‘Hollywood in Chestnut Hill’
First Chestnut Hill Film Festival this
weekend
by LEN LEAR
Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep will not be
there stepping out of limousines and wearing Versace
gowns and million-dollar diamond necklaces. Tom Cruise
and Mel Gibson will not be there flashing their sparklers
and grinning from Bethlehem Pike to Cresheim Valley Road.
But Tom Bond, 48, who grew up on Springfield
Avenue, wouldn’t miss it for all the antiques on
Germantown Avenue. Tom now lives in North Wales, but
he still has such affection for Chestnut Hill that he
has helped to create the first-ever “Freedom Film
Festival of Chestnut Hill,” whose films will all
be shown at two area locations, The Stagecrafters and
Solaris Grille , from Friday, July 16, to Sunday, July18.
The schedule includes feature length films,
shorts, animation, a special children’s feature
animation, The King’s Beard, and a chilling
documentary from Emmy-award winning director Tom Roberts, Inside
the Mind of a Suicide Bomber, with on-camera interviews
from inside an Israeli prison.
Bond, who has been a member of the Philadelphia
Cricket Club for 20 years, had no background in the film
industry when he conceived the film festival idea last
year. A graduate of La Salle High School and La Salle
University,
Tom worked for two of the city’s major
advertising agencies, Spiro and Elkman, over 14 years.
He is currently in the commercial real estate business.
However, a while back he met Joe Fedison,
who owns a film festival management company in
Absecon, New Jersey.
“Suddenly it hit me,” explained
Bond. “Why not have a film festival in Chestnut
Hill? It’s a sophisticated community with beauty
and charm and great old architecture. I realized it would
be an ideal venue for a small film festival.”
Bond proceeded to establish a joint venture
with Atlantic Festival Management (Fedison’s firm)
to create The Freedom Film Festival of Chestnut Hill.
His partners in the endeavor are John Anderson
and Tim Bonnie, owners of Solaris Grille.
Tom also sought and received the cooperation
of The Stagecrafters, Chestnut Hill’s community
theater which is currently celebrating its 75th anniversary. “Anything
that will help promote Chestnut Hill’s reputation
as a place for the arts to flourish is a good idea,” stated
Yaga Brady, spokesperson for the historic community theater.
Information on the festival was put out on
the internet, and movies by independent film makers began
coming in, and they were screened. Ten of those feature-length
films submitted were selected by Fedison to be shown
as well as several shorts.
“It’s going to be a little bit of
Hollywood in Chestnut Hill,” said Bond.
As a part of the festival, Chestnut Hill
will host the world premiere of the first-ever feature
length interactive movie. Attendees will be part of history
when Murder at Café Noir screens on Saturday
night at The Stagecrafters. Attendees vote via remote
control to decide the direction of the movie. Actors
and the director will be in attendance. A meet-and-greet
reception follows at Solaris Grille.
Friday night at 7, The Stagecrafters will
be screening Blackball. This life-affirming new
British comedy, starring Vince Vaughn (Old School)
and James Cromwell (L.A. Confidential), is a classic
tale of triumph over adversity. Lightning Bug, starring
Laura Prepon from That ‘70s’ Show, comes
back to Philadelphia for an encore presentation. It was
one of the most well attended films at the 2004 Philadelphia
Film Festival. The story is based on actual events and
screens Friday, 9:15 p.m., at The Stagecrafters.American
Cousins shows us another side to the stereotypical
gangster film. With its likeable mix of characters, it
is in many ways reminiscent of Bill Forsyth’s Local
Hero. The cast includes Dan Hedaya (Mulholland
Drive), Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos)
and Danni Nucci.
Local casting director Mike Lemon will be
screening his award-winning short film, Touched,
in the Red Room at Solaris Grille; he will be on hand
for comments. Lemon will also take part in the Filmmakers’ Seminar
on Sunday afternoon.
Events will be held all three days at Solaris
Grille and The Stagecrafters in Chestnut Hill. Tickets
for screenings will be available at the door ($4 - $7).
A full schedule is available online at www.FreedomFilmFestival.com,
or call 215-242-3400.
