It seemed like a Christmas miracle late last January when six inches of snow fell on Henderson, just when a holiday-themed feature-length motion picture was about to be filmed here.
Later this month, the public will be treated to a red-carpet premiere here of that film, titled “Happy Holly Day.”
The movie screening will take place at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28, at the Preston Arts Center on the Henderson Community College campus.
Tickets for the premiere are available for purchase at HappyHollyDay.eventbrite.com.
Tickets for the two-hour event range in price from $13.26 for balcony seats to $18.92 for center and rear orchestra seats to $30.23 for front orchestra seats closest to the screen.
Attendees are encouraged to “dress to impress,” according to the site.
“All the stars will be there” and there will literally be a red carpet, Kristie Kilday of Louisville-based production company Goldenrod Film & Television announced at the Henderson Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Dinner on Monday night.
The official trailer for the movie was previewed at the dinner.
The plot summary at the Internet Movie Database reads as follows: “When a tightly wound therapist and her family move to a small town, their orderly lives are upended by their exuberant neighbor — Holly Day — whose relentless holiday spirit challenges them to rediscover the true meaning of Christmas.”
Veteran Hollywood director Sam Irvin last winter said the movie is akin to those seen on Hallmark and Lifetime channels, some of which he himself has directed.
Henderson Tourist Commission Director Abby Dixon told the chamber crowd on Monday that the film crew was recruited to Henderson through the efforts of the state-funded Kentucky Film Office, the West Kentucky Film Commission (of which Henderson is a member) and Goldenrod.
Dixon said bringing film crews to Henderson “is not just cameras and action. It’s people (such as cast and crew members) in hotels (and getting food catered for them) and (workers in) local trades.”
The city and local merchants had already been asked by the film company to leave up street decorations and store window displays a few weeks after Christmas for the benefit of the movie production. The half-foot of snow was, in a manner of speaking, icing on the cake.
“We didn’t just get a Christmas movie,” Dixon said, “We got to show off Henderson.”
She’s hopeful more movies will be made here. Henderson and Western Kentucky will be represented next week at the annual American Film Market next week — the same Hollywood marketplace that helped bring “Happy Holly Day” to town.
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