Photo Flash: Sneak Peek at MY FATHER, THE OLD HORSE and CHINA SYNDROME, Set to Screen at Elks Theatre

This year, Middletown, PA recognizes the 35th anniversary of the Three Mile Incident. For the past three years, local native Max Einhorn, a graduate of Middletown Area High School (class of 2008), has worked with his closest friends and fellow Temple University alumni to create a film set against the backdrop of a similar event.

After more than a dozen weekends behind the camera in Middletown and "sister power plant community" Pottstown, PA, home of the Limerick Generating Station; and more than a full year assembling the film on computers between Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Reading, and Einhorn's new home in New York City; MY FATHER, THE OLD HORSE is finally completed. The project is an intense, 40-minute thriller, and even in the project's infancy as a 15 minute short, won Best Undergraduate film at Temple's film festival in 2012.

The film takes place in a fantasy town called Upper Aratawz (a familiar, warped spin on the name Lower Swatara) where residents wake up to realize two cooling towers from the local power plant have been shut off- very reminiscent of what locals actually experienced that March morning in 1979. The main characters- a grandfather, father, and son- don't get the memo and embark on a hunting trip just as the panic begins. When the family encounters mysterious men in hazmat suits in the middle of the woods, it's clear this isn't going to be a typical outing...

MFTOH features many locations in Middletown and surrounding areas, including Kuppy's Diner, the Tri-County Boat Club, the Susquehanna River, the Ridge Run Tavern, the Milk and Honey Railroad, South Union Street, and neighborhoods across from the power station. Woods scenes were shot in Chester Springs, just outside of Pottstown, where 'Limerick' is almost always visible on the horizon.

On May 18th, at Middletown's own Elks Theatre, the filmmakers, alongside, THE SAVE THE ELKS! Campaign will premiere the short alongside the renowned film THE CHINA SYNDROME (1979) as a free double feature. THE CHINA SYNDROME, a movie starring Jack Lemmon, Jane Fonda, and Michael Douglas, follows a trio of reporters that uncover a conspiracy at a nuclear plant, only to be caught in a meltdown. Besides being critically acclaimed, it is renowned for being released just 12 days prior the Three Mile Island incident.

MY FATHER THE OLD HORSE will begin at 2pm, followed by a Q&A with Einhorn and the film's producers, and THE CHINA SYNDROME will follow at 3pm. Both films are free to attend, with all proceeds from concessions benefiting the theater's campaign for digital projection.

Scroll down for a sneak peek at both films!

Photo Credits: Dir. Max Einhorn and Dir. of Photography Greg Griffith. Poster design by Mairin-Taj Caya.

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