//www.youtube.com/v/Y1b-zdcuGfk?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0
Katie Hyde will be on familiar ground when she arrives at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts on Friday June 27. The Haddonfield native is both a producer and star of the award-nominated “Mount Joy,” which will make its Philadelphia debut at the festival.
“It’s great to come home,” Hyde said. “The film has toured the country at festivals, but now, knowing I’ll get to see some friends and family in the audience, it’s really exciting.”
Hyde began her journey into film at Haddonfield Memorial High School, where she was involved in drama. In 1996, Hyde took an elective film class at HMHS, where she made her first video.
“Back then, I shot on my mom’s home video camera and I had to edit by playing back the portion I wanted and recording it onto another VHS tape in a VCR,” Hyde said. “You had to edit in the scene-order. It makes me feel old to admit that!”
After high school, Hyde moved to New York where she attended the Tisch School of the Arts and eventually landed in Los Angeles after college, where she married director Jack Lewars. In 2006, Lewars and Hyde created “Alligator Run,” an award winning feature documentary.
“After ‘Alligator Run,’ I was hungry to produce a narrative film,” Hyde said. “I love developing scripts and thinking about the acting.”
It wasn’t long after this that Hyde began working on “Mount Joy” with Lewars. Both Lewars and writer M. Angelo Mena grew up together in Mount Joy, Pa., which is why the movie takes place there, but Haddonfield also plays a part in the film.
“There’s a wonderful section of the film that we had always envisioned including some real home-video footage,” Hyde said. “Because of the specific dynamic of the characters in the film, an older sister with two younger brothers, I immediately thought of the Villa family in Haddonfield (formerly residents of Washington Avenue).”
Hyde was able to get in contact with Jim and Trish Villa and coordinated with the family to get their home videos from when their children, Megan, Robinson and James, were young.
“There was a delivery debacle that we all grew a few grey hairs from, but in the end, what they were able to supply us was perfect,” she said.
John Sambalino and Nick Delcarlino, both of Haddonfield, are also executive producers on the film.
“The best part about producing films is figuring out who out there is going to help you make it happen. I’m fortunate to come from such a supportive community like Haddonfield, and I’m beside myself excited to bring the film to Philly so everyone can see it,” she said.
Hyde, Sambalino, Delcarlino and the Villa family will be in attendance at the June 27 debut.
For more information about the film and tickets to the screening on the 27, visit www.mountjoymovie.com where you can also sign up for a monthly newsletter.
