Princeton Film Foundation embarks on a 'Good-Day' mission

With the late afternoon sun warming her corner of the Cottage Club study, an elderly Dorothy Bingham quietly sits between her money-crazed son and her smooth lawyer. The situation is grim — the wealthy widow nears death and her son, James IV, pleads for her signature to finalize the estate papers.

Barging buoyantly into the library and running to her great grandmother's side, Tiffany Bingham interrupts the strained atmosphere in a choreographed manner. She has gone through the same motions and dialogue more than a dozen times already, but this time her stride is perfect.

"Cut!" director Rossif Sutherland '02 yells out. He motions with his hands that the scene is over and that the actors should return to their places to repeat the exchange. This time, the camera will roll.

The scene is part of the short film, "Good-day, Mr. Felts," adapted from a screenplay written by executive producer Jade Welsh '00. Teaming with Sutherland and a 40-person crew of professional film photographers, students and local residents, Welsh began shooting the 30-minute black-and-white film Friday on Prospect Avenue.

The student-produced work depicts the fated encounter of Roland Felts, a disparaged baker driven to extremes, and the elder Bingham. Culminating in a "Sixth Sense"-esque climax, Bingham catches Felts robbing her house, ultimately leading him to reflect on the meaning of happiness. Though the storyline does not relate to the University, the crew used the interiors of Ivy and Cottage clubs as the main character's mansion.

"Mr. Felts" is the first short film shot and produced by the recently created Princeton Film Foundation, a University-funded club promoting film on campus. Welsh — along with Jane Han '02 and Matt Bacal '01 — founded the group at the beginning of the school year to create an outlet for student interest in film-making and to forge a connection with the film industry outside campus, according to Katie Heinz '02, one of the film's artistic designers.

Han explained that the creation of the film club reflects an increasing student interest nationwide in the medium, which encompasses several disciplines. "Film incorporates different departments at Princeton, like art, music and dance, into creating a short film that can really show off the talents of different Princeton students," she said, adding that the production also relied on technical assistance from students and professional photographers.

The brainchild of Welsh, the organization arose as a combined effort among Han and Bacal after the trio spent summers studying film at NYU Summer Film School and The New York Film Academy, where their interest in the medium flourished.

"Once you get hooked to it, you get sucked in," Han said. "Through that, because Princeton has limited resources for film, we thought, 'Why not bring it to campus?' We know a few other Ivy League schools like Yale and Harvard have similar groups and offer classes on hands-on film-making."

In addition to raising student awareness of this new creative outlet, one of the foundation's goals is to produce one film each year, proving students can direct a film on their own, she said.

Heinz added that the organization hopes to overcome the lack of film-related resources at Princeton and strengthen contacts with alumni. The foundation plans to accomplish these aims by inviting alumni in the industry to address students' questions and concerns at the film's screening later this semester.

"While we have the connection to lots of alums in I-banking, there really isn't that connection for students interested in the arts," Heinz added.