CALLICOON – A short film called “The Ghost at Skeleton Rock” was being filmed last weekend in Callicoon. The film’s writer and director, Bobby Abate, has been a Callicoon resident for 10 years and told the Democrat that the film is his coming-out story taking place in 1992 at the height of the AIDS epidemic. The film began production last Friday, September 6 and went through Sunday. 

“It’s about the paranoia and panic that came from having your first time during that era,” Abate said.

The film’s producer, Todd Stephens, is also a resident of Callicoon. He is known for films such as “Edge of 17”, “Gypsy 83” and “Swan Song”. 

Jordi Bertran Ramirez, River Dee Knight and Jack Quinn are the actors in the film. Ramirez plays the main character Vinnie, who grapples with his sexuality while fighting with the specter of fear and shame in the wake of his first sexual encounter at 17. Knight plays Gabe, Vinnie’s first sexual partner, a goth boy from the city and Quinn takes the part of Chris, the name of an overprotective spirit conjured through a Ouija board. 

The film’s synopsis notes that Gabe and Vinnie’s second date “turns nightmarish when Vinnie uses a Ouija board to conjure Chris.”

There were 1,500 submissions to the film’s casting call on Actors Access and 30 actors were invited to audition, with the callbacks occurring in person, according to the actors. 

“It was just so cool to have an in-person audition, it was the most wonderful thing [about the process],” said Quinn, a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre. “Because usually they’re not all like that all the time. It’s just tapes and things like that. It’s great to be in the room and they create a good environment to be free which is awesome.”

“When I found out we could come to Callicoon, I was in,” said Knight, an NYU graduate, “because I’ve never been [here]. It’s gorgeous.”

The actors noted that a central landmark of the film is the Callicoon-Delaware Bridge. 

“I’m really excited about the scene that we have in this film underneath the bridge by the river,” said Ramirez, a graduate of Yale. “It’s kind of a good chunk of the film. About 80 percent of the film takes place underneath the bridge with the water.”

“It’s beautiful and it’s such a clear love letter to this town in a way that’s really heartwarming and special,” Ramirez continued. “Especially when the film itself is made by people from the town and that was very familiar and nostalgic.”

With construction currently being done under the bridge, the actors said that filming was occurring after the workers were done for the day on Friday and continuing through the weekend.  

Abate said that they are trying to get as many people involved in the film as they can, which includes Joe Lentini from the Delaware Youth Center.

“Chase [Ferber] is a local and just graduated from [Sullivan West] high school and he’s one of our Assistant Camera [AC],” said Abate. “So we’re trying to get people involved that want the experience in the area too.”

Following production, the film will go into editing from October through December before the finishing touches including color, FX and sound will take place from December through February. Submission to movie festivals will be in the winter of next year.