Nicole Soriano, 30
Somerville, MA
Producer
The idea to make a ..ary film about our local music scene came to me as a writing student at Vermont College in Spring 2005. I was journaling my experiences as a participant in an online music forum, at a time when I commonly crossed state lines to see live music.
Time and time again, I would sit in Cambridge spots like Toad, the Lizard Lounge, and Club Passim, imagining a film that would capture the excellence of local musicians and performers, one that would celebrate the community that nurtured them.
When I met Brian, I knew I'd found a collaborator. He too loves the local scene, and we are in constant embrace of it. We want to make a film that this community and independent musicians everywhere will be proud of.
Brian Schwartz, 28
Somerville, MA
Director
I grew up on folk music: Ruth Pelham, Free To Be You and Me, James Taylor, sitting around the piano as my Nana played Irish folk tunes, listening to my aunt Maria Gillard's record, Snapshots. In high school, excited about local singer-songwriter Paddy Kilrain, I began to frequent Mother Earth's Cafe in Albany, New York and even sang there on a few occasions. Around the same time my friends turned me on to the Indigo Girls and Ani Difranco, and during the summer of 1997 I volunteered at the Falcoln Ridge Folk Festival. While watching the likes of David Wilcox, Vance Gilbert, Cheryl Wheeler, Magpie, Janis Ian, Dar Williams, Dan Bern, Martin Sexton, and Nancy Savoca I realized what my mom—storyteller Marni Gillard—kept bringing me to Caffe Lena in Saratoga. Music can do anything.
As an undergrad at Pomona College in southern California I followed my other passion, majoring in Media Studies with a focus on Film and Video Production. I won two grants as an undergrad and have produced ten short videos, the most recent about a 5K race in Somerville. As an ethnographic film student (in the Intercultural Relations Master's program at Lesley University and working for filmmaker and author Robert Gardner) and teacher (instructing Film, Culture, and Society to Lesley undergrads) I have honed my craft, learning to incorporate theory and analysis into production. Recently, I wrote an ethnography on independent filmmakers of color in Boston and taught middle-schoolers in Mattapan and Hyde Park through Newbury Film Series; Reel Vision program.
The artists who play up and down and around Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge are the next wave of musicians in the wake of the folks I saw at Falcon Ridge ten years ago. Nicole and I are bursting with dedication and drive. Our conversations about this project have an unstoppable momentum, and I can't wait to see it all play out.
