Red Fern at Film Fest

By Waldo Jaquith
It's been a long time coming, but it appears that it's finally happening: Where The Red Fern Grows, featuring Dave Matthews as Will Coleman, will be playing at the Tribeca Film Festival on the first weekend in May. Matthews' role in the film was first made known in October of 1999, but the picture's development stalled due to a lack of funding. A new production company took over the rights to it about a year ago, who completed the previously-abandoned post-production work. Red Fern is Matthews' first film role, although he is known as an excellent actor based on his community theater involvement in Charlottesville in the early 90s. This will be the 2nd annual Tribeca Film Festival, a weekend of movies created to celebrate New York City as a major filmmaking center and to contribute to the recovery of lower Manhattan.