Section: ARTS Page: I1

Sunday, August 16, 1998

FACTS: IN THE MOVIES

AMY BIANCOLLI Staff writer

Humble Albany may be 3,000 miles from the nearest Hollywood soundstage, but don't get the wrong idea: The region has its share of filmmakers. Joe Gagen and David Langlitz are just a few of the auteurs with local connections (past and present) that dot the landscape.

Among others: Bruce Hallenbeck, Kinderhook. His speciality is vampires; his films include ``Vampyre'' (1991), a remake of Carl-Theodore Dryer's 1931 classic, and a history of vampire flicks titled ``Fangs.'' ``Fangs II'' is in the offing, as is ``Black Easter,'' a film shot in Albany and Columbia County. 

Joe Bagnardi, Watervliet. Another vampire specialist, Bagnardi made his mark with ``Shadow Tracker,'' a Vietnam-vet-with-fangs film starring Hallenbeck and filmed throughout the capital region.

 Jeff Kirkendall, Colonie. Another vampire fan (do you sense a pattern?), Kirkendall wrote and directed the 83-minute ``Terror of the Master,'' shot in Troy, Albany, Latham, Waterford and other locales. The subject: two sisters kidnapped by a fanged marauder. 

Joe Glickman, Colonie. The self-taught writer-director was a teenager when he started shooting his first film, ``Back in Time,'' but was older and wiser (if not quite wizened) when he and turned his gaffe-filled footage into a spoofish documentary: ``I Wish I Could Go Back in Time. . . . How To Not Make a Movie.'' 

Francisco Aliwalas, a former Albany (now New York City) filmmaker, shot the erotic thriller ``Risque'' in and around Center Square.

Aliwalas, now based in New York City, has generated some attention of late with his latest effort, the feature ``Disoriented,'' which was screened in the Asian-American International Film Festival.

*Thomas Farone, Saratoga. Farone's in the thick ``Trash,'' a feature-length ``shocker-thriller'' about a pair of serial killers who kidnap a woman, shooting this summer in and around the Spa City and at Peck's Lake. Among the stars is Rachel McEneny, daughter and campaign manager of Jack.

-- Amy Biancolli

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