The ACE Film Production Company

at Middle School 210, Queens, New York City (1997-2007)

ACEFilmCo@aol.com

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Please note the films have been reduced in image quality to suit the needs of internet video.

 

Wisdom and Justice (15 minutes, 2005) A 1950s-era New York City 8th grader moves with her family to the south.  There she incurs the wrath of the local law when she attempts to cross racial barriers to attend the school  of her choice.  Starring students Olivia Wilson and Robert Rivas.

Enemies in War (14 minutes, 2003) A family of young spies living in Queens, NY during the American Revolution pass information about the British occupation to General Washington.  Starring students Kimberly Seiler and James Petrosino.

Autumn They Die (10 minutes, 2004)  While out taking photographs with his girlfriend, the son of a 1920's-era newspaperman happens upon a Ku Klux Klan related murder.  Starring students Marcos Carillo and Crystal Rodriguez.

Some Extra Money (17 minutes, 2000)  A pair of Depression-era drifters lure a naive small-town boy into their gang. A hard-working young waitress teams up with a detective to save her brother.  Starring students Michael London and Jennifer Fernandez.

Juden, raus! (19 minutes, 2001) Two sisters living in 1938 Germany must evade an ambitious Hitler Youth member for one more night in order to safely arrive at the Kindertransport train the following morning.  Starring students  Natasha Simon and Lisa Petrosino.

Empty Spaces (13 minutes, 2002) On a Friday evening in November, 2001, a group of New York City eighth-graders decides to take the subway to Ground Zero.  As the train approaches Manhattan, each of the young people reveal their reasons for going.  One by one, they turn back, as they realize their curiosity and sense of adventure is inappropriate.  Only two students, each for a specific reason, continue on.

The ACE Film Production Company at Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School 210, Queens, N.Y.C. (1997-2007), was founded in 1997 by Social Studies teacher Karl Heidenreich, Language Arts teacher Ted Feimer, Reading teacher Carl Viñas, and Foreign Language teacher Magali Alvarez. The goal was to produce at least one student-written, acted, directed and produced broadcast-quality short film per school year. The story concepts began with 'a significant period of time in history involving teen characters,' and the student writers took it from there. A total of twelve films were produced within ten years, most of which were broadcast on Channel 25 WNYE (a PBS affiliate) in New York City.

Student involvement in the film projects dominated over the teachers' contributions, especially in the area of story conception and scriptwriting. The post-9/11 drama Empty Spaces used no adult actors at all, and the script was practically written behind closed doors entirely by students. On the other hand, the first three scenes of the late-1960s drama Early and Honorable involve mostly adult characters, and the film's student writers took recollections from Vietnam Veterans and used them nearly verbatim in the script. Researching the Kristallnacht film Juden, raus!, brought student writers face-to-face with Holocaust survivors, in interviews arranged by Global History teacher Wendy Lindner.

Real-world settings dominate the backgrounds of these films. The locations that welcomed us helped create a realism that otherwise would not have been possible on our less-than-shoestring budgets.  We filmed in churches and restaurants; on subways, steam trains and historic stations; in Victorian-era museums; at state parks, beaches and on sailing ships; on historic battlefields and in forts; in police stations, courtrooms and jails; in hippie-bars, summer camps and modern airports. Military re-enactors provided some of the most historically detailed scenes, and occasionally appear in the same scenes as student actors, as seen in the Revolutionary War adventure Enemies in War. Classic car owners contributed some of the finest 'sense of time and place' cues, for example, the Chrysler Roadster in the Roaring '20s film Autumn They Die.

In the later years, we were fortunate to welcome Social Studies/Gifted Ed. teacher Mary McCabe-Wagner, who assumed major responsibilities on at least six films, including co-directing the Civil Rights drama Wisdom and Justice.  Teacher/actors included Ted Feimer, Joseph Zemaitis, James Hannafin, Kevin Collins, Steve Fishel, Lauren Mitchell, VonReya Shaw, Mark Benjamin, Brett Leichtman, Matt Gerych, Art Zander, and 'civilians' Greg Atherton and John Wagner.  Nick Santora and Jason Astrup headed out into the 1915-era Syrian Desert (conveniently located on Long Island) to witness the Armenian Genocide in Memoirs of a Captain.  'Miss Alli,' a professional theatrical director from Working Playground, Inc. helped students bring their story ideas to print, she was the only theater/film industry professional who ever worked on any of our projects.

Most importantly, the parents transported, costumed, coached and otherwise encouraged their children, especially to tolerate the demands of their perfectionist Social Studies/Film Production teacher.

                                                           Karl Heidenreich, Franklin N.Y. (April 2008)

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