By Jeff Sikorovsky, Staff Writer
The Sun Press
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS – “The NightOwls of Coventry” have swooped down on the former Hillside Dairy plant and will be there for the next two months. NightOwl Productions, a local independent film company, leased the dairy from the city last week for $2,000 a month. It is transforming the dairy into a soundstage and production studio to film “The NightOwls of Coventry.”
Laura Paglin, the writer, director and producer of “NightOwls,” was inspired to do the feature film after interviewing dozens of former Coventry Village residents for a documentary she had planned.
The film is a dark comedy focusing on an odd cast of characters who congregate at the fictional Marv’s Deli, an old 24-hour Jewish neighborhood deli on Coventry Road. Paglin gathered a wealth of information from stories by hippies, bikers, political radicals, Neighborhood Watch advocates and Jewish widowers. Co-producer Alison Maier said, “We’re recreating 1973 Coventry in there and building a deli set.”
The film is also the focal point of an intership-training program developed by the Ohio Independent Film Festival, based in Cleveland.
Paglin called the low-budget project “community filmmaking.” As such, she is accepting donation of money, goods, and services from local businesses and residents. She also hopes to find people willing to house some of the 40 out-of-town cast and crewmembers during the filming, which runs through Nov. 5. To donate goods or services or provide housing, contact Maier at (216) 381-9060 or (216) 321-3280.