At one point in time, Todd Thompson was just another high school kid at Valley Forge in Parma. However, his passion for films and the art of making movies took him all over in pursuit of living out his dream.
Now, 30 years later, while back in town for a sneak peak of his new film at the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival, Thompson takes a trip down memory lane.
“I can’t believe, just like walking these halls. I mean it’s been 30 years since I’ve seen this green and these lockers,” says Thompson as he strolls through Valley Forge High School.
He remembers what it was like growing up in Parma and all that experiences he had in North East Ohio that led him down the path to cinema.
“I graduated in ’89, so it’s been awhile. I mean, I come to visit family, but I haven’t been inside the building or walked the halls in 30 years,” says Thompson.
Thompson remembers falling in love with movies at an early age, when his family took weekly Friday night trips to the cinema in Medina.
“My aunt and uncle owned the movie theater in Medina, I got to see all of my first run movies there. As I got older, they use to let me go up into the projection booth. I would write scripts, put on plays in the neighborhood and shoot little movies with my grandpa’s super 8 camera,” says Thompson.
He says he knew back then that he had a future in the business.
“I spent about 21 years working at Disney and always had movies going on the side. Whether it was in front of the camera as an actor, or behind the camera writing, directing or producing it’s always been in blood I guess,” Thompson recounts.
Movies have certainly led him places and now they’ve led him back home. He’s in town for the week to offer a sneak peak of his new documentary to a hometown audience at the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival.
“Woman in Motion” is a documentary about actress Nichelle Nichols not just breaking the glass ceiling and conquering the final frontier, but helping others to do so as well.
“I knew Nichelle Nichols, I knew of her work. I obviously knew Star Trek but I did not know that she was this involved in NASA. I did not know that she was this involved in the space program. I didn’t know that she was this involved in changing the world as we know it today. This story from beginning to end just resonated, it had to be told,” says Thompson.
It’s a movie that his high school self always knew that future Todd would make. “Woman in Motion” is playing at the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival October 3rd and October 6th. For more information about the festival or other movies featured, click here.