'Moondog Airwaves': Shot and Shown in Sag Harbor

It isn’t officially part of the Hamptons International Film Festival, but a short film with local ties will be screened at the Sag Harbor Cinema on Saturday.

“Moondog Airwaves,” a 33-minute film that defies categorization but certainly has an element of horror, will play at noon, 1:30, and 3 p.m. Admission is free, and free doughnuts from Grindstone Coffee and Donuts will be served at each screening’s conclusion.

Ari Selinger, a resident of Sag Harbor and the Bronx, wrote and directed “Moondog Airwaves” for his senior thesis at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Shot at Sag Harbor’s Bay Burger but set in “Moontown,” somewhere in the rural South, on Independence Day 1995, the film depicts a fast-food worker and his friend, and a bizarre chain of events that ensue upon the arrival of two patrons and one very unusual visitor.

That visitor is played by Steven Ogg, a Canadian actor who became known for his role in the videogame “Grand Theft Auto V” shortly after “Moondog Airwaves” was shot. “Our first initial burst of interest came from fans of Steven Ogg,” Mr. Selinger said, “who became an overnight celebrity while I was editing the film.” 

The story was written, Mr. Selinger said, “at lightning speed” toward the end of 2012, when he decided to abandon his initial thesis idea. “I didn’t have much time to think if it was good or not, and kept going on whether or not I thought it entertained me.” 

The experience has taught him that working under pressure, with a deadline looming, can yield the best result. “I would tell all filmmakers, based on experience, you’ve got to do it that way. Instead of analyzing, you’re getting the organic ingredients that come from you only. The short amount of time we had helped a lot.”

Filming happened quickly, too, a few months after “Moondog Airwaves” was written. “Post-production lasted about a year,” Mr. Selinger said. “Then I took a year off to heal.”

He praised an instructor at the Tisch School, the Ethiopian filmmaker Yemane Demissie, for his own passion for filmmaking. “In my eyes he is the greatest filmmaker of all time,” he said. “I learned more in a year than I did from Hitchcock, from Jim Jarmusch. I was really lucky to have had a special teacher. It was a magical experience.”

South Fork residents and visitors will recognize local scenery in another Selinger short, “Deuce and a Quarter,” which was filmed on Napeague and Montauk.

He encourages others to do the same. “You can make films cheap now. Even if it’s not going to make you money but you love it, do it. And trust your community — that was how we got this movie made. If you’re nice to them, they’re beyond nice to you, and you don’t need a $10 million budget.” 

In particular, he said, Joe and Liza Tremblay of Bay Burger are responsible for the creation of “Moondog Airwaves.” “Besides their gift of divine homemade ice cream, they have been the film’s knights in shining armor,” Mr. Selinger said. “Without them, it’s safe to say I’d be working at a Starbucks right now.”