LONGMEADOW — Longmeadow native Jonah Barresi left Western Massachusetts to pursue his passion for filmmaking and social activism. Partnering with other writers and activists, Barresi is set to turn a screenplay about class, identity and the power of community into a short film. However, just as the characters in the movie must tackle obstacles to realize their dreams, Barresi and his collaborators need to overcome a funding hurdle to turn their screenplay into a fully realized musical film.
“I’ve always been involved in theater and the arts,” Barresi said. “It’s always been really available to me through the schools [in Longmeadow]. Our music programs have been super supportive.” He specifically cited Longmeadow High School art teacher Mariel Gross, who was always “supportive of any of [the students’] ambitions.”
More than the performing arts, though, Barresi said, “Longmeadow was a greater influence on my drive to be involved in social justice. It can be kind of sheltering growing up as a straight, [cis-gendered] man, so I had to be intentional about seeking out [other experiences].”
After acting throughout high school, Barresi said, “I got really interested in behind-the-scenes.” He completed an internship working in film in Hartford before attending Ithaca College in New York to double major in film and theater studies. Now a junior, Barresi said he realized that his career was in film, exclusively.
“There’s something super special about film. You’ve never been in a room where everybody holds their breath,” Barresi said. “And then when you see it, it’s just incredible.” Barresi said the duration of a film can be much longer than its run time if it stays with an audience and makes people think long after the credits have rolled.
“Somewhere Together” takes place in an apartment building, where each apartment represents the reality that exists for various groups of people in the United States — Native Americans, people with disabilities, Mexican immigrants, Black and brown people, and the rich, who are described as the “Top 1%” — and how they intersect.
“Each apartment will have its own feel. Each is on a different floor to represent social status. A lot of what we explore is class,” Barresi said.
The music in “Somewhere Together” also reflects the disparate backgrounds of the people in each apartment, drawing from Harlem jazz, afrobeats, traditional Haudenosaunee music, bolero, classical salsa, reggaeton and swing. Barresi said the music builds in intensity as conflicts occur and each scene progresses, but the camera moves on to another apartment before the action culminates. “We leave a lot unsaid,” Barresi said, “and that’s what we hope will happen, that people will talk about, ‘What do you think was about to happen?’”
In the third act of the film, a fire has broken out in the building, forcing all our characters into the same stairwell. There, they wrestle with the dangerous situation and the underlying truth that they are all in it together.
“I’ve had an itching to make this film for a really long time,” Barresi said. According to the film’s pitch, the goal underpinning the art is to “start conversations and reconstruct the culture of community in the United States.” Barresi said, “Art is important in how societies are formed. It’s how we tell stories.” But art is also a method of counteracting propaganda and grow “empathy” and “understanding.”
Barresi said “Somewhere Together” was written with a group of filmmakers, artists and activists. Filmmaker and activist Gisela Sanders-Alcántara, disability activist Mercy Botchway, composer Ratewenniio George, filmmaker Victoria Washington and actor and musician Charlie Lockwood helped create the worlds within each apartment, giving them authenticity from their lived experiences.
The screenwriters were in different places around the country and abroad. Each writer focused on telling the story taking place in a different apartment, but had to make those stories work within the overarching plot. Barresi said the screenwriting process becomes slower when people are not in the same city and it included many Zoom meetings and text messages between collaborators.
Filming will begin in New York City in October, with editing taking place in December. In January 2026, the actors will complete the formal recordings for the film, as it is difficult to act and sing for film at the same time, he said. In summer 2026, the filmmakers plan to host a series of public screenings and talkbacks with activists and community leaders at schools, nonprofits and other venues in Western Massachusetts, New York City and Ithaca, New York. The movie will also be submitted for the summer 2026 film festival season.
Before any of this can happen, however, the film must be funded. The budget for the film is $22,000. Most of it is needed to secure the talent and the locations for the shoot. Significant portions of the budget will also be devoted to art and wardrobe, and meals and craft service. Transportation, insurance, music and post-production costs round out the budget.
Originally, the team planned to apply for grants to help fund their project, but Barresi said those opportunities have largely dried up since grants for the arts and humanitarian work have been hit by federal cutbacks.
“Our fundraising timeline has shifted by a couple months, which puts a lot of stress on the production because the shooting schedule is set in stone. It’s put a lot of pressure on the back end of our pre-production,” Barresi said. This has led the filmmakers to pivot their strategy and pursue crowdfunding, donors and sponsorship. Barresi said they have embraced this because it reinforces the film’s message of solving community problems with community. Having raised $4,000 through crowdfunding, the team now must raise the other $18,000 by Aug. 20. The filmmakers have put together sponsorship packages ranging from $250 for a 1/8-screen logo in the end credits to a $5,000 logo motion graphic in the opening credits and the logo printed on all posters and advertisements. They are also open to the donation of goods or services.
One fiscal sponsor who has signed on is 16 Lyrics, a nonprofit that promotes anti-racism through education. Through 16 Lyrics, charitable donations to “Somewhere Together” can receive a tax credit.
For more information about “Somewhere Together” or opportunities to support the film, contact Barresi at jonahbarresi16@gmail.com.
