A director is already scouting out locations for a movie connected to the Sandy Hook massacre, a tragedy that happened only two months ago.
The film company, Demian Productions, reportedly announced on its Facebook page that the movie, ‘Illness,’ revolves around a mentally ill 13-year-old boy named Benjamin. The boy becomes fearful of his parents after learning about the tragedy in Newtown.
Film director Jonathan Bucari told News 12 Connecticut he is considering Ridgefield, Connecticut as a possible site to film a made-for-TV movie. He reportedly visited the town on Monday. Bucari decided to choose Ridgefield, instead of Newtown out of consideration for the citizens of Newtown. Ridgefield is still only 20 miles away from the site of one of the worst shootings in American history.
Yet Ridgefield residents aren’t happy about the possibility of hosting the film cast and crew. Ridgefield schools superintendent Deborah Low called Bucari’s timing “poor,” and according to Ridgefield’s First Selectman Rudy Marcono, Bucari may have to look elsewhere for his project.
“I will do everything in my power to prevent this,” Marconi told The Danbury News-Times. “Mr. Bucari is going to have to find another location. It will not be in Ridgefield.”
Despite the fact the premise of the movie is eerily similar to the events leading up Sandy Hook, Demian Productions insists this is “not a movie about what happened in Newtown.”
Bucari is also dedicating the film to the “to the victims of the shooting in Newtown.”
According to NBC Connecticut, the film company’s Facebook page explained, “We are doing a non-profit film about mental illness. Our objective is to help families with kids struggling with mental illness.”
The film’s producer Carina Rush promised on the fund-rasing website Indiegogo that “all funds and prizes won through Festivals will be used for the formation of a Foundation to help the many families with children struggling with mental illness.”
“We believe that everyone can relate to this film and that we can make an impact on mental illness,” Rush added. According to Indiegogo, Rush has raised $610 of her $3000 goal to film the movie.
It’s also only been two months since a gunman entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown and shot and killed 20 students and six faculty members before committing suicide.
