And there's an article about me to prove it!
http://www.pressconnects.com/today/n...5s149801.shtml
Woman hopes to film documentary on city
Ithaca filmmaker plans spring start
BY GEORGE BASLER
Press & Sun-Bulletin
BINGHAMTON-- When she first saw the City of Binghamton, Erin Scherer admits to being less than impressed.
"So many vacant and boarded-up buildings, it seemed so sad," the 23-year-old Ithaca resident said.
But subsequent trips to the city left her curious, especially after she did research and looked through photo collections at the Local History Center in the Broome County Public Library.
"I started to fall in love with the city," she said.
Now the aspiring filmmaker is looking to tap into these feelings to make a documentary movie about Binghamton that will chronicle the city's rise as an industrial center; the decline of downtown in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s; and recent attempts by artists and young developers to turn the city around by renovating downtown buildings.
"It's not a puff piece. But it's not an expose. I'm trying to understand what's going on," Scherer said.
The 23-year-old Ithaca woman, who is fresh out of college, hopes to begin shooting this spring if she can raise the money to finance the film.
Scherer has contacted people in the local arts and business communities to sit for interviews. She also hopes to interview city officials and wants to combine these interviews with archive footage of downtown.
One of those who has agreed to be interview is Mark Yonaty, owner of Coffee Talk in downtown Binghamton. He's intrigued by Scherer's idea.
"Any exposure this area can get is great," he said.
Scherer's film won't be big budget. She plans to shoot it on digital video for $10,000, or less.
Her filmmaking experience, by her own admission, is "rather scant." Scherer graduated from the State University College at Oneonta in May 2003 with a degree in computer art. While there, she took two semesters of digital video and made several short projects for the class.
"I don't care if she does it with her own camcorder. You have to give her credit," Yonaty said.
Scherer said she is still looking for funding. She's applied for some grants and is also accepting donations to finance the main part of production. She is also looking for old photographs and footage of the area.
One reason she wants to do the documentary is that it will be easier and cheaper than trying to put together a fictional film, Scherer said. She plans to use a first-person technique similar to Michael Moore, but promised not to be as confrontational as the controversial filmmaker.
"If anyone is going to look stupid on camera, it's going to be me," she said.
If Scherer's movie gets off the ground, it won't be the first shot in Binghamton. In 1990, English director Michael Figgis shot the $6 million romance-thriller Liebestraum in the city. The film, which featured Bill Pullman, Kim Novak and Kevin Anderson, bombed with critics.
My Wiener Touches the Ceiling (now available on iTunes)
I don't get it. I mean, why did they fuck with the formula? Where are the car songs? There's only one song about surfing and it's a downer!
Linear Mode
