The Commercial-News, Danville, IL

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April 3, 2008

Hoopeston makes its debut in NYC

Film documents town, Witch School

BY CAROL HICKS

HOOPESTON — The Hoopeston name will be in the limelight today in a locale other than Illinois.

A self-titled, independent film about Hoopeston will premiere today at the 15th Annual New York Underground Film Festival in New York City’s East Village at the Anthology Film Archives. A second showing in New York will be held Tuesday.

The feature-length documentary — about 78 minutes long — will tell Hoopeston’s story, both the good and the bad, through the words and film clips of Hoopeston residents taken in August and early September of 2006.

“NYUFF is the perfect festival for this documentary,” said Director Thomas Bender. “It’s a great platform for non-mainstream films like ‘Hoopeston.’”

Bender said he submitted a screener to the New York Underground Film Festival and organizers decided to include it in their program along with a dozen other features and short films.

Prominent in the trailer of the film that can be seen at http://www.synydyne.com/hoopeston is a brief synopsis of the film itself with a quick overview of some of the items in the documentary, including the Witch School.

Debbe Thompkins, Witch School associate, said, “We are mostly excited about it. Everyone is excited about.”

Don Lewis, Chancellor of the Board, and Ed Hubbard, CEO of Witch School, are both attending the premiere of “Hoopeston” today, according to Hubbard.

“On a personal note,” said Hubbard, “I am nervous and a little scared. I do not know what will be said.”

He added he was glad to see First Amendment rights improving and “no matter what the movie actually says, it’s cool be-cause that is First Amendment freedom.”

According to Bender, they hope to make “Hoopeston” available on a DVD at some point after the film festival.

They are still making arrangements on that part of the documentary.

“The primary filming for the documentary was completed in a period of just over a

week in Hoopeston,” Bender said. “It took me about a year to finish the bulk of the editing.”

Bender plans to donate several copies of “Hoopeston” to the Hoopeston Public Library as soon as the DVD arrangements are finalized.

“The people at the Hoopeston Public Library were very helpful to us when we were in Hoopeston, and the library is thanked in the credits of the film,” he said.

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