Local Film: "Family Trees"

The locally-produced independent feature film "Family Trees" is headed to its second important market screening. This month, it will be shown in the Independents Showcase program at the 48th Berlin Film Festival and Market in Germany.

The film was shown as a work-in-progress last September at the Independent Feature Film Market in New York. The film's director, Ralph Morang, of Rye, NH, said, "We took a 20-minute preview of our locally-produced film to New York and generated at lot of national interest in it. We now have this incredible opportunity to create some international support."

The film's cinematographer, Ron Wyman of Atlantic Media in Portsmouth, NH, completed an edit of the film especially for the festival. Shooting of "Family Trees" took place on weekends from October, 1996, to March, 1997, in the Seacoast, NH, with local actors and a local crew. The film was shot in the Super 16 film format, a format designed for blow-up for 35mm theater screenings.

Writer/producer Lars Trodson most recently was a reporter with the Portsmouth, NH, Herald and now is the manager of the Press Room in Portsmouth. He is working on his second film script. He wrote the script in just three weeks after leaving his newspaper job.

Director Ralph Morang has been a photojournalist and commercial photographer for 25 years; he also formerly worked for the Portsmouth Herald. A couple of summers at the Maine Film & Video Workshops fueled his interest in films; "Family Trees" is his first feature film project. Visit http://www.seacoastnh.com/familytrees for more info.