“Hollywood to Hartford: Connecticut’s Film & Television Story” is a straightforward new documentary with a mission: to get more filmmakers to consider making their movies in Connecticut.
The one-hour film was uploaded to YouTube recently and will soon be available on other streaming platforms. Its premiere public screening will be Aug. 29 at a U.S. Horse Welfare & Rescue event in Avon held in honor of Connecticut Film & TV Alliance co-founder Ed Cohen.
The documentary was the brainchild of Stephen Emirzian, a Collinsville resident who has done film work in Connecticut as an actor, director and producer. He also worked at the old Connecticut state film office and on the Hartford Film Commission.
According to Emirzian, “Hollywood to Hartford” is “a passion project I came up with a few months ago. I had just become a member of the Connecticut Film & TV Alliance. I thought we could use a calling card in the form of a documentary. So I got together with the alliance and the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. I think we created something eye-opening and educational. There’s the passion. There’s the anecdotes. There’s the relationships.”
Courtesy of Stephen Emirzian
Some of the dozens of local film talents who created the documentary “Hollywood to Hartford.” Stephen Emirzian, center, conceived the project. (Courtesy of Stephen Emirzian)
“Hollywood to Hartford: Connecticut’s Film & Television Story” begins with dozens of interview subjects listing favorite Connecticut-made films. It’s a wide-ranging list, from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train” to Adam Sandler’s “Mr. Deeds” to the film that launched Julia Roberts’ career, “Mystic Pizza,” to Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds” and the horror films “Halloween H2O,” “My Soul to Take” and “The Stepford Wives.”
The documentary ends with the participants directly inviting viewers to “consider filming in Connecticut.”
The people interviewed for the documentary have made films in the state, whether as directors, producers or designers. Many are members of groups like the Connecticut Film & TV Alliance or other groups. Some work for local film commissions such as the one in New Milford.
Film actress and New Haven native Illeana Douglas, who wrote the book “Connecticut in the Movies: From Dream Houses to Dark Suburbia,” said one of her favorites is the Burt Lancaster film “The Swimmer,” an adaptation of a short story by John Hershey (who taught at Yale) which director Frank Perry filmed in Fairfield Country. Emirzian said Douglas heard about the documentary and wanted to be involved. She discussed not only her own sense of the arts community in Connecticut but shared her research about the making of “Mystic Pizza” and other iconic Connecticut-set movies.
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“Twenty five years ago people would say, ‘We want L.A. of New York people working on the film because they’re the ones that know how to do it best,’” Emirzian said. “But that’s no longer true.”
Not only are there filmmakers based in Connecticut, but there are training opportunities as well.
“What makes Connecticut different from other places is that when people see someone filming here, they want to be part of it,” Emirzian said.
Emirzian mentioned that when a local chef who regularly caters movie sets in Connecticut heard about the documentary project, he insisted on catering the “Hollywood to Hartford” project for free “just because he liked the idea,” according to Emirzian.
Jim Robinson, the head of the Connecticut School of Broadcasting (which was founded by his father in 1964), edited the film using the school’s CSB Media Arts Center. In the documentary, Robinson — who’s also one of the interviewees — counters the mistaken impression that Connecticut does not have the resources to compete with other states in terms of doing everything required to make a motion picture. He noted that the state has soundstages, recording studios, places that rent trucks or cameras or lighting equipment or costumes and all the other necessary elements.
“For the most part, you can get anything you want,” Emizirian said. “It’s not about whether we have what’s needed, but more about Hollywood saying it’s worth it to film here.”
Like a lot of states that hope to encourage the filming of major motion pictures, Connecticut offers tax breaks and other incentives for film companies.
“We want producers coming in on a regular basis,” Emirzian said. “We need them to understand that this is the place to make their movies.”
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