Two new works that are remarkable uses of the increasingly popular DV camcorder technology. Leacock, one of the pioneers of cinema verite, has had a life-long ambition to make films with low profile, compact equipment. The DV camcorder seems to have answered his quest. Working with two Sony DVX1000s and specially built microphones, whose parts included a tea strainer and a hollow Bic pen, Leacock shoots with an ease that is typical of all his work but now somehow more personal. As a result, in this charming and observant documentary about Boston-based conductor Sarah Caldwell rehearsing with a Russian orchestra and singers in Siberia, we get a fascinating diary and drama of personalities and culture clashes. That same mix drives Stratman's look at illegal midnight drag racing on the streets of southside Chicago. With a painter's eye and a storyteller's love of the great yarn, Stratman gives us a portrait of a sub-culture inside Chicago's Black community that really puts us in that place at that time. Like Leacock's piece, Stratman brings her own personality to the work and interaction with the filmmaker becomes an important part of her telling of the tale. Stratman's love of detail and of her subjectsÐnot to mention their respect for her in return give BLVD an immediacy that transcends any technology.