Boston Public Library looks back at Bay State’s filmography
By Faye Haun/BU Daily Free Press – Tuesday, February 23, 2010

As a big, busy, culturally diverse city, Boston has attracted filmmakers for decades, and this year the Boston Public Library is celebrating those movies.

BPL’s film series “Made in Massachusetts” is showcasing locally produced and filmed movies every Monday night for all of 2010.

“It’s a way to bring people here,” said BPL staff member Denice Thornhill. “‘Made in Massachusetts’ was a theme I thought of when they were making two movies here last year, which people seemed to be interested in.”

The library has been showing movies once a week since the early 1980s, first providing film strips for children and book-based movies for adults. But in the 1990s, in order to attract more people, the library decided to switch to specific genres instead of book-based movies, showcasing a new theme each year.

“They are trying to send a message out through movies,” said attendee Ron Viglio.  “Many different kinds of people can learn about life through movies.”

Boston University students may remember Suri Cruise and Katie Holmes’ romp around the Nickerson Field track last semester, during Tom Cruise’s Fenway-area filming of the upcoming action flick “Knight and Day.”

At the BPL, each month this year will have a different theme, but all movies screened will still have been filmed in the Bay State.

About 125 people attended Monday’s showing of the 1998 Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Hope Davis romantic comedy “Next Stop Wonderland,” which was one of three movies shown for February’s Romance theme.