Levittown Native Returns to LI International Film Expo

Filmmaker Tom Sutch, a '02 graduate of Division Avenue High School in Levittown, has once again been selected to participate in the Long Island International Film Expo (LIIFE).

Sutch's short film, The Guilty Party, will be screened at the Bellmore Movies on the expo’s opening night: Thursday, July 12, at 7:45 p.m.

The 28-year-old earned the Best First Film award at the 2007 Long Island International Film Expo for his documentary, Broken Hearts, Electric Shocks, an intimate telling of his family’s struggle to cope with Long QT Syndrome, a rare congential heart rhythm disorder.

The Guilty Party is a dark comedy about a timid young man named Jimmy who is bullied into covering up the accidental murder of his roommate by his drug-addicted friend, Grant. Jimmy tries to focus on his love interest, Kelly, and deals with Grant’s menacing temper while struggling to keep his guilt in check.

Sutch wrote and directed the 12-minute film as a graduate school project; he earned a master’s degree in film and media studies from The New School in Manhattan in May 2012.

“I originally wrote this film five years ago as an undergrad, as my attempt to pay homage to one of my greatest influences, Alfred Hitchcock,” Sutch said in a press release. “His style of playful humor in the face of a serious subject always intrigued me, and it was a genre I always wanted to try."

An LBC Studios production, The Guilty Party stars Levittown residents Rory Allan Meditz and Lenny Gomez. It previously screened at the New School's Fine Cuts student film and video showcase in March, the NewFilmmakers New York Spring Festival in April and the Levittown Bike Club Halloween Film Festival last October.

“I'm very excited that the film will be showing at LIIFE,” Sutch said. “It's the place where everything started for me, and to have my friends and family there in the audience again will make it just as good as the first time, if not better.”

Sutch works as an associate producer for USA Network, and currently resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

For more info., please visit Tom's website as well as the LIIFE website. You can also view The Guilty Party on Vimeo.

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