EMILY DICKINSON movie filmed at Belvidere Victorian residence - 1 of 3
By Jacqueline Lindsay - Staff Writer for THE NEWS

BELVIDERE -On Aug. 16 in 1870, a young woman eagerly awaits the hour when she will meet the Thomas Higginson, who she believes will help her to achieve success in publishing her writing works. As she walks into the parlor, she curtsies shyly as she regards the man standing in the center of the room; the one whom she hopes will change her life forever.

However, the dreams of Emily Dickinson were not realized that day. The editor told her instead that her work was unfit for publication because she lacked "the craft, the metering and proper rhyme schemes, the discipline and objectivity needed to make herself clear," and that her limitations lie in being a female.

This is the opening scene of an original screenplay, "My Letter to the World," written by Ward James Riley and produced and directed by Alex Lugones. The movie about the life of famous poet Emily Dickinson was filmed in part at the Belvidere Victorian home of Marianne Meyer-Garcia in early August.

"Someone called town hall looking for a Victorian home to do the film," Meyer-Garcia said explaining how she got involved in the project.

"The reason they thought of Belvidere was because they had a friend who visited Belvidere during Victorian Days that knew our town had a lot of Victorian homes."

The call was referred to Meyer-Garcia, because of her connection as chairperson of Victorian Days, a two-day Victorian era event that runs annually in Belvidere, which will take place on Sept. 8 and 9 this year.

"I was on the phone and thinking about our Victorian home inventory. We needed something of the era that was on the simple side, so I offered my home," Meyer-Garcia explained. "Alex (Lugones) came to look at it and felt it would be suitable for what he was looking to portray in the film."

Although Lugones actually began working on the production in 1995 in Amherst, Mass., which is where Dickinson grew up, the project ended up being put on the back burner until recently.

The director said he was compelled to produce the narrative non-fiction drama because he was taken with Dickinson's writing and could closely relate to the character. "I started reading some of her poetry. At first I was a little confused by her writing, because she has her own style, but by the time I got to about the tenth poem I started getting a little emotional," Lugones recalled.

"Emily Dickinson is a very different character. There was a very strong prejudice against women then," he continued, remembering how his own childhood was similar. "When my parents came from Cuba I went to school and was faced with prejudice in the schools and on the streets. So I can truly identify with the prejudice she lived with on a different level. Even though the women's suffrage movement was going on women were still under the power of men and restricted in their education."

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