Ashfield Film Fest
On August 12, 1881, the expectant Mrs. DeMille, who was staying at the inn in the village of Ashfield, went into labor. Fortunately, the doctor’s home was next door and she was brought there to give birth. And so Cecil B. DeMille came to be born in a house, between the current Ashfield Hardware/Country Pie Pizza and the Ashfield House, where a brass plaque now commemorates the event.
With the birth of “the greatest showman on earth” in our town, it seemed only natural to create a town film event honoring the famous native. That’s what ACC (Ashfield Cultural Council) chair and film enthusiast Tamsen Merrill thought in 2007. She brought the idea to the ACC, connected with new Ashfield resident Harry Keramidas, a motion picture editor from Hollywood and thus the Ashfield FilmFest was born.
The town and increasingly the greater surrounding communities, looks to the FilmFest as a treasured annual tradition, and a reason to gather with friends, perhaps dress up, and watch a new crop of films that add to our sense of wonder and amazement for the community we live in.