Attend the World Premier of Alumnus’s Movie on Sept. 29

Some of the 3-D animation used to recreate battles in Broadside. Click to view trailers.

In the 17th century, New York was known as New Amsterdam and a rivalry existed between the British and Dutch that spanned oceans, continents, and empires and resulted in the fiercest naval war in the age of sail. Two hundred battleships, in miles-long formations, fought to determine who would dominate world trade for the next 200 years. Broadside, a documentary written, directed, and produced by Bruce Twickler ’67, SM ’68, captures this drama using period houses, galleries, gardens, and forts as the backdrop and through carefully researched recreations rendered in sophisticated computer graphic simulations.

The two-hour film will air on public television nationwide beginning in October. But you can be among the first to view it at this premiere event sponsored by the MIT Club of Boston.

• Date: September 29
• Time: Screening begins at 7:00 p.m.
• Location: Kirsch Auditorium, Stata Center (Bldg. 32), MIT campus
• Cost: $10 for MIT Club members and $15 for non-members; price includes refreshments and pre-screening gathering with Twickler, starting at 6:30 p.m. A Q&A will follow the movie at 9:00 p.m.

Register today with the MIT Club of Boston.

Twickler is president of his own Cambridge-based production company, Docema, which previously released the documentary Damrell’s Fire, about how Fire Chief John Damrell stopped America’s cities from burning down.

Watch trailers and learn about the history of the British-Dutch conflict, ship construction, and more on the film’s Web site.

 

Why the Glass Lab Needs Help

An 11-minute documentary made by MIT students and filmmaker Audubon Dougherty sheds light on one of the most  highly sought-after organizations at the Institute—the MIT Glass Lab.

Viewers are introduced to its director and a handful of artists who speak to the collaborative experience of blowing glass, the level of spacial awareness and communication it requires, and the novelty of working in a lab at MIT that doesn’t contain a single textbook or computer station.

The film also looks at why the Glass Lab needs help, financially, and what can be done to help it. Watch the full-length piece below or a shorter 2.5 minute version here.