Sept. 7, 2011 | WMU News
"Cherry," a coming-of-age story about a college freshman in his first semester at an ivy-league university, premiered in March 2010 at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin. Since its Texas premiere the movie has been shown at a variety of film festivals around the nation in such locations as Boston, the Hamptons, Maui and Seattle as well as in Michigan at the Lakeshore Film Festival in Saugatuck and at the Traverse City Film Festival.
The bulk of filming for "Cherry" occurred during October and November 2008. Attracted to the state by the tax incentives offered to filmmakers, writer and director Jeffrey Fine and his brother, co-producer Matthew Fine, co-producer Sam Kitt and executive producer Paul Kurta used the two campuses as the setting for the movie.
Originally interested in filming on WMU's engineering campus, the production crew ended up using a number of additional University settings, including Vandercook Hall and Gabel Natatorium. Campus scenes from K-College and street scenes around Academy and Rose streets as well as Michigan Avenue also are part of the setting.
A full complement of movie production staff took up residence in an unoccupied wing of Eldridge-Fox Halls for 10 weeks while they planned and shot the film. Dozens of faculty, staff and students from WMU and K College were involved in roles that ranged from interns and consultants to extras.
The DVD is on sale for $14.99 through the film's website, iTunes, Netflix, Amazon, Vudu and On Demand through some cable and satellite providers.
