Misa's Fugue Screens at Philadelphia Film Festival

Post date: Oct 26, 2012 12:48:03 PM

On Monday, October 22, the Misa's Fugue team trouped to the Philadelphia Film Festival for a special screening accompanied by a very special guest. Director Sean Gaston, Editor Chad Haberstroh, Screenwriter Zachary Houp, Music Composer Justin Reinert and Special Effects Supervisor Andrew Valentino were on hand with Reading-born actor Michael Constantine (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) to promote the film and participate in a follow-up Q & A. The film had actually not been completed in time to make the regular festival deadline and it would be a chance meeting between Jennifer Goss and Constantine at the Albright Holocaust Resource Center that started the film on its path to Philadelphia."Michael came in to discuss a literary project he was working on at the suggestion of his brother-in-law, Dr. Michael Gordon, who is a friend of the Center." Goss noted. "During his visit, he asked if I had yet seen the film Misa's Fugue. I chuckled and then made mention to him of my involvement in the project as Michael had not realized that at that time my day job was also working as a teacher at FAHS." He went on to explain his thoughts on the film, which he shared again this week during an e-mail with the producers, "When I first saw Misa's Fugue in Reading I was very moved. But when I saw the titles at the end of the film my shock was as great as the emotion I'd felt during the film. To see that this film had been made by high school students,albeit with the direction of their teacher [Gaston] who also produced along with your [Jennifer's] work in producing, was unbelievable. The film is so professional looking and so well put together that I couldn't believe it hadn't been made by Hollywood pros."

(L-R Screenwriter Zachary Houp, Music Composer Justin Reinert, Special

Effects Supervisor Andrew Valentino, Director Sean D. Gaston, Actor

Michael Constantine, Editor Chad Haberstroh, and Cinematographer

James Hollenbaugh)

Michael's response to the film caused him to request copies from Gaston and share them with friends in Los Angeles, where he lives during the majority of the year. One of those friends is Gary Goetzman, the co-founder of Playtone with Tom Hanks. Goetzman was impressed by the film and made contact with the Director of the Philadelphia Film Festival, Andrew Greenblatt. Not only was Greenblatt also excited about the film, but he added it to the schedule as a late entry and Director's Pick.

The film was screened on Monday at noon at the Ritz Bourse and followed by a post screening Q&A with Gaston. Constantine made the trip to attend with the team. When Constantine wasn't being recognized by festival goers for his acting work, he was championing Misa's Fugue. "It's great to have him here and supporting the film. he truly understands not only how special the film is but he also gets the process of what it took to put this together", said Gaston. After the screening Constantine had this to say, "When I saw it again at the Philadelphia Film Festival I was moved again as I saw new things which I hadn't noticed the first time. Thank you so much for this beautiful film."This screening kicks off what will hopefully be an exciting path for the film on the festival circuit. If you have not yet seen it, you can catch it this coming weekend as a part of the Greater Reading Film Festival, where it will close the festival on Sunday, October 28, at 2:00 p.m. at the Reading Movies 11 Theatre in downtown Reading. The screening will be followed by a workshop on The Making of Misa's Fugue, by Director Sean Gaston and Music Composer Justin Reinert.