Some of the 40 young extras in Two Girls From Different Distances dash out the front door of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union in West Orange as they film a scene from the movie.
Photos by Robert Wiener
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September 2, 2009
As cameras rolled and proud parents looked on from the sidelines, a swarm of 40 youngsters charged out the front door of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union lower school in West Orange on Aug. 25.
Ten of those children are students at the school on Gregory Avenue. Others came from the New Jersey School of Dramatic Arts in Bloomfield and a number of area casting agencies.
All of them were playing a role, serving as extras in an Israeli production called Two Girls From Different Distances. Based on A Summer Rain, a biographical short film by writer-director Ela Thier — whose Thier Productions is making Two Girls — the feature will tell the story of an 11-year-old immigrant from Israel who is welcomed to her new home in a Connecticut suburb by a Vietnamese girl her own age.
Schechter was cast to “play” the school in the production, said Donna Oshri, SSDS director of marketing and communications, because its design fit the requirements of the filmmakers and “because of the enthusiasm of our community to host the shoot.” For one week, from Aug. 24 to 31, the cast and crew were on location on the campus, shooting in classrooms and outside the building.
According to Oshri, the production company asked the school to send a casting call e-mail to Schechter families asking those interested in being movie “extras” to contact Thier Productions, which made the selections.
Several parents will also appear as extras, and lower school principal Gloria Kron will play the part of the school librarian.
“As a school we are a welcoming place,” said Kron. “The story line from the movie is very much like what I have witnessed over the years as a teacher and now as a principal. We have welcomed so many students from Israel, Russia, Canada, and Mexico just to name a few.”
The film is scheduled to be released in early 2010.
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