"Switchback" film ready to shoot mineshaft scenes

Lohr McKinstry, The Press-Republican, Plattsburgh, N.Y.
·2 min read

Feb. 12—MORIAH — Lori Bailey's new "Switchback" film about Moriah's mining past is moving toward completion and she hopes for a premiere this year.

Bailey will be honored for her work at a Capital District film forum in May.

MINESHAFT SCENES

Bailey and her cast and crew are headed to Pennsylvania soon to shoot mineshaft scenes that couldn't be done in Moriah.

"Switchback" is about half complete, she said.

"We shot out 50 percent of it in the Adirondacks and will now complete the additional mansion scenes and train-ride scenes in Otsego County," she said by email.

"Then we will continue on to the preserved museum mineshafts of Pennsylvania. We had no luck locating and contracting for mineshafts in Moriah this time. Seems many have become very unsafe, hard to get to and overrun with bats. So, I re-route, rewrite and reshoot. I'm pretty use to that scenario."

PERIOD PIECE

Bailey is director-writer on the film, which is being financed through her Tandem Cage Productions LLC.

She said the picture is based on her family, who immigrated to America and worked in the iron mines of Moriah.

The production is a period piece set in the 1920s.

Cade Guillory, who was in "Severance Mountain," plays the central character, Michael O'Roarke.

"Michael O'Roarke knows he must live a doomed life in the mines if he is to survive," Bailey said. "Michael sees and feels the injustice upon the local immigrant miners, and yet feels powerless to do anything about it. My father worked in the mines and this is his story."

HONOR FOR DIRECTOR

Other actors in the production include stars Mark Valley, Jay Alan-Christianson, Lynn Valley, Deaken Bluman, Thomas Caifa, and Kyra Bradford.

Bailey will be honored at the Capital Region and Adirondack Film Alliance's 3rd-annual Film Industry Day on Thursday, May 23 at the Albany Capital Center in downtown Albany.

"Notable filmmaker Lori Bailey will take part in the Female Filmmakers Take Center Stage panel, offering a platform to celebrate and explore the impactful contributions of women in the film industry," Albany County Film Commissioner Deborah A. Goedeke said in a release.

"Bailey, a trailblazer in her own right, will share experiences and insights, addressing challenges and opportunities in film production."

"Switchback" will be released on DVD and select streaming services. Two of Bailey's other films set in Moriah, "Mineville," to which "Switchback" is a prequel, and "Garrow," about the life of Adirondack serial killer Robert Garrow Sr., are on Amazon.com.