The Real Bedford Falls Documentary Released

I just want to share the news that our independent documentary The Real Bedford Falls: It’s a Wonderful Life is now available on DVD and digital HD. The film was produced by Honest Engine Films and distributed by Virgil Films and Entertainment. It recently won a New York Emmy Award in the category of Nostalgia-Long Form Content.

Here is the synopsis:

Was one of the world’s most beloved motion pictures influenced by a small upstate New York town? The Real Bedford Falls: It’s a Wonderful Life is an Emmy Award-winning, half-hour documentary that explores the connections between Seneca Falls, New York, and Bedford Falls, the setting of the movie It’s a Wonderful Life.

Aerial image by Chase Guttman.

The documentary examines small-town life in Seneca Falls, captures the excitement of the annual It’s a Wonderful Life Festival, and celebrates the enduring themes of the Frank Capra classic. The film features interviews with Karolyn Grimes (who played Zuzu Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life), Jimmy Hawkins (who played Tommy Bailey), Monica Capra Hodges, granddaughter of Frank Capra, and film critic Leonard Maltin. Former NBC Today show correspondent Bob Dotson provides the narration.

The release of the documentary comes at the right time, as this year marks the 75th anniversary of the release of It’s a Wonderful Life.

Frankenstein, 1931

On Friday night, I watched the 1931 film Frankenstein, starring Colin Clive and Boris Karloff. And Henry Frankenstein’s creature, called The Monster, played by Karloff, elicited my empathy as he jolted to life in a lightning storm with an abnormal brain incapable of functioning in society. I won’t relay the plot summary since the story is very familiar. And the movie version is much different from the novel it was based upon, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus.

Frankenstein poster

But one scene stood out. In it, Karloff plays a game with a little girl, both of them tossing flowers into a lake. He then picks up the girl and throws her in, and she disappears below the surface of the water. Why? He doesn’t know any better.

Frankenstein movie still.

And the film made me think of my autistic son and about all disabled people. What do we do with humans who don’t live up to perceived standards of normalcy? Where do they go? Are they given a chance to function, to thrive, to pursue happiness, and to find a place in this world? I have no answers—just a desire to express kindness toward every person.

And the movie inspired a short poem.

Halloween Screening:
Frankenstein, 1931

You can’t fault
Frankenstein’s creature
For what he became.

He never had a choice.
He didn’t ask to be born.
He didn’t seek existence.

With an abnormal brain
And cobbled parts,
He can’t be blamed for
The terror he wrought.

He was only acting
According to his nature.
The real monster here
Is the man who
Created the creature.

The Real Bedford Falls Documentary on WNET

For people living in the NYC/Tri-State area, I want to pass along this note. The indie documentary short I co-produced/directed with my partner Stu Lisson—The Real Bedford Falls: It’s a Wonderful Life—airs tonight at 10:30 p.m. and again on Christmas Day on Thirteen WNET, the PBS station in New York.

Bridge Street Bridge in Seneca Falls. Aerial image by Chase Guttman.

The film explores the connections between the town of Seneca Falls, New York, and Bedford Falls, the fictional home of George Bailey in the classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life. The documentary features interviews with film critic Leonard Maltin, Karolyn Grimes (Zuzu Bailey), Jimmy Hawkins (Tommy Bailey), Syracuse University professor of popular culture Robert Thompson, film historian Jeanine Basinger and Monica Capra Hodges, granddaughter of director Frank Capra. Former NBC Today show correspondent Bob Dotson lends his mellifluous voice as narrator.

Thanks to everyone who was involved in this indie passion project. Special thanks go to The Seneca Falls It’s a Wonderful Life Museum for access to the story and most of all to Joanne Storkan, Chris Carpenter and the team at Honest Engine Films for making the project a reality. We hope to have a streaming/online viewing option in the near future.

Documentary Screenings

Co-producer Stu Lisson (left), actor Brian Rohan (center) and co-producer Francis DiClemente (right)

I’m excited to announce that this weekend we are screening our work-in-progress documentary The Real Bedford Falls: It’s a Wonderful Life, presented by Honest Engine Films. The first showing is at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14 at Trinity Church in Seneca Falls as part of the It’s a Wonderful Life Festival. The second screening is at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 15 at the MOST Museum in Syracuse.

Drone image of Seneca Falls. Photo by Chase Guttman.

The film explores the connections between Seneca Falls, New York and Bedford Falls — the setting of the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. The documentary examines small town life in Seneca Falls, captures the excitement of the annual It’s a Wonderful Life Festival and celebrates the enduring themes of the Frank Capra classic. It features actors Karolyn Grimes (Zuzu Bailey) and Jimmy Hawkins (Tommy Bailey), film critic Leonard Maltin, Syracuse University professor of popular culture Robert Thompson, film historian Jeanine Basinger and Monica Capra Hodges, granddaughter of director Frank Capra. Former NBC Today show correspondent Bob Dotson serves as narrator. Here’s a short clip from the film.

Late Summer Melange

It’s been a busy summer at work, as I’ve been shooting and editing Syracuse University-related video projects. Last week, a colleague and I traveled to Washington, DC and Baltimore to conduct interviews in the District and in Charm City. Here are a couple of iPhone photos I took outside our hotel in downtown Baltimore, across the street from Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD

Brooks Robinson statue, Baltimore, MD

I also wanted to point out that I had a couple of essays published online this week. The first was about an episode of low potassium and periodic paralysis I suffered while living in Toledo, Ohio, in the 1990s. The piece was published on the Be Yourself blog at Medium. It’s entitled Pursuit of Gratitude. And here’s a photo of the medication I now need to take twice a day to compensate for my condition of hypokalemia (low potassium).

Potassium effervescent medication

And lastly, an essay about my mother’s love of the 1965 movie musical The Sound of Music was published by The Millions. The story is called Comfort Objects.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings and for reading my stories. Enjoy the rest of the warm summer weather before the cold air takes over (at least here in central New York).

Poetry Pals

I can’t seem to get enough of writer Charles Bukowski these days.

Charles Bukowski

I recently finished reading his novel Hollywood, a fictionalized account about Bukowski’s experience writing the screenplay for the movie Barfly.

I then ran out to the library and checked out two poetry books by Bukowski—The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain: New Poems and Come On In!: New Poems.

I don’t even read much poetry but I felt I needed more Bukowski books in the house, like I wanted to keep my friend around for a while. Bukowski seems less like a deceased author and more like a buddy spending his vacation with me. When I’m engrossed in a Bukowski work, I often picture him sitting in my living room and reading aloud from his book while taking sips of beer from a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon or Miller High Life.

Anyway, that’s just a fleeting image. The writing speaks for itself. And I’ve only read up to page 57 in The Flash of Lightning, but here’s a poem I found worthy of sharing. I hope you enjoy it too.

Born Again

this special place of ourselves
sometimes explodes in our
faces.
I got a flat on the freeway yesterday,
changed the right rear wheel on the
shoulder,
the big rigs storming by,
slamming the sky
against my head and
body.
it felt like I was clinging to the
edge of the earth,
30 minutes late for the first
post.

but strangely, something
about the experience
was very much like emerging reluctantly
a second time
from my
mother’s womb.

Bukowski, Charles. The Flash of Lightning Behind the Mountain: New Poems. New York: Ecco (An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers), 2004.

I also ran across an old interview with Bukowski in the New York Times in which he discusses his style of writing and being a lucky late bloomer.

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