It's father vs. son, and winner takes arm

Island Park residents Philip and Robert M. Snyder are no strangers to the movie screen. As teenagers, their free time was spent acting in and directing movies, leading them to win the Kodak Teenage Movie Award at a young age. In 2006 the duo won the best short film and video award at the Long Island Film Festival for their picture “Fitzgerald’s Flask,” in which author F. Scott Fitzgerald, desperate for a source of income, contacts science fiction writer H.G. Wells and travels in time to the 21st century to auction off his memorabilia. Four years later, their passion for innovative new ideas has not slowed down.

Inspired by the writings of Ernest Hemingway and the films of Alfred Hitchcock, the Snyders recently directed short film “Farewell to Arm,” a coming of age story inspired by a recent car ride Robert had with his son, an actor in local theater groups.

“When Robert Jr. was younger we used to have arm wrestling matches, which I would always pretend to lose,” Robert Snyder said. “Now at my age, I’m not so positive of what would happen if I challenged him again!”

Filmed and written in a few days with music by film composer Ernest Adzentoivich, “A Farewell to Arm” puts father and son in a fierce battle of strength and parental dominance. “I’ve always been interested in directors who use the film medium to portray sensations,” Philip Snyder said. “Directors such as Martin Scorsese allow a film to carry the audience.”

“A Farewell to Arm” premieres June 13 at 7:00 p.m. at the Long Island International Film Expo at the Bellmore Theatre.