Long-Lost 1912 Bard Film
On Fest Agenda

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

his year's Westchester Film Festival will include movies ranging from a recently discovered 1912 Shakespearean film to an amateur's story about trying to get a date with Chelsea Clinton.

"Chelsea's Chappaqua," a digital video by actor Jack Nasi, will have its first public screening during next week's festival, which opens Sunday with the first East Coast screening of "Richard III," believed to be the oldest surviving American feature film.

To be eligible to be in the festival, a movie needs some kind of Westchester connection — it must have been filmed in the county, set in the county, written, directed, produced edited or shot by a county resident, or feature actors who live in the county.

"Richard III" was mostly filmed in Westchester. It is a five-reel silent film starring Frederick Warde, a leading Shakespearean actor of the time. It was considered lost until 1996, when a well-preserved copy was found in the basement of a former projectionist's home and donated to the American Film Institute.

It has been shown to the public only once, in Los Angeles, but will be screened at an invitation-only kickoff on Sunday and then shown to the public Wednesday night at the Clearview Cinema in Greenburgh.

"Chelsea's Chappaqua" was shot in Chappaqua — some of it on the grounds of the house that had just been bought by President Bill Clinton — and in Pleasantville, where Nasi grew up.

It's the fictional story of a young man who wants to find "a rich chick from Chappaqua" and figures new neighbor Chelsea Clinton would be perfect.

Chelsea Clinton, played by Stephanie Rein, gets him to go back to his hairdresser girlfriend.

Also to be shown at the festival are four films that will be followed by question-and-answer sessions with the filmmakers. They are:

• "The Opponent," shot in Port Chester, about "a woman's self-discovery in the unlikely world of boxing."
• "True Friends," by James Quattrochi of Greenburgh, about Italian and Puerto Rican youths in the Bronx.
• "The Boys of Sunset Ridge," produced by Jonathan Weinstein of Croton-on-Hudson, about 60 years of friendship.
• "Last Ball," filmed in Hastings-on-Hudson, about a young man growing up outside New York City.

What do you think? Post your comments on our Forums.