Three Long Islanders debut their movies

Who says you need to be in Hollywood to make it in the movies?

This weekend, three Long Islanders will see their films hit the big screens. One comes from a behind-the-scenes veteran now making movies on his own terms, one marks the widest release yet for a fledgling writer-director, and one stars a young actor making his feature-film debut. Recognize them? If you don't now, you might soon.

'Bereavement' directed by Stevan Mena

Madmen, screaming girls and buckets of blood have long been staples of the horror genre, but Bellport-based filmmaker Stevan Mena has another to add: real characters.

In most slasher movies, "It's usually kids doing drugs, having sex. They're not having long conversations," says Mena, 40, whose latest film, "Bereavement," straddles the line between fright flick and drama. "For some people, sometimes it's almost too real when the violence hits. But for me, if you don't feel for the characters, then what's the point?"

WHAT IT'S ABOUT "Bereavement," a prequel to Mena's 2005 debut, "Malevolence," tells the story of a young boy forced to watch and even join in the atrocities of a Pennsylvania serial killer named Graham Sutter. (The film was shot in Allentown.) Alexandra Daddario, who appears in the current comedy "Hall Pass" and starred in last year's "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief," plays the pretty teenager who stumbles across the not-quite-abandonded Sutter place.

Both "Bereavement" and "Malevolence" were partially inspired by a real-life Long Island figure. "When I was living in East Meadow, I was living right around the corner from Joel Rifkin and never knew it," Mena says, referring to the serial killer who was convicted of nine murders in 1994. Like Rifkin, Mena's monster operates almost in plain sight. "I've read some reviews saying, 'How ridiculous that this guy could get away with this.' And I just think, 'Yeah? I saw Joel Rifkin at the supermarket all the time.' "

INDEPENDENTLY DISTRIBUTED Although the movie won best feature at last year's Long Island International Film Expo, Mena says it proved too dark for Hollywood studios or distributors. Instead, he partnered with Screenvision, a New York-based newcomer to the film distribution business, which helped book "Bereavement" into about 40 theaters nationwide - not bad for a film with a scant $1-million budget. Screenvision says it hopes to expand the film into more theaters, depending on how it does at the box office.

"I'm nervous," Mena admits. "You wait for reviews to come in, you wait for responses, and then you just wait for audiences to give you the thumbs-up or the thumbs-down."

INFO Opens Friday at Farmingdale Multiplex Cinemas, 1001 Broadhollow Rd., and Island 16: Cinema De Lux, Holtsville. Visit bereavementmovie.com.

'Twelve Thirty' directed by Jeff Lipsky

Jeff Lipsky's movies don't cost much to make. Which is good, because they don't make much, either.

And that is just fine with Lipsky.

Four films into his career, the writer-director from Plainview is certainly rich in critical plaudits. His latest movie, "Twelve Thirty," received rave reviews from both The New York Times and Los Angeles Times; the Film Society of Lincoln Center recently held a tribute to Lipsky, describing him as "a maverick figure of American independent cinema."

As for actual wealth, that's another story. "I don't have a house. I don't owe anybody any money. I don't have any money," Lipsky says. "I'm the happiest person alive."

INDIE CRED At 57, Lipsky remains well known within the movie industry as the co-founder of October Films, which helped introduce American audiences to Mike Leigh with 1991's "Life Is Sweet" and went on to distribute more than 60 films, including David Lynch's "Lost Highway" (1997). About a decade ago, Lipsky began making his own movies; his second, "Flannel Pajamas," about a marriage on the rocks, provided his breakthrough, and "Twelve Thirty" seems to be cementing his reputation.

The film follows a young Midwesterner (Jonathan Groff, of Fox's "Glee") as he woos three related women, played by Portia Reiners (ABC's "One Life to Live"), Mamie Gummer (ABC's "Off the Map" and Meryl Streep's daughter) and Karen Young (HBO's "The Sopranos"). The cast also includes Halley Feiffer, daughter of Southampton cartoonist-author Jules Feiffer.

"It feels like a 'Graduate' for the 21st century, this young naive guy feeling his way through the world," says Scott Foundas, associate director of programming at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. "And it has all these young actors, and I think down the road we might look back and say, 'Oh, they were all in this one movie.' "

IT'S NOT EASY Nevertheless, Lipsky is struggling to raise $100,000, the entire budget of his next film. He occasionally feels the pull of the lucrative film-distribution business, he says, but tries to ignore it. "I'd be happier being homeless and trying to raise money for films all my life," Lipsky says. "It's the sad truth."

INFO "Twelve Thirty" opens Friday at Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave., Huntington. Lipsky will appear at all screenings through Sunday. Tickets are $10-$13. 800-838-3006; cinemaartscentre.org.

'happythankyoumoreplease'

directed by Josh Radnor

In the romantic comedy "happythankyoumoreplease," Josh Radnor plays Sam, an aspiring writer who discovers a young boy, Rasheen, alone in the Manhattan subway. Unsure what to do with the kid, Sam takes him to a party. At the buffet table, Rasheen asks for a cookie.

"Dude, it's a party," Sam replies. "You can have, like, 10 cookies."

This was a memorable scene for Michael Algieri, the 10-year-old Greenlawn actor who plays Rasheen, primarily because Algieri actually did eat that many cookies, by his estimation. Eventually Algieri might figure out how to demand a private trailer or renegotiate a contract, but at this stage in his career, cookies make a pretty good perk.

FROM TV TO MOVIES "happythankyoumoreplease" marks the writing and directing debut of Radnor, best known as Ted Mosby on the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," as well as the feature-film debut of Algieri. An ensemble piece starring Kate Mara ("127 Hours"), Malin Akerman ("Couples Retreat"), Tony Hale ("The Informant!"), Zoe Kazan ("It's Complicated") and Pablo Schreiber ("Nights in Rodanthe"), the film has enjoyed some advance buzz, premiering at last year's Sundance Film Festival and winning an audience award.

Radnor says his script described Rasheen as having "1,000-year-old eyes," and Algieri, a fourth-grader at Greenlawn's Thomas J. Lahey Elementary School, fit the bill. Throughout the film, the adult Sam talks to Rasheen as though they were college buddies, and while Rasheen rarely responds, his eyes register deep understanding. One scene, in which Rasheen begs to stay at Sam's apartment, was almost entirely improvised. "I just thought he was so funny, I wrote it into the script," says Radnor. "He really understood what the scene was about and what the movie was about."

FUTURE PLANS At a Manhattan diner before another audition earlier this week, Algieri says he'd like a career in both movies and television. He hopes someday to act with Will Smith and aspires to play a character with "athletic ability." ("He's a good soccer player," his mother, Stephane, says.) And so far, at least, he is one actor who does not read his reviews.

"My mom reads them," he says.

INFO Opens Friday at Angelika New York and March 11 at Malverne Cinema 4.