Famous Short Story Adaptation Filmed in Hampton Bays

At 18, Alexa Barrett of Hampton Bays and Southampton, has just created her fifth independent film, which recently premiered in the "Criminal Shorts" section of the Hamptons International Film Festival. 

And the 25-minute film she adapted, directed and edited, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been," was the short story by Joyce Carol Oates, for which she obtained permission from the famous author.

"I met Joyce Carol Oates at a book signing she did during the Southampton Writers Conference at the college, a few years ago, and then I also read her short story in a literature class at the Ross School, where I graduated earlier this year," said Barrett. "I was haunted by it, and I decided to see if I could use it for my senior film project."

This scary story is about a man who lures a 14 year-old girl away from her home and into his car, accompanied by his friend. Barrett e-mailed Oates and asked if she could adapt this story into a film for a student project.

A few days later, Barrett was excited when the famous author granted her the rights to use her story in a film, and Barrett decided to shoot it in her home in Hampton Bays.

"I was so thrilled. It was one of the best moments of my life," she said. Barrett cast Tina Bozsik, a student at the Ross School, to play the lead female role of Connie, the young girl who gets lured. She cast her Ross School drama teacher, Kenny Kilfara, as the lead actor, who played the scary role of Arnold Friend, who lures Connie into his car. Barrett also cast her own mother, Jean Hazelton of Southampton and Hampton Bays, as Connie's mother in the film.

Barrett said she filmed, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been," over four days at her Hampton Bays house at the beach at "Slo Jack's" hamburger place in Hampton bays and at the Greenport Movie Theater. She hired a camera crew to shoot the film and it took her four months to edit it.

"I was blown away by the acting of Tina and Kenny," she said. "It was really fun making this film, and it was incredible being part of the film festival. All my friends came, and were very supportive."

Barrett had flown in from Argentina, where she is taking a gap year to study at National University of Cordoba, taking Spanish and history classes.

"My parents have an apartment in Mexico and I wanted to become fluent in Spanish," said Barrett, who plans to attend Duke University in the fall to continue her Spanish classes and also study film and liberal arts before eventually going to graduate school for film.

"I was 14 when I started making films, and last year I had a seven-minute documentary in the Long Island Film Festival, called, "Sean Rising," she said.

Barrett sent her film to Joyce Carol Oates, where the author writes how much she enjoyed watching the creative adaptation.

"I was delighted with your brilliant adaptation of my story," Carol Oates writes. "This is an amazing work—one would never think it was a student production."