Talent show documentary to debut
Film directed by The Day follows NL Talent Show; to be shown on June 3
“Those People” a film chronicling how a group of people came together in New London to do something positive in the wake of the 2010 stabbing death of Matthew Chew by six local teens, will debut at 7 p.m. on June 3 at The Garde Arts Center.
Tickets for the screening are available at bit.ly/thosepeople21. Visit theday.com to watch a trailer of the film.
The documentary follows the founders, participants and volunteers of the annual New London Talent Show, which grew over the course of a decade to include participants from more than 65 cities and towns and routinely sold out the Garde Arts Center.
The film was directed by The Day’s Peter Huoppi and co-produced by Huoppi and talent show co-founder Curtis Goodwin.
The story began in 2010, when six Black teens from the city were charged with jumping and fatally stabbing Chew, a young white artist and pizza cook, as he walked home from work. One of the teens told police they did it because they were “bored.”
While the community struggled with how to respond, a group of people sprang to action to provide an outlet for young people in New London and the surrounding communities to express themselves, overcome obstacles and bridge divides.
“What do you do when you see division, fear, and heartbreak overtaking your small urban town, but no one stepping up with a solution?” Huoppi wrote in a synopsis of the film. “In 2010, an unlikely group of citizens stood up and took action to heal the hurt of New London, CT, in the aftermath of a brutal murder that set the city ablaze with anger, fear, and racial divide. They proved that we are all ‘Those People,’ and yet, none of us are.”