Eastern to Present "The Supermarket"

Written by Ed Osborn

Willimantic, Conn. - A high quality, low budget film about small town Connecticut will be on display when Eastern Connecticut State University presents a free screening of the film, "The Supermarket," at 7 p.m. on March 19 and April 1 in the Student Center Theatre.  The public is invited.

The film chronicles the life and death of the family-owned Ellington Supermarket. The film was produced and directed by a group of young friends who worked at the supermarket as it came under the threat of shutting down because a new Big Y chain store was coming to town.  The store, a fixture in town for nearly 20 years, eventually closed in 2006 with the opening of the Big Y.

The movies was shot on location in 2005 and celebrates the small-town spirit of Ellington. Tim Norman, a 21-year-old Ellington resident who directed the film, told a reporter, "The concept of the farms and forest that made Ellington what it is, falling before the forces of progress, is very important to us. It's a film about the frustration that one feels over being powerless to halt these changes." 

Norman said the film brings the old Ellington back to life. In the film, Ellington residents talk about how commercialization crushed the small town feeling. Matt Jenkins, another former employee at the Ellington Supermarket, produced the film with Dave Therrien.  Everyone involved with the film either worked at the store or went to Ellington High School. Many had planned on working at the supermarket for the rest of their lives, but in the end, their small-town grocery store is just a memory.