By Jason J. Marchi
Times Correspondent
If you’re in the mood to celebrate Halloween this year with an evening at the movies, head on over to the Olde Mistick Village Cinemas on Thursday, Oct. 30 for a treat, and witness a series of short films written, directed, and performed by area talent associated with the Southeastern Connecticut Filmmakers.
Beginning at 7 p.m., several independently produced short films will precede the highlight film of the evening, The Curse of Micah Rood, featuring Ron Pallilo, who played Arnold Horshack in the popular 1970s TV series Welcome Back, Kotter, and Brian Ellsworth, a rising talent in the industry.
This 30-minute film—written by Nick Checker and directed by Alec Asten—is based on a legend out of Norwich regarding an 18th-century recluse whose suspicion of local villagers leads to a crime resulting in a bizarre haunting, according to Checker.
Micah Rood was filmed at various area sites, including Whittle Farm in Mystic, the Nathan Lester Home and Holmberg Orchards in Ledyard, and the Jabez-Smith House in Groton.
“We are grateful to all of them for their generosity and consideration,” Checker said, allowing for a period authenticity the filmmakers could not have easily achieved without building elaborate sets.
The short films that precede Micah Rood are the work of a fledgling film group in Southeastern Connecticut and western Rhode Island, and the group hopes the Halloween eve short film festival will encourage more support for area filmmaking.
The group also hopes more people will want to get involved and exercise their talents in whatever areas interest them the most, from writing and directing, to producing, acting, film-scoring, or general production assistance work.
Of the short films to kick off the evening, “These are cracking-good tales, and all but one or two were written by the screenwriting students I have been working with the last couple of years,” Checker said, who also works as the director of development of the Southeastern Connecticut Filmmakers.
The Southeastern Connecticut Filmmakers then gathered the various production talents to turn these scripts into films. “These short films are, in essence, the ‘stepchildren’ of the Micah Rood production and the culmination of a tremendous amount of work on all their parts,” Checker explained.
The local filmmaking movement that has been mushrooming “has turned into the nucleus of a bona fide independent film company,” Checker added. “This screening on Halloween eve is, in a sense, Southeastern Connecticut Filmmakers true coming out party,” and a first for the organization to show a group films it is responsible for producing from script to screen.
“I’m very thankful for Bill Dougherty, owner of the Olde Mistick Village Cinemas and a truly, truly great man who believes in seeing independent filmmakers have their day in the sun,” Checker noted.
Admission for the evening is $7 per person. The entire showing is expected to run about two hours. There will also be a gathering after the screenings at the Steak Loft, across the street from the cinemas.
Checker has posted a YouTube link to a three-minute trailer of Micah Rood. To find the trailer search for “Curse of Micah Rood” at www.youtube.com.
For further information on the Oct. 30 screenings or the Southeastern Connecticut Filmmakers, contact Nick Checker at 860-444-8711 or e-mail Nick at nickchecker@aol.com.