Malverne filmmaker releases movie "Bridge and Tunnel"

The producers, from left, Chris Viemeister, Jason Michael Brescia and Joe Murphy. Musician Ryan Hunter, far right, contributed to the soundtrack.

Courtesy Jason Michael Brescia

The film was released for a theatrical run in 2014, but was officially released Feb. 2.

Courtesy Jason Michael Brescia

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The latest project by filmmaker Jason Michael Brescia, a past Malverne resident, was released on multiple digital platforms this month. It was filmed in local communities that include Malverne, Rockville Centre, Merrick, Seaford, Bellmore, Long Beach and Franklin Square and Valley Stream.

“Bridge and Tunnel” is “reflective of where I was at in my life” as a younger man, said Brescia, who co-produced the film about twenty-somethings on Long Island with Joe Murphy, also from Valley Stream, Douglas Torres, of Merrick, and Chris Viemeister, of Lynbrook. Brescia lived in Malverne from 12 years of age until he was 27, and moved back to the village while he was shooting “Bridge and Tunnel.” His parents still reside in Malverne.

The movie is more personal than his first, said Brescia, who previously wrote and directed “The Newest Pledge,” a comedy that was released by Lionsgate in 2012.

The story follows a group of Long Island twenty-somethings as they enter adulthood during the global financial crisis. It was filmed at locations around Nassau and Suffolk counties, and includes scenes from Connolly Station in Malverne and the Westwood train station.

Brescia and Murphy attended Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale together. Murphy was doing standup comedy in New York City when Brescia asked him to participate in some film shorts, and those turned into the feature-length “Bridge and Tunnel.” He said it was “kind of surreal” to return to the neighborhood of his youth, and that he was grateful for the opportunity. “I have memories of buying my first Metallica record at Slipped Disc,” Murphy said of the record store that used to occupy what is now the coffee shop Sip This in Valley Stream.

The soundtrack features music by Long Island musicians John Nolan, of Taking Back Sunday, Vinnie Caruana, of The Movielife, and Ryan Hunter, of Envy on the Coast.

The film is available on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Verizon Plus, AT&T U-verse, Dish, Google Play, YouTube and Microsoft, among other outlets.

Murphy said he hopes people watch it. “I hope people on Long Island can relate to it,” he said, “and I hope people find characters in it that remind them of their friends and family.”