Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Local filmmaker premieres ‘Fine Tune’ at De Yor

By Sarah Poulton

YOUNGSTOWN — After being in the works for eight years, “Fine-Tune” will premier Saturday at Ford Recital Hall in the De Yor Performing Arts Center, downtown.

Local Filmmaker Chris Rutushin of River and Heron Productions said after years of hard work, he’s happy with the final product. He’s seen it come together, and is proud of everyone for their hard work, he said.

“It’s nice to come to this point,” Rutushin said. “It’s like a marriage; there’s good and bad points, but it’s something you stand by.”

Rutushin said the movie is loosely based on his own family, so when he started compiling the interviews in 2000, he started at home. He interviewed his parents, and most of his mothers’ side to make the film as life-like as possible, he said.

“People should write more about what they know,” Rutushin said. “I feel that writing about what you know has always been the most effective. You have to fill in the blanks in a fake or made-up world. I like writing about real people or making the characters come off as real.”

The basic plot of the movie involves a married couple who move back to Youngstown to help out their family and gets more responsibility than they bargained for.

Rutushin said “Fine Tune” is about a guy who marries into an Italian family and struggles to fit in. He said it’s similar to ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ only in the 1970s in Youngstown.

In the movie, his father, “Jerry” (Brendan Gauntner) marries his mother, “Marie” (Noelle Nackino) and the two of them end up moving in with Marie’s “Grandpa Vic” (John Maluso) after his wife dies. From the beginning, Rutushin said the film is filled with ups and downs between Jerry and Marie’s family.

“I really like awkward moments,” Rutushin said. “I thrive on awkward moments. Not that I wish that on anybody in real life, but sometimes I like to sit back and watch awkward awesomeness.”

He said he began writing “Fine Tune” in November 2001 after he came home from a trip to Ischia, Italy. That’s where he believes his family is from, and he wanted to go there to get accurate information.

“I didn’t know my great-grandfather,” Rutushin said. “The whole thing was to try to get to know him, I guess. My whole life, when I heard these stories from my family, I was like, ‘holy shit, this is a movie.’ ”

He said he began filming the movie in July 2005 and most of it was shot at a house near Lanterman’s Mill on Canfield Road. Scenes of the movie were also filmed at the original Handel’s, The Royal Oaks, Oak Hill Cemetery and Mill Creek Park, he said.

“I’m very happy to shoot a film in my hometown,” he said. “You can’t recreate Youngstown. There’s a certain way people are and there’s a certain look to the buildings... I like the realness of this town.”

After the 7 p.m. private premiere at De Yor, there will be a post-party, which is open to the public, at Cedars Lounge, featuring bands who contributed to the movie’s sound track. Local bands on the sound track include The Zou, Pete Drivere and the Pretty Demons, Superbird and Koebel. Matt Palka and the Caravan also contributed to the sound track.

After this weekend, Rutushin said he wants to focus on film festivals and working out a distribution deal. He wants to remain fairly independent, though, so no plans are set in stone, he said.