Traficant film to debut Saturday at Akron Art Museum
YOUNGSTOWN
For Eric Murphy, Saturday’s premiere of his 90-minute documentary about former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. will be the culmination of six years of work.
“Traficant: The Congressman of Crimetown” started in 2009, said Murphy, the documentary’s director, producer, writer and editor.
It wasn’t until last Friday that he put the finishing touches on his project and sent it to the Cleveland International Film Festival.
“Of course there are 10,000 things I want to change, but that’s the nature of film,” he said. “I’m eager to see what everyone thinks. It will be a great experience to show this with friends, family members, collaborators and supporters there. It will be very humbling to show it. I’ve been obsessed by the whole project for a long time.”
The first screening will be at 6:20 p.m. Saturday at the Akron Art Museum, 1 S. High St. It will then be shown at 4 p.m. Sunday and at 11:55 a.m. Monday at the festival’s main location, Tower City Cinemas, 230 W. Huron Road, Cleveland.
“A lot of the interviews were done three, four, five years ago,” Murphy said. “Now they’ll see it up on the big screen. That will be a thrill for some people.”
About 100,000 people are expected to attend the film festival.
Read more about the film and the players in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.