{"id":6661,"date":"2013-04-09T07:31:57","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T11:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=6661"},"modified":"2013-04-09T10:22:28","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T14:22:28","slug":"long-burning-curiosity-finds-way-to-silver-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=6661","title":{"rendered":"Long-burning curiosity finds way to silver screen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Film shot in area – a tribute to firefighters – makes its debut\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/strong><\/span>,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"At<\/a>

At the premiere of \u201cNative Boy,\u201d Henry Roosevelt (right) poses with Dave Lichter, who teaches at Pocopson Elementary School. Roosevelt said he remembered Lichter as a particularly positive role model when he was a student in Lichter\u2019s 5th-grade class.<\/p><\/div>\n

After seven weeks, a Pennsylvania mother had eagerly awaited a briefing on her son\u2019s experiences at Camp Tecumseh in New Hampshire, but the outdoor exploits he wanted to discuss were not part of the scheduled itinerary.<\/p>\n

Nearly a year later, the unexpected cinematic detour that 10-year-old Clay Story took was displayed to an enthusiastic crowd at the Ambler Theatre. More \u00a0than 100 attended Saturday night\u2019s premiere of \u00a0\u201cNative Boy,\u201d a short film in which Story poignantly plays the title character.<\/p>\n

The 20-minute narrative by filmmaker Henry Roosevelt, 27, a Pocopson Township native who now lives in New York City, generated a standing ovation and was followed by a question-and-answer session by Michael Wagner, who teaches film production at DeSales University.<\/p>\n

Wagner, who had met members of the production team and previewed the film only days earlier, said he was impressed with the results. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful film, very affecting,\u201d he said, adding that he welcomed the opportunity to lead the discussion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Clay<\/a>

Clay Story plays the title character in \u201cNative Boy,\u201d a short film by Pocopson native Henry Roosevelt.<\/p><\/div>\n

Explaining the origin of the film, Roosevelt said he had been hired to shoot some stills at Camp Tecumseh. \u00a0He returned to his boyhood stomping grounds as a graduate of George Washington University with filmmaking, writing and editing credits. He also had a new, state-of-the-art digital video camera, making the impulse to do more than still photos irresistible, he said.<\/p>\n

He said he asked a group of kids if they would venture into the swamp so he could film them, and Clay was the only one who stayed. One scene led to another, and suddenly Roosevelt had a movie in the making.<\/p>\n

When Barbara Story arrived to pick up her son at camp, he proclaimed: \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m in a film, and I want to go to New York. \u201d She said she heard the excitement in his voice and after talking to Roosevelt, agreed to let her son participate, an arrangement that ultimately led to a part for Clay\u2019s sister, Johanna, too.<\/p>\n

Roles for family members and longtime friends typify Roosevelt\u2019s routine. His production team included his brother Ben, and classmates from Unionville High and the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, where he boarded his last three years of high school. A Kennett-area cemetery was one of several local venues used in the film.<\/p>\n

Asked about his reaction to the film, Clay Story, a student at Chestnut Hill Academy, described the swamp as \u201ccold\u201d and filled with frogs. \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure I stepped on one,\u201d he said. The filming was \u201creally hard work\u201d but fun. And seeing himself on a giant screen? \u201cI never really thought I was able to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

If Roosevelt gets his wish, Story will get an encore. \u201cI want to make \u2018Native Boy\u2019 a feature film,\u201d Roosevelt said, adding that it would be helpful if Clay stopped aging. Roosevelt said one of his goals in the film was capturing the wide-eyed wonder of youth, a quality adults generally lose.<\/p>\n

The film, which exudes allegorical and mythical qualities, alternates between the story of a retired firefighter who may be reliving heroics from his youth by writing and illustrating a children\u2019s book, and the boy who may have links to his past and is now chasing the sun.<\/p>\n

Roosevelt said he believes people of different ages will find different meanings in the film\u2019s multiple layers, and he embraces that ambiguity. He hopes to do a screening soon at the Pocopson Home, depicted as the firefighter\u2019s residence in the film. But he will have to schedule that among a host of pending projects, including a music video shoot this weekend in Chestnut Hill.<\/p>\n

He said he was buoyed by the positive response to \u201cNative Boy\u201d at the premiere. \u201cI don\u2019t think it could have gone better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

His mother, Janice Roosevelt, a Chadds Ford Realtor who also teaches yoga in the area, was equally thrilled. \u201cIt was beyond my expectations,\u201d she said. She said she particularly enjoyed the film\u2019s autobiographical details, adding that Henry had exhibited an insatiable curiosity from a young age. \u201cHe always wanted to explore. He was the kind of kid who would be crawling up the shelves in the grocery store to see what was on top,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

An added bonus: Her pride extended to both sons. \u201cThey\u2019ve always been close,\u201d she said. \u201cThe fact that they did this together, it\u2019s a wonderful thing.\u201d \u00a0On a more somber note, the film, which pays tribute to firefighters, \u00a0premiered the same night that Capt. Michael Goodwin lost his life on duty in South Philadelphia, she said.<\/p>\n

Brad Gulick, the film\u2019s producer, said the cast and crew wanted to extend their sympathies to Ladder 27. \u201cThat\u2019s part of what this film was about,\u201d Gulick said. \u201cThese guys risk their lives every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gulick said the production team is pursuing leads for film festivals and hopes to have digital copies of \u201cNative Boy\u201d available for sale sometime within the next month. He said anyone interested in scheduling a screening should email na************<\/span>@***<\/span>il.com<\/span>. Additional\u00a0information is available at\u00a0http:\/\/nativeboyfilms.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Film shot in area – a tribute to firefighters – makes its debut\u00a0 By Kathleen Brady Shea,\u00a0Managing Editor, The Times After seven weeks, a Pennsylvania mother had eagerly awaited a briefing on her son\u2019s experiences at Camp Tecumseh in New Hampshire, but the outdoor exploits he wanted to discuss were not part of the scheduled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,51],"tags":[2169,2171,2220,2221,2172,2175,2176,2222,2177,2223,2224,2225],"class_list":["post-6661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-arts-entertainment","tag-native-boy","tag-ambler-theatre","tag-barbara-story","tag-ben-roosevelt","tag-brad-gulick","tag-clay-story","tag-dave-lichter","tag-desales-university","tag-henry-roosevelt","tag-janice-roosevelt","tag-johanna-story","tag-michael-wagner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}