There isn’t much information yet about the Con yet but they have announced the dates and they did get a decent turn out of guests at last year’s event so it may be something to keep an eye on. Below is a link to their website where they should be announcing an official line-up soon:

Syracuse Heroes Expo

This morning on The Today Show, while Al Roker was mingling with the crowd, he came across a girl celebrating her Sweet 16. When he asked her name and where she was from, she responded, “Marina from Utica, NY”, and then proceeded to shriek and scream in a pitch that only teen girls are capable of. In response to her screaming, Al said, “A little Genny Cream Ale for breakfast.” Was Al trying to reference Saranac but got his Ales wrong?

Keanu Reeves was spotted in Buffalo a couple of weeks ago scouting locations for his next project, Henry’s Crime, in which he is starring and acting as the executive producer. The movie is set to start filming in Buffalo next month.

But Henry’s Crime isn’t the only movie filming in Buffalo this fall. A Bollywood movie called After Life has been filming in the Buffalo and Niagara Falls areas. It’s a romantic musical that will be released internationally. “We had the bike scene where I’m riding the bike and actually this scene is my introduction scene,” Anita Galler, the star of “After Life” said. “It’s a love story, like a Romeo and Juliet with a little twist, so it’s a passionate love story.”

The Woodstock Film Festival wrapped up last week but but not without a parade of stars passing through town first.

According to the Albany Times Union:

Uma Thurman, Woody Harrelson, Lucy Liu, Steve Buscemi, Vera Farmiga, Ben Foster and even Ethan Hawke [were all in attendance]. Thurman’s ex-husband wasn’t at [the screening of] “Up in the Air”; instead, late Saturday night he presented the Maverick Award to director Richard Linklater, with whom he had worked on such films as “Before Sunset” and “Before Sunrise.”

Other famous directors at the festival were Jonathan Demme, who screened his new movie “Neil Young Trunk Show” and participated in a panel discussion on music and film; Mira Nair, who was on a panel on amazing women in film (her upcoming film “Amelia” wasn’t screened at the fest); and Barbara Kopple, who has won two Academy Awards for her documentaries “Harlan County, USA” and “American Dream,” who spoke on a panel about documentary films.

One of the more entertaining panels was the actors’ dialogue with Vera Farmiga, Lucy Liu and John Ventimiglia. During that far-ranging discussion, the audience learned that Farmiga, who is perhaps best known for her role in “The Departed” and who co-stars with Clooney in “Up in the Air,” enjoys spending time with her family and raising goats and, in fact, had recently shopped for goat sperm; that Liu (”Kill Bill,” “Charlie’s Angels”) still isn’t sure if her parents really understand what she does for a living; and that Ventimiglia (Artie Buco in “The Sopranos”) has recently come to love playing the ukulele.

Perhaps the actor Steve Buscemi put it best. He was at the festival touting two new films he is in, “The Messenger” and “Youth in Revolt.”

“There are a lot of film festivals but I think that the Woodstock Film Festival really champions independent film and that’s why I like it,” he said. “For some films, festivals like this are the only way an audience will actually see it.”

You can read more about the festival and what films won on the Woodstock Film Festival’s official site.

Today, Drew Barryomore’s directorial debut, Whip It, opens in theaters nationwide. The movie is about a young women (Ellen Page) who finds her passion in a roller derby club.

Whip It was filmed entirely on location at various locations around Michigan including Ken’s Diner in Birch Run. The now vacant restaurant fills in as the “Oink Joint”, a Texas BBQ where Ellen Page’s character works in the movie. Here’s where Yorkville’s strange connection to Whip It comes into play. According to MLive.com, the diner first opened in Yorkville  in 1955 and was moved to Birch Run in 1992, where it became Ken’s Diner!

Who knew a small diner in Yorkville would someday serve as the backdrop for a major movie? Goes to show, anything’s possible!

According to The OD, Utica’s going Bollywood:

Ilion filmmaker Michael Patrei will film a Bollywood-type dance number using local residents for a scene in his feature-length comedy, “Falling Frames.”

The scene is open to any who wish to participate in the filming at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4, in the parking lot across from the Tramontane Café, 1105 Lincoln Ave.

Those not participating in the filming, which will take all day, will be asked not to observe the filming, Patrei said.

Participants should expect Bollywood-style choreography, but shouldn’t be put off if they’re rhythmically challenged, he said.

“Anyone can be in it,” Patrei said. “When we go through the run-through, I’m going to rearrange people so that the people who are getting the dance moves will be in the front.”

Patrei welcomes all people in whatever they want to wear, but would love to see various groups and teams dressed in their uniforms.

“A different eclectic group of people really would work,” Patrei said. “The movie really is surreal, so it lends itself to that sort of zaniness.”

The film follows an actor who kidnaps the director of the film he’s a part of in order to force him to write a happy ending. After a few twists and turns, the film builds to the Bollywood dance number, Patrei said.

Most of the film has been shot locally – Utica, Ilion and Clinton — and is expected to be completed and submitted to film festivals early next year, Patrei said.

Patrei’s most recent film, “Ballou,” received national acclaim and attention by telling the story of a Washington, D.C., marching band seen as a beacon of hope in a high school riddled with violence and crime.

Patrei’s currently working on a documentary that recounts the history of Ilion, his hometown.
Visit www.ilionfilmcompany.com or www.balloumovie.com for information.