PELLA, Iowa — A new project is launching this weekend to capture the City of Pella, using a Hallmark filter.
It’s that time of year in Pella, when the town is decked out for the holidays. Kerstmarkt, an outdoor holiday market, starts a three day run Thursday. The Festival of Trees and Tour of Homes are also underway for the next few days.
In the midst of all that, a camera and crew will be telling a Hallmark-style story. There are leading male and female actors casted and a director is being brought in give the piece that look.
“It’s a romantic comedy. It’s Hallmark in Pella,” said Christi Vander Voort, of the Spirit of Pella, a non-profit working to improve things in the community. “We all know that Pella is the perfect set for our Hallmark movie.”
Monte Goodyke is the director of photography for the film they are calling “Spirit of Pella.” He also works for the City of Pella, and is pitching in with his video skills to help get the project made.
“We contacted a friend, a screenwriter in Nashville, Jamie Durham,” said Vander Voort. “He helped us with the script and we have our leading actor and an actress and we’re going to film here this weekend.”
The crew is hoping for plenty of extras to give the film a look of lots of people.
“I think the story is a positive image of Pella that makes everybody wanna come visit,” said Goodyke. “We will give specific times, specific places to be and it would be great if everybody could come out because we want to, we want this place to look amazing with a lot of people.”
Information on where to be and when in Pella will be posted on the Pella Fiber Facebook page.
The video will be short, around five minutes, and will showcase the highlights of the community. It will also be a romantic comedy, with some drama included in the film. Some of the filming will take place at the Kerstmarkt.
“We hope to have this out by Christmas.The public is invited to be here,” said Vander Voort. “We need Pella to look like Pella at Christmas time. We need Pella to be bustling with the shopping and enjoying everything that they can.”
Leave a Reply