experiment, Exit Voices.

If there was a comments section on your ballot on election day, what would you say? What do you think about the issues, ballot measures and candidates this election? Exit Voices is your forum. On Tuesday March 4th, Exit Voices will host a series of open threads, giving any Vermonter the opportunity to say his or her piece. Some of these comments and video entries will be highlighted on the blog and during CCTV’s live election night coverage on channel 17 and over their live web stream that evening. Stop by Exit Voices and speak you mind. The floor is yours.

Leading up to the 4th, Exit Voices will be aggregating content from all over the Vermont blogosphere and soliciting essays, photos and video posts from Vermonters across the state, discussing Town Meeting Day and the Vermont presidential primary.

Please swing by and lend your voice to the discussion.

Tonight at 7:30 pm Vermont Public Television is hosting a live web chat with Vermont ACLU director, Allen Gilbert, and assistant US attorney, Bill Darrow.  The focus of the chat will be “Civil Liberties in a Changing World.”  In an email, Gilbert writes…

I’m a panelist with Bill Darrow, an assistant U.S. attorney here in Vermont. The topic is “Civil Liberties in a Changing World.” Darrow, as you may know, is pretty aggressive in defending government actions in national security, drugs, death penalty, etc.



The chat on Wednesday will focus on national security, and I’m sure Darrow will try to belittle claims that civil liberties have been diminished because of the war on terror — or that if they have, the Bush administration has structured security programs in a way that minimizes civil liberties impacts while maximizing protection of U.S. citizens’ safety.

Go here to log into the chat — you can comment anonymously if you wish.

The Nation posted an article this week about the Al Jazeera satellite news network and its growing popularity around the world.  The article’s author, Ned Lamont (yes, that Ned Lamont), mentions that despite Al Jazeera English’s widespread acceptance overseas, there are precious few TV channels in the US that carry its content…

Al Jazeera’s most recent offspring, Al Jazeera English, is more like PBS on a slow day. Al Jazeera English is available around the world and even on the Israeli cable systems. But it is barely visible in the United States–Buckeye Cable in Ohio and Burlington Public Access in Vermont are the only channels that carry it.

By “Burlington Public Access,” Lamont is referring to VCAM’s sister organization RETN, which runs a 1/2 hour of fresh Al Jazeera English programming every weekday at 6:30 pm.  RETN operates channel 16 on Comcast and Burlington Telecom cable systems in Chittenden County.