The Champion

Short Documentary (2018)

Written & Directed by:  Marc J. Perez

Produced by: John L. Sikes and Tom Meyers

Executive Produced by: Kristian Fraga

Distributed by Milestone Films

In the early part of the 20th century advancements in motion picture cameras by inventors like Edison made opportunities abound in the film industry. Immigrants, artists, minorities and entrepreneurs fueled by ambition made a go in the film business looking for the American dream. As the art-form advanced, dozens of motion picture companies sprang up to fill the tremendous demand. Thousands of films were produced in the silent film era. In those early years two small towns on either side of the nation with an abundance of space and scenery jockeyed for a position as the center of film production, with dozens of bustling studios calling them home. However, only one would ultimately survive as as the undisputed studio town, as the other would fade into history.   

In 1910 promising film producer Mark Dintenfass made the trek to a sleepy little village across the Hudson River called Fort Lee, New Jersey. With a mixture of amazingly interchangeable scenery close to New York City’s Broadway talent, it was the perfect location to shoot pictures.  Dintenfass joined dozens of filmmakers like D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford and Carl Laemmle learning the new trade. Here he would form The Champion Film Company, the first of eleven studios that would become the epicenter of the film industry for a decade before the California sun proved too enticing.  This is a story of the birthplace of the motion picture industry and the effort to save our film history.