The sounds of, "Lights, camera, action!" will soon echo in the Village of Brockport when Christian filmmaker, Rich Christiano, begins filming his fifth movie, "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry," in August. Christiano plans to film most of the movie in Brockport, with a few scenes located in Holley and Rochester. Christiano grew up in Waterloo, New York and currently lives in southern California. He chose to film in Brockport for several reasons. "The movie is a 1970 period piece that takes place in a small town," Christiano said. "I have always loved the area and knew it would be easier to capture the small town look I wanted shooting in Waterloo. But, we needed a town closer to Rochester since that will be our home base. Waterloo is just a tad too far to drive each day to film so we started to look at towns nearby. Brockport looked good to me." Christiano's next step was to find community contacts. "I got on the internet and called a couple of local Bible churches to get some assistance," he said. "I felt the churches would be interested, especially if they were aware of some of my previous work." The first person he called was Mark DuPré, associate pastor and minister of music of Christ Community Church on Coleman Creek Road in Brockport. DuPré is also a film professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. "I know the business and understand the right budgets for Christian films," DuPré said. "Their budgets are more than you or I make in a year, but small compared to Hollywood films." DuPré agreed to meet with Christiano and help him scout locations. Christiano's next call was to Tony Bartolucci, pastor of Clarkson Community Church on Ridge Road West. Bartolucci owns a video of Christiano's first feature length movie, "Time Changer," which was released in 2002. He also agreed to help in whatever way he could. At the appointed time, DuPré met with Christiano and ushered him and his producer, Chad Gundersen, around the streets of Brockport. One business that caught Christiano's attention was Coleen's Café at 42 Main Street. Owner Colleen Dwyer thinks the filming is exciting. "My place has been a diner for 40 or 50 years and not a lot has changed," Dwyer said. "The base of the counter goes back to the 40's. The floor easily goes back to the 50s or 60s." Dwyer said the filming would take place when the café is closed. "There is a lot of modern stuff in here but I'll have to take the cappuccino machine off the counter," Dwyer said. Christiano was also scouting for three middle class homes from the 1950s or 1960s for the interior scenes. DuPré advised the congregation of Christ Community Church of the situation during the Sunday service. As a result, at least one home was found, and the owners agreed to stop mowing the grass, as Christiano wants a somewhat old and run down look to the property. Another parishioner, author Doug Hickerson, wrote and distributed press releases about the movie. Bartolucci also met with Christiano and Gundersen. "We cruised around the area for about 45 minutes," Bartolucci said. "We have some common interests; theologically, we are quite similar." The Bartoluccis had recently redecorated their living room and Christiano may use it for one of the interior scenes. About 40 percent of the movie takes place outdoors, so Christiano needs cars from the 1960s to line the streets. Bartolucci happens to own two vintage vehicles. "There is only one sovereign of the universe," Bartolucci said, "and when things happen it is always Providential." He consented to lend his 1966 Chevrolet Impala 4-Door Sport Sedan and his 1968 Chevrolet K-20 4x4 Pickup for the street scenes. Additionally, he put Christiano in touch with other vintage car owners. During a second meeting with DuPré, Christiano expressed an interest in hiring local musicians to compose and record the score for the film. DuPré was able to provide a contact at the Eastman School of Music. However, the musical decisions will be part of the postproduction process. Background Two years later, however, Dave became a Christian; Rich soon followed. The twins felt strongly that they had a calling to share the Gospel with others. Their first projects were shorts created on 16mm film. For the first 50 years of the Christian film industry, 16mm was the norm. Churches would rent films from Christian film libraries and show them during Sunday School, on Sunday evenings, or as part of youth events. The only people who had knowledge of Christian films were pastors and youth ministers who received information via mailing lists from Christian film libraries. That changed in the 1990s. Christian filmmakers began producing their movies on video. This created a wider audience that included homes, television and possibly theatres. "Christian movies are on the upswing," Rich said. He started ChristianMovies.com in 1997 to "distribute as many Christian movies into the hands of believers so they can be used as witnessing tools for family and friends, while at the same time setting up a model of distribution so that more films are financed and produced." "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry," is probably the first movie to use Brockport as a backdrop. Bill Andrews, village historian emeritus, said, "As far as I know, no other film for regular movie theater distribution has been filmed in Brockport." Dwyer thinks fame has advantages. "I imagine there will be a bit of an influx in business during the filming," she said. Christiano believes that the movie "will be a heartwarming, emotional inspiring Christian film that will motivate people to treasure relationships and want to follow the Lord." He plans to return to Brockport in late July to finalize arrangements. Local residents interested in having their cars or homes in the movie may contact Christiano directly at rc@ChristianMovies.com and include a photograph, if possible. Potential actors must be members of the Screen Actors Guild; resume and photograph may be e-mailed to the same address. Please note that neither DuPré nor Bartolucci are involved with casting. © July 8, 2007 - Westside News Inc. |
