'Those Who Wander' Through New Canaan

New Canaan is set to star as the backdrop of a feature film in August, and the film is coming to life through the eyes of two of the towns own young rising stars. 

Nicola Scandiffio, New Canaan High School Class of 2011, and Abigail Schwarz, Class of 2010, both grew up in New Canaan. They didn't know each other well in high school, but they connected in New York while both attending college—Scandiffio at the Pratt Institute, Schwarz at the NY Film Academy—and have been creating ever since. 

"We made a short film together last summer called Seconds of In Between," Scandiffio said. "It was our first kind of big project together.  We were lucky enough to get that in and premiere at the LA First Glance Film Festival. That was really awesome but we didn't get to go because we were here doing pre-production."

Their latest project, a comedy centered around a road trip from New Canaan to Georgia, is called Those Who Wander. The pair joined up to tackle the film when Schwarz, who'd been writing the script, showed it to a professor, who then encouraged her to take a sabbatical and focus on finishing the project. 

"She sent me the first rough draft and we immediately had a conversation about, 'How do we make this happen,'" Scandiffio said. "We needed to figure out how big a film we could make. And it didn't matter, we were going to make this film on any budget, even if it had to be just our friends or if we could get it to where it is now, with primarily a professional film crew and cast. We were going to make this on any budget."

The pair set lofty goals, and decided a budget of approximately $70,000 would be a solid goal. They turned to social fundraising site Kickstarter to see if they could drum up interest and initially, things didn't seem to be going their way. 

"It was incredibly challenging at first," Scandiffio said. "No one thought there was any way this was ever going to happen. And then it took off—and kept growing to where it is now. We've currently up to $110,000 in funding raised."

Now in preproduction, the film kicks off August 6 and already has generated some serious interest. Emmy-winning actress Anna Holbrook has joined the cast, according to the film's Kickstarter page, and A Million Little Pieces author James Frey is onboard as an executive producer. Scandiffio said there were a lot of names joining the cast he wasn't allowed to release until the movie began filming. 

They've also received support from a number of New Canaan resources, Scandiffio said, from local businesses to the high school to members of the community. Soon, New Canaanites will spot the pair filming on location at Morse Court, the train station, Waveny and beyond. 

"The community has been unbelievably supportive," he said. "So many people willing to throw in and help us."

Scandiffio said filming will be taking place around New Canaan, Norwalk and Stamford, a well as parts of New York. Stamford will stand-in as the backdrop for some of the scenes featuring Atlanta, and private residences in New Canaan will be featured as some of the more rural scenes set in Georgia, Scandiffio said. 

"We realized we could get away with it visually with certain pieces of property and roads in Connecticut as the film travels to Georgia," he said. "Because the film is dialogue heavy, a lot of it will be interior shots and we can easily get away with most of it being filmed in Connecticut."

Check back in August when Patch visits the set and shows off the hard work of New Canaan's newest filmmakers.