New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Hallmark movie ‘Christmas in Harlem’ filming in Hartford
Connecticut has played the backdrop of several movies this spring and summer, including a Hallmark movie starting Chad Michael Murray, a Netflix Christmas film featuring Justin Hartley and a Lifetime Christmas film starring Maria Menounos. Most recently, “Hocus Pocus 2” was seeking extras for filming in New England. That filming trend is already carrying over into the fall, with another Christmas flick shooting in the Nutmeg State.
According to special events coordinator for the city of Hartford, Kylah Hudson-Samuels said in an email the Hallmark movie “Christmas in Harlem” was filming at several location in the city. Last week, the movie was filming by Hartford’s Union Station, as well as the NY Market and Deli on the corner of Main Street and Linden Place. Over the weekend, HudsonSamuels noted there was also “a temporary closure while they filmed on Capitol Avenue from Main to Whitman Court.”
Rocky Hill-based Synthetic Cinema International worked on “Christmas in Harlem” — a name producer and owner of the production company Andrew Gernhard said would likely change prior to its release. For Gernhard, transforming the capital city of his home state into another location like Harlem was a matter of finding similarities between the two locations.
“We shot basically all of it in the Hartford area,” he said. “We obviously looked at a lot of research, and we were able to find little bits of Hartford and East Hartford sections that match up with Harlem, and we recreated all that in Connecticut.”
The Hartford locations weren’t the only stops used in the movie’s filming. On Sept. 20, Rocky Hill ice cream shop Scoops & Sprinklesshared photos on Facebook that gave a sneak peak into their involvement with “Christmas in Harlem.”
Owner Kim Aforismo said in an email that the shop she co-owns with husband Shane was contacted for other films in the past prior to “Christmas in Harlem.”
“We have done catering for the production company and provided ice cream on set for a few different films,” she said. “The art director reached out to see if they would be able to use our mobile ice cream cart for a block party scene in this upcoming Hallmark movie.”
While their brick-and-mortar store was not featured in the film, Aforismo said that it was the first time their ice cream cart has made it to a movie.
“We were very excited to be offered the opportunity to be included in this film,” she said. “We were able to clear our event schedule to be able to have our cart on location for the weekend filming. Shane and I were lucky enough to also have the opportunity to be the ice cream cart vendors in one scene filmed this weekend.”
According to IMDB, the film is currently in pre-production, though additional details on its release date, cast and plot were not readily available.