Local graduate to screen film at festival

Fall is shaping up to be a busy time for several Kutztown students, including one recent graduate of Jim Thorpe Area High School.

Brandon Wood, 22 and a 2012 graduate of JTAHS, was producer of the short film "This Time Tomorrow," which will premiere on Oct. 1 at Kutztown University. The film will also be screened at the ReadingFilmFEST, which runs Nov. 11-13.

This is the second short film Wood has produced, and the first to be accepted into a film festival. "This Time Tomorrow" is one of just 30 independent films being showcased at the festival.

"I was very excited. It's cool that our first film festival is a local festival. I think it's going to be a really fun festival to be at," he said.

Wood is currently a senior at Kutztown majoring in electronic media and the president of Film It Now Productions. The concept behind "This Time Tomorrow" was brought to his group by Seth Noggle, who worked with them on their last short film. Writing began in early 2015 and the group began filming in April 2015.

"This Time Tomorrow" features journalist Paul Lewis, played by Gene Connelly, who is depressed and stumbles upon an unusual companion while investigating a story. This companion dies every day, then returns the next day in a new body - sometimes male, sometimes female, either old or young - to discuss the challenges of life and the finality of death with Paul over a cup of coffee.

"It had a lot of potential. I thought we could really make it into something different, something that hadn't been done before," said Wood.

As producer, Wood oversaw the various stages of production, first ensuring that the script was up to the quality they would need for the industry, then working to secure the proper releases and paperwork to complete the film. He oversaw postproduction as well, working with the team to bring together the many different aspects of the film.

"Shooting took three very long, very tiresome days," said Wood, who noted that the crew worked 14-hour days to get everything that they needed. They would ultimate have more than eight hours of material to cut down to the 30-minute film. His team has been working on postproduction editing over the past year and did some final filming in October 2015, all while juggling the commitments of full-time college schedules with the demands of producing a short film.

"One of the things that is pretty frustrating is not being able to get everything done right away," he said of the two-year-long project. "You get excited and you want it to be done, and you want it to be good, but obviously it's not possible to have it be done quickly and be good."

For more information on the film's Oct. 1 screening at Kutztown (tickets are required), their ReadingFilmFEST time slot, or details on the film's DVD and digital release later this year, go to their Facebook page "This Time Tomorrow -- A Short Film" or www.filmitnow.com/this-time-tomorrow/.