This film fund-raiser gets creative

11/23/2003

Leave it to the innovative folks of Video Balagan, the = award-winning=20 series of shorts and experimental film and video at the Coolidge = Corner=20 Theater, to come up with a quirky fund-raiser.

The event's theme is -- what else? -- money and will feature = short=20 films by area filmmakers Joe Gibbons, Henry Hills, = Mary=20 Filippo, with more to be announced. Also on the bill are a = filmmaker=20 and audience talent show; a collective handmade film that will be = created=20 by the audience during the benefit and screened immediately; and a = raffle.

This year the series did not receive any grant funding, Silva = said, and=20 the goal of the fund-raiser is to raise enough money for Balagan = to finish=20 this season and begin to work on next year's program. A donation = of=20 $10-$15 is requested. The Big Balagan takes place Dec. 8 at 7:30 = p.m. at=20 the Coolidge. For more information, visit=20 www.coolidge.org/balagan.

FROM=20 BOLLYWOOD TO BOSTON: Bollywood = star and=20 transplanted Bostonian Tara Deshpande = Tennebaum=20 will introduce her 2001 film "Tapish" and moderate a panel = discussion on=20 Indian popular culture on Dec. 6 from 1 to 5:30 p.m. at the = Cambridge=20 Center for Adult Education. Deshpande was a VJ for Indian MTV and = is the=20 author of the short-story collection "Fifty and Done" and the = upcoming=20 "Sense and Spice." She will lead a discussion called "Bollywood: A = Mirror=20 of Contemporary Indian Culture" following the=20 screening.

MY BOOK, THEIR MOVIE: Page and screen meet in an event Dec. 3 = at 7:30=20 p.m. at the Coolidge Corner Theatre that will feature several = major=20 fiction writers and filmmakers talking about the dicey nature of=20 adaptation.

Sponsored by PEN New England, "Great American Option: = Literature in the=20 Age of the Screenplay" presents Dennis Lehane, author of = the=20 best-selling "Mystic River," which was turned into a film that has = received strong reviews; Margot Livesey, who will discuss = her novel=20 "Criminals," set to be adapted into a film; Maureen Foley, = who is=20 set to direct "Criminals"; Scott Heim, whose "Mysterious = Skin" is=20 in development with Gregg Araki; Jan Egleson, whose=20 adaptation of the novel "Coyote Waits" is now airing on PBS; and = Joseph=20 Finder, author of numerous thrillers, whose "High Crimes" was = made=20 into a movie.

Tickets are $5, available at the door or in advance from the = Coolidge=20 Corner Theatre or Brookline Booksmith.

VOICES FOR PEACE: The premiere of the latest documentary from = Boston=20 College fine arts professor John J. Michalczyk of Wayland,=20 "Different Drummers: Daring to Make Peace in the Mideast," screens = today=20 at 2:15 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts. Veteran Boston television = journalist Clark Booth wrote the script for "Different = Drummers," a=20 portrait of several Israeli peacemakers who provoke others to join = their=20 voices for peace and justice.

For tickets or more information, call the MFA box office at=20 617-369-3770.

SCREENS AROUND TOWN: Nationally acclaimed photographer = Abelardo=20 Morell and his wife, award-winning filmmaker Lisa = McElaney,=20 will present and discuss the Cuban drama "Memories of = Underdevelopment"=20 tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Coolidge Corner Theater. The first=20 post-revolution film to reach the United States, Tomas Gutierrez = Alea's=20 1968 film is the passionate and often funny story of a decadent = Cuban=20 intellectual.

The MFA Film Program continues its yearlong presentation of the = art=20 documentary "Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working With = Time." There=20 is a show Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and four shows in December.

Loren King may be contacted at=20 loren.king@comcast.net.

PRINTER=20 FRIENDLY VERSION 3D""=20

E-MAIL=20 TO A FRIEND

feedback = \| help \|=20 site map \| advertisin= g=20 \| globe archives=20 =A9 2003 The New York Times = Company