‘A Sea Cliff Story’ by Brianna Lee and Mike Luciano premieres in Sea Cliff

Sea Cliff has always been a village where the arts have thrived, which makes it fitting that two of its former residents, Brianna Lee and Mike Luciano, teamed up to make a movie about it.
The film, called “A Sea Cliff Story,” is an ode to life in the beautiful seaside village and the enterprising men and women who keep Sea Cliff running.

Both Lee and Luciano got their start in filmmaking at North Shore High School. The two, along with several of their friends, made several short films for school projects, including even a feature-length film for Luciano’s senior project along with several of their friends.

The two went their separate ways following high school, with Lee working as an actress, writer and improvisation coach, and Luciano worked as a writer, director and executive producer for animated shows, most recently for the HBO show “Animals.” The two stayed in touch and continued working together over the years, both for work and fun.

“This story’s really a continuation of over 20 years of myself, Briana and a handful of our hometown friends getting to film in the town where we grew up,” Luciano said. “I think as we dove in, it really just became this deeply personal passion project.”

“A Sea Cliff Story” follows Lee’s character, Lillian Hariclum, the village clerk, who has to save the village museum from being sold by the end of the day. The film takes place on the Fourth of July, and culminates in a large celebration on the beach, as film characters and the audience hold their breath to see if the harried clerk can pull it off.

Lee said that she had a great time playing Hariclum, despite the fact they filmed during the hottest week of last summer. Luciano and Lee don’t live in Sea Cliff anymore, living in Los Angeles and Brooklyn respectively. Lee added that filming reminded her of their experiences making films together in high school.

“It was super, super nostalgic,” Lee continued. “Mike and I grew up going home after school and making movies all around town, so to do it as adults was just so special to us.”

Filming took place over roughly two weeks. The two old friends wrote the script together as well, and once filming ended, Luciano began editing, a process which took months of work.
When Mark Sobel, one of the village trustees and a member of the Arts Council, heard about the movie, he said he fell in love with it and organized a showing of the movie by the Arts Council. He added that since the founding of the Arts Council, he’s wanted to organize a film festival, and that this movie represented the perfect opportunity for just such a community event.

“Mike and Brianna are fantastic, they’re really such talented artists,” Sobel said. “I mean, how can you not be appealed by a film called ‘A Sea Cliff Story’?”

While they initially planned to hold the showing at the 325 Prospect Ave. building, it wasn’t yet ready to accommodate many people and wouldn’t have been able to handle the inclement weather. Instead, the event was held at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in the village, where more than 350 people showed up June 16 for the film’s premiere and another showing the next day.

In addition to watching the movie, the audience participated in a Q&A session with Lee, Luciano and Robin Bronk, the CEO of the Creative Coalition, a nonprofit which educates on and seeks to address issues in the film industry as well as general social issues.

Bronk, a friend of Sobel’s, asked Luciano and Lee about their experiences shooting the film.
The two filmmakers said that creating “A Sea Cliff Story” reminded them about the beauty and uniqueness of the village. They said that everyone from Village Hall to the Fire Department and various residents went above and beyond helping them to make the film.

“Our family and friends really colored the whole thing with a welcoming, homegrown energy, and that extended to everyone else in the town helping us out.” Luciano said. “That was another part of the whole experience; getting to see the love we have for Sea Cliff reflected back to us from the community.”

“The town itself already looks like a movie set,” Lee added. “It just felt like the entire community came together to celebrate this movie and Sea Cliff.”