Two local filmmakers set out to tell stories about Harrisburg that transcend boundaries of race, class, gender and geography. The result is the film River City Stories, which is screening this week at the West Shore Theater in New Cumberland. WITF's Rachel McDevitt spoke with the film's creators Paul Hood and Wallace McKelvey.  According to McKelvey, he loved the City of Harrisburg, and wanted to portray that in a film.

“I just feel like there's so much more to the city that people think is there. And with River City Stories, we're trying to show the world that there's more to Harrisburg than just a downtown core, said McKelvey.

Hood echoed McKelvey’s sentiments on his love for the area.

“There's so much vibrancy here that we don't always appreciate, whether you're a local or whether you're an outsider, you don't fully comprehend the complexity of our culture, the way that it can at once be segregated, but also mix together and overlap. And it's reflected in the way the film is structured, where you have a really diverse group of characters who kind of ebb and flow through these stories where one character will be the protagonist of one and then show up later in the story that has a different perspective, different lead character, because we all interact. We all share this space together. And I don't think we always appreciate that, “said Hood.

The idea for River City Stories was born in the middle of the COVID pandemic, where folks were socially distanced and isolated.

“We just talked, we just talked, and all these ideas came, and we had a really cool like system. So, we would sit and just have a conversation and then we'd pick out the things that were interesting in those conversations and we'd task each other with going off and working on a script. So, we would do that, we did that for like almost a year and by the next time we met like a year later, “said Hood.

The film is screening Friday, March 7 and Sunday, March 9th at the West Shore Theater in New Cumberland. It will also be shown at Zootropolis in Lancaster on May 16th and 18th.

Listen to the podcast to hear the conversation.

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