ABEV: YOU ARE A VALLEY NATIVE LIVING IN LOS ANGELES. WHY MAKE A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT YOUNGSTOWN?
JOHN CHECHITELLI, “YOUNGSTOWN:STILL STANDING”: After graduating from high school (Austintown Fitch, 2003), I moved to Winter Park, Florida, and studied film at Full Sail University. Most of the people I met from other states had never even heard of Youngstown. Then one day in class, a guest speaker talked about the importance of documentaries in telling true stories that the masses didn't know about. That is what initially sparked thoughts about telling Youngstown's story through a documentary. By the time I graduated with my degree in Film Production, I had a treatment registered with the Writer's Guild, then called, There's No Place Like Home.
Like my grandfather, who moved to Youngstown looking for work in the steel industry, I headed West to Los Angeles with the hopes of breaking into the film industry. The first thing a lot of people in Hollywood do once they get here is forget where they came from. For me it was the opposite. I'm proud to come from a blue collar family and blue collar town, and I knew that I had a chance to show people where I came from.
ABEV: THE FILM IS BRUTALLY HONEST ABOUT YOUNGSTOWN’S PAST. HOW WAS THE RESEARCH CONDUCTED?
CHECHITELLI: You can't make a documentary and withhold facts. It wouldn't be telling the whole story and that was a priority with this project, tell the whole story! That turned out to be a tall order. Every chapter in the film could have made its own 90-minute documentary. But you have to start somewhere and for me it was best to start with the steel industry.
I'm the third John Chechitelli in my family but the only one to never work in a steel mill. While my grandfather eventually retired from US Steel, my father was laid off from the mills just before I was born. I turned to my father first, asking questions about the mills and absorbing the details of life in that era.
Next, I focused my attention on a darker side of the city's past. Growing up, I had always heard the jokes & nicknames bestowed to Youngstown, mostly from residents, and I had a basic knowledge and curiosity of the Mafia's presence in the area. Thanks to the Internet, researching this topic wasn't too difficult. I was able to amass binders full of newspaper articles, reports, essays etc... I knew I was on to something when I started discussing my research with other film students. These were fans of “Goodfellas,” “The Godfather” and “The Sopranos,” and all of their interests were piqued when I relayed the assassination attempt of Paul Gains when I was 11, or the expulsion of Jim Traficant from Congress when I was in high school. The other students would all say the same thing, "The mob... In Ohio?" That reaffirmed that the story needed to be told. Still, it was overwhelming to take in all the details of organized crime's control in the Mahoning Valley dating back to the early part of the 20th century.
From organized crime, I moved on to the area's long love affair with sports and then to the successful business people who germinated from Youngstown. After collecting all the information I could from Internet documents, books and magazines, I reached out to local news stations. I was looking for old news reports when I was pointed in the direction of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society. This wonderful organization contained everything I was looking for and then some. They had film footage dating back to the ’20s and ’30s. All in all, collecting the research materials for this project took several years.
ABEV: DURING THE RECENT SUMMER OF THE ARTS SCREENINGS OF “YOUNGSTOWN:STILL STANDING,” THE BUTLER INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN ART’S AUDITORIUM WAS FULL. THE REACTION WAS FAVORABLE. YOUR REACTION?
CHECHITELLI: It feels great! First of all, I wish that I was able to attend those two screenings and am sorry that I couldn't. When I originally set out to make this movie, the reception was less than ecstatic to say the least. I understood why... The town's name had been dragged through the mud time and time again in the national press. Then, I was lucky enough to get a very loved hometown hero behind the project. When people heard that Ray " Boom Boom" Mancini was helping to make the film, doors that were deadbolt locked suddenly opened. When we premiered earlier this year, I was relieved by the reaction the film received. Now, months later, after the news has been out for a while, it feels wonderful that the film is still getting such a warm reception. Ray and I understood the importance of telling the story ourselves, why it couldn't be left to outsiders. We did our best to tell the story of how Youngstown got to this point in history, to show what the city has been through, and it is great to know that the people of Youngstown are still in our corner.
ABEV: THE FILM IS POPULAR IN THE YOUNGSTOWN AREA. HOW IS IT DOING OUTSIDE THE VALLEY?
CHECHITELLI: Our first goal was to cover Youngstown, to get the news out locally. It worked out great that our first film fest was the 2010 Cleveland Intl. Film Festival followed by other screenings in the area. We continue to showcase the film in Ohio, playing in Canton on Thursday, July 15th at the Canton Palace Theatre.
ABEV: WHAT ARE THE CURRENT AND FUTURE PLANS FOR “YOUNGSTOWN: STILL STANDING”?
CHECHITELLI: The current plan is to keep showing the film at various venues in the Mahoning Valley and to ride the film festival circuit throughout the year. I'm currently waiting to hear back from a few film festivals outside of Ohio and hopefully we'll be able to begin our push in other states later this year. We will also be looking to attain wider distribution, perhaps through cable or other methods.
The overall goal is to reach the largest audience possible, to let the world know that Youngstown, Ohio, is an undeniably unique American city that has been through a heck of a fight, but is still standing.
IMDB (Internet Movie Database) credits John Chechitelli with film work in many capacities, and as an actor, crew member and editor on such TV series as “The West Wing,” “Ugly Betty” and “Recipe TV featuring The World’s Greatest Chefs.”
“Youngstown: Still Standing” is available on DVD at www.mancini-smith.com.
Edited by Michele Ristich Gatts
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