Thurs. July 22

Last time I wrote about something Chris DiNunzio put up on screen I wrote, "At last a movie for cannibals and people who love them." That's because Chris is - no way around it - something of a gorehound. He's also about the most amiable chap you'd want to meet. He was forever poring through horror film arcana when he was managing the gym I work out in (during downtime, of course.) And the movie I wrote about was a nasty little piece of work he wrote and directed called "Livestock," where - well, if you get the cannibal reference, you get what I'm talking about. Chris's production company is called Creepy Kid Productions.

  What now? More gore, more guts?

  Nope. It's "Viva! Saint Agrippina," a documentary that takes place in Boston's historical North End, an annual feast in honor of the martyred saint. When Chris first told me this I did a double take and assumed he was putting me on. He wasn't. He's made his movie and it screens at the Stuart Street Playhouse Thursday July 22 at 7:30.

   Since I'm not an Italian and am an ex-Catholic to boot, this is sort of foreign territory to me. Chris explains that since 1914 The Saint Agrippina Benefit Society have been hosting an annual feast, a tradition which originated in Mineo, Sicily. Society Members tell the tales of Saint Agrippina's short and tragic life. It's not a religious film, really. "This film," says Chris, "focuses on the stories of Her devoted members and how She inspires them to reunite each year to celebrate family, friends and this age-old Sicilian tradition." He takes you through the precedings of the feast from pre-planning, behind the scenes, and finally to the lively three-day event which takes place each year on the first weekend of August.

Ok, so what's the inspiration? "I've been interested in doing a documentary for a while," Chris says. "I knew this was the perfect subject for me to start with. Growing up, this was a huge family event for us. I have been going to the festival every year since I was a kid. Also I have a lot family members that are involved with the society. So I figured this was a great way for me to give back to the society as well as film something that hadpersonal meaning to me."

   "We shot for a few days the week before the festival, filming the society's pre festival meetings. We shot painstakingly
long days during the three-day festival. Then we went back and shot a few more interviews and exterior shots after the festival was over. We used a small crew of three people and shot with two cameras, alternating between myself, Jason Miller and Nolan Yee. As far as pre-production goes. I wrote an outline of a script and made a long list of questions I wanted answered but most of the shooting was done guerilla style. It took almost a year to finish post production. During that time we wereable to work with a real Italian composer Andrea Ferrari. He lives in Italy so we've never met, but communicated back and forth online."

So this is a tad different from Chris' gorehound stuff. "It is completely different," he says. "The content of this film is completely on the opposite sideof the spectrum as compared to my other films. Most people that knowme know that I usually prefer to do films with a darker edge.  There is nothing dark about this film. In fact, I just realized this is myonly film that is safe to show to families, which makes me laugh!  This film was very personal to me so it didn't matter to me that it wasoutside the box for me. Also I kind of like the randomness of my resume! Overall I enjoyed the switch from narrative filmmaking to documentary mostly because of the freedom it gives you when shooting guerilla style. We were able to come up with more creative ideas on the fly. I think we all enjoyed the experience very much."

Tix: $10, at the door only.

200 Stuart St., 617-426-4499 www.stuartstreeplayhouse.com www.creepykidproductions.com