Here, at the beginning of the Boston Film Renaissance, comes one of its most ambitious projects, "12" a feature film with a cast and crew of hundreds, shot in film with seasoned professionals, all for a budget of under $25,000 (no taking advantage of the tax incentives here

Having worked out of Boston for several years on projects like FEVER PITCH and THE BROTHERHOOD, filmmakers Scott Masterson and Vladimir Manuti realized how much filmmaking talent Boston has - a talent that has largely gone unrecognized. They came up with the idea for "12," and assembled a group of filmmakers to do it.

"12" is a series of twelve 5-7 minute short films, each with a different locally based director.

It is structured around the months of the year. There are twelve directors, twelve separate stories. But the segments are developed after extensive meetings. Each segment must be shot in the designated month. Although the directors have a considerable degree of automony, each segment must have a shot of a certain tree in the Fenway area. And, some of the segments have overlapping characters. Nevertheless, the subjects and style differ widely. Some are dramatic, others comedic. One is a detective musical; another, shot last month, is a documentary about bees. Some of the filmmakers are making shorts that can stand alone while others are making films that might later be developed into feature film projects..Crews ave ranged from 3 to 30, and set locations, always with a view that they are Boston locations, have gone from one to 7.

For the organizers of the project, it has been an incredibile experience As the producers assembled the talent, they went for diversity. Many of the directors have had experience in the slick commercial/industrial field, with others, like Garth Donovan, have worked with low budget, hand held camera, Cassavetes-style film. They have all worked together, and, according to Scott Masteson, have learned from one another. It has been a truly collaborative project.

The hope is that not only will they have made an entertaining feature film, but one which will draw attention to the filmmaking talent that is here. This comes at a time when many of the creators of "12" are working on the crews of the big budgeted films that are being shot here, like the remake of THE WOMEN on which 12's Executive Producer Angela Manuti is working

The project has been an exhilerating one for the participantsl They have worked on one other's projects - one time a director, the next time a DP. All the directors and producers have been involved in the development of the project. In terms of both crew and cast, over 200 people have been involved. As Vladimir Manuti puts it, "it has been one of the greatest professional experiences of my life."