LIVERPOOL — At the end of May, representatives of American High/Academy at Syracuse Studios appeared before the village planning board to announce plans for a film festival in August.
Although not yet officially approved, the festival – then set for Aug. 19, 20 and 21 – was first announced on Feb. 23 in articles published in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.
But at the planning board’s June 27 meeting, Academy at Syracuse Studios Director of Operations Heath Cottengim reported that the film festival has been postponed until next year.
Instead, the film trade school located at the old Liverpool High School building at 800 Fourth St., will celebrate its fifth anniversary here. Cottengim could not confirm a date for the event which will be staged on the baseball field on the north side of the property, but he said it would be scheduled in mid-August.
American High plans to have a film in production here at that time, so the anniversary celebration would likely be attended by the cast and crew.
The head of production at American High, Will Phelps, looks forward to celebrating with the school’s neighbors.
“We’d love to get the village excited about our fifth birthday,” he wrote in an email last week. “It’ll be a fun outdoor event for the village.”
Cottengim envisions a festive scene including inflatables, a bounce house, a dunk tank and four food trucks. An outdoor film screening on the school building’s north wall will conclude the event.
American High staffers Axelle Azoulay and Ana Olano — who were in charge of the postponed film fest — will also be instrumental in organizing the anniversary event, Phelps said.
Earlier at its June 27 meeting, the planning board — Chair Joe Ostuni Jr. and members Bob Bradt, Sam Reppi, Jim Rosier and Jim Taft — unanimously approved amendments made to the trade school’s special-use permit and its site review plan.
Noisy truck traffic, overnight parking and diesel fumes have topped the neighborhood’s complaints about film operations here. The amendments addressed those issues and others such as landscaping and scheduling film shoots.
American High CEO Jeremy Garelick bought the building in 2017 for $1 million and turned it into a trade school for aspiring filmmakers while using it as a set for production of low-budget teen-oriented romantic comedies such as “Big Time Adolescence,” “Crush” and “The Ultimate Playlist of Noise.”
In less than five years, the company has produced 11 movies and has collaborated with other companies on several others.
