PORTSMOUTH -- It was more than the lights, camera, and action of the movies that brought dozens of people to gather in the lobby of The Music Hall Thursday evening.
The feeling of those in attendance of New Hampshire Night, one of the first events of the 2017 New Hampshire Film Festival, was community.
“New Hampshire Day and Night is our way of recognizing some of the best talent within the film industry in New Hampshire and by New Hampshire,” said Nicole Gregg, executive director of NHFF, who has been involved with NHFF for the past 15 years.
“It’s all about our roots and helping the industry here,” said co-founder and an organizer of the event Dan Hannon, of the first day of the festival that can attract more than 10,000 people from Thursday through the festival’s closing ceremony on Sunday.
The evening drew locals for many reasons. There was Eugeniya Dame, a UNH graduate student of linguistics, who volunteered to cover the festival for the NHFF blog, and Portsmouth residents Julia Holup and Patrick Hook, who live close to The Music Hall and were interested because it’s a “good community event,” said Holup, who also recognized the many local sponsors.
Also in attendance was Portsmouth resident Charlie Brickham, who calls himself a film aficionado.
“It’s my third or fourth year attending,” said Brickham. Among many things about the festival, Brickham said he enjoys “the passion and commitment that it takes to make a well-executed short film” and says the festival “adds a colorful splash of culture to our coastal community.”
But there was one man whose absence this year felt ever so present.
Donald Van Scott McLeod, better known as Van, was the commissioner of the N.H. Department of Cultural Resources, a position he held from 1992 until his death last summer. Gregg said McLeod saved the film office from extinction about 10 years ago. Then, ”(The film industry) wasn’t perceived as valuable to New Hampshire,” until McLeod “nurtured it and gave it new life.”
And so an award was created in his honor in 2008, and given annually to an individual from the Granite State who has made a significant impact on the film industry. This year’s award held even more significance as the recipient was writer, director and producer Aaron Wiederspahn, a close friend of McLeod. Wiederspahn wrote and directed the award-winning feature film “The Sensation of Sight” starring Academy Award-nominated actor David Strathairn, as well as the drama “Only Daughter,” for which he was awarded the New Hampshire Filmmaker of the Year in 2013.
“It’s very meaningful to give Aaron this award this year because Van was there at the start of his career,” said Gregg. Last year McLeod’s wife, Joan Goshgarian, along with their daughter Chelsea McLeod received the award in his honor. “Three feature films later we’re coming full circle, giving (Aaron) an award in Van’s name,” Gregg said.
As Goshgarian presented Wiederspahn to the stage, she said “somewhere Van is smiling.”
Wiederspahn praised his friend McLeod for his care of his filmmaking but also investment in his life. “I’m really honored that the folks of New Hampshire Film Festival thought of me and honored me in this way. It’s a true privilege,” he said.
Other award winners of the evening were as followed:
NH Film of the Year: “Winter’s Watch.”
NH Filmmaker of the Year: Michael Venn.
Best NH Feature Narrative: “And Then I Go.”
Best NH Feature Documentary: “The Mars Generation.”
Best NH Short Narrative: “The Privates.”
Best NH Short Documentary: “No. 7 on the List.”
Best NH Performance: Chelsea Hermann, “Texture.”