I Grew Up In Princeton premieres at the 2014 New Jersey International Film Festival at Rutgers University on Saturday, June 14!

I Grew Up In Princeton premieres at the 2014 New Jersey International Film Festival at Rutgers University on Saturday, June 14! 

Here is a brief interview I did with I Grew Up In Princeton Director Brad Mays:

Nigrin: Your documentary film I Grew Up In Princeton is a funny, absorbing and candid portrait of Princeton, New Jersey in the 60s and 70s, as well as a mosaic of memory, imagery, and music told by those who lived it. Tell us more about your film and why you decided to make it.

Mays: Having worked for years in the theatre and, ultimately,  television and film, I had lost touch with my personal roots. I had spent very formative years in Princeton, but felt almost completely disenfranchised from my past. Then, as I was wrapping up work on a The Watermelon, a feature comedy I shot in 2007 with my producer wife Lorenda, an opportunity arose to put together a short puff piece for the PHS Class of 1973. This never completely materialized, but Lorenda saw the possibility for something bigger, more meaningful, than a a nostalgia video for a high school reunion. So I continued work on it, on and on. When my wife died of cancer in 2001, I decided it was time to make a big push to complete the film, partially as a way to honor her.

Nigrin: Where there any memorable stories in getting the film finished or any other info about your film you can relay on to us?

Mays: My biggest surprise occurred during my interview with Lee Neuwirth, who had been the Deputy Director of of the Institute for Defense Analysis (I.D.A.) in May of 1970, when both Princeton University and Princeton High School were on strike against the Vietnam War. I was one of 32 students who had been served with injunction notices on the fourth day of a large anti-war demonstration at the I.D.A. facility, just off campus. It was my intention to settle some long-standing issues and rumors pertaining to that event, among which were a potentially lethal National Guard presence, just days after the Kent State shootings. I had never met Lee or his artist wife Sydney, and was probably expecting an uncomfortable meeting with an ultra-conservative hawk. What I got instead was a deeply moving exchange with a gentle, cultured man who enjoyed listening to the music of Leonard Cohen. As the film reveals, Lee was able to set the record straight on just what was going on at I.D.A., and, more to the point, what wasn't happening there. Let's just say that a half hour into the interview, I was in tears, as were co producers Linda Carroll and Rett Campbell, who were also present. This entire film has been a process of pulling scabs off of wounds, and re-examining past events. Lots of surprises.

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The lovely short film Palace will be screened prior to I Grew Up In Princeton on Saturday, June 14 at the New Jersey International Film Festival.  Here is more info about this screening:

Palace – Rolando Vega (Bridgewater, New Jersey)
In the 1940’s the Carlisle Theater opened its doors in a glow of lights, glamour, and success. Fast-forward fifty years and the now-dilapidated movie palace is falling apart and up for sale. Leo, the theater’s owner, has provided his community with half a century of majestic cinematic experiences only to struggle as a corporation threatens to buy and demolish his palace. Come experience the nostalgia and magic of one grand movie theater that may be facing its own extinction. 2013; 28 min. With an introduction and Q+A session by Director Rolando Vega!

I Grew Up In Princeton – Brad Mays (Hollywood, Florida)
Princeton, New Jersey, from the late ‘60s to the mid-‘70s, became a hot-bed of social change.  The war in Vietnam, the explosion of the counter-culture, and various revolutionary causes all combined to create endless avenues for personal exploration and growth:  from Black Nationalism to progressive rock music, from social experimentation to the Theater of the Absurd, Princeton offered a near infinitude of possibilities. A funny, absorbing and candid portrait of a time and place, as well as a mosaic of memory, imagery, and music told by those who lived it.  2013; 125 min. With an introduction and Q+A session by Brad Mays!

Saturday, June 14, 2014 at 7:00 p.m.

Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University,
71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, New Jersey
$10=General; $9=Students+Seniors; $8=Rutgers Film Co-op Friends
Information: (848) 932-8482; www.njfilmfest.com

Free Food courtesy of Jimmy Johns will be given out prior to this screening of the New Jersey International Film Festival!