About CloseToHome Productions
Sue Perlgut formed CloseToHome Productions to reach a wide-ranging audience with videos that feature topical and socially relevant issues. In 2012 she added production of theatre and other events to her mission.
In 2007 she produced, directed and co-wrote with Christopher Julian, the documentary 101 Ways to Retire—or Not!, seen on WSKG PBS, an official selection of the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival in 2008 and a recipient of a 2008 Mature Media Awards. In 2007 they also completed, with trainer Debbie Bosanko, Stay Strong: Lift for Life a strength training video for people 65 or older. They have completed a 13 minute informational video of Hospicare of Ithaca, NY. In November of 2010 CloseToHome Productions completed Beets and Beans: Living and Dying with Hospice
In 2015 she produced and co-directed with Nils Hoover Connie Cook: A Documentary, which was an official selection of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) and the High Falls Women’s Film Festival and the Reproductive Justice Film Festival. In 2020 they finished the documentary about It’s All Right To Be Woman Theatre, a pioneering feminist theatre troupe from the 1970s. These two documentaries are available to buy and rent on Vimeo.
Past projects include a three part online panel about Feminist Theatre: Past and Present and in the past seven years has produced film/readings that focus on the issues women face in our society today; The Women’s Wisdom Project, Other Powers: Trauma Survivors Reclaim Joy, Women Artists Have Their Say, and in 2023, Stand Up Women: Older Women Social Activists In Tompkins County.
Also in 2023 she was one of the organizers, along with End Abortion Stigma, of the first Ithaca Reproductive Justice Film Festival.
She produces web videos for small businesses, artists and non-profits. She has been creating and producing virtual house tours for Carol Bushberg Real Estate for 10 years. Her web videos are featured on this web site and on Vimeo.
A graduate of NYU with a MA in Educational Theatre, she has worked, for more than 40 years, as a director, performer, playwright, storyteller, puppet maker, teacher, arts administrator and producer of theatre in colleges, public schools, community centers and alternative performing spaces in New York City and Ithaca NY. She is one of the founding members of It’s All Right To Be Woman Theatre, and retired, after 23 years, as the director of Senior Citizen Theatre Troupe of Lifelong in Ithaca, NY. In the 1970’s and 80’s she owned and managed two retail businesses: Djuna Books, a feminist bookstore in New York City and Lucia a women’s clothing store in Ithaca, NY.
Sue is a recipient of many local and national grants for her writing, directing and film work. In 2023 she received an award as Friend of the Arts in Tompkins County and in 2024 was recognized as an outstanding citizen by New York State Assembly Woman Anna Kelles.
As a volunteer, in Ithaca, NY, she served on the Tompkins County Strategic Tourism Planning Board (chair 2015) and the Board of Cinemapolis ( chair, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2023) Ithaca’s only independent member supported cinema. She also volunteers for other arts and human services organizations in Ithaca NY. She is a member of Eliminating Abortion Stigma (EAS). The group lobbies, writes letters to the editor, made a video We Are the Women You Know and has participated in many rallies, including the most recent Stop The Ban Rally in Ithaca NY. Two articles from that rally: Ithaca Voice and the Ithaca Journal. In the past she served as president of the boards of the Kitchen Theatre and the Greater Ithaca Activities Center; and helped to form her neighborhood association, South of the Creek Neighbors. In 2017 she was one of the organizers of the Women’s March in Ithaca, NY.
Interviews with Sue Perlgut
- Interview by Cheryl Green of Bread and Roses on KBOO (6/24/16)
- Interview by Tish Perlman of Out of Bounds on WEOS (10/31/15) and WSKG (11/01/15)
- Interview by George Sapio of Onstage/Offstage on WRFI (9/24/14)
Collaborators
Nils Hoover
Director/Director of Photography/Camera/Editor
Creativity is a tool of transformation. To live as an artist is to accept the life of a wizard, casting spells of ideas and sharing beauty to change the world. Nils Hoover lives in Austin,TX and splits his time between film making and installation art.
Contact Nils:
e-mail: misternils@gmail.com
Website: www.nils.tv
Ann DiPetta
Production/outreach
Ann DiPetta is a writing consultant in Ithaca, N.Y. (since 1999) and has authored and edited numerous grants, reports, blogs, and curricula associated with affordable housing, community stabilization and neighborhood revitalization. She actively volunteers in her community.
Christopher Julian
Camera/Editor
Chris Julian works mostly as a video editor and visual effects artist in Seattle, WA, although he has also been Cinematographer, Assistant Director and Director on numerous other projects, both in the Pacific Northwest as well as in Central New York State. Previous works include the feature film, Invisible Ink (produced in Ithaca, NY), as well as promotional materials for Adobe, Microsoft, Planned Parenthood, the City of Seattle, and various other small local businesses
Contact Chris:
Email: chris@christopherjulian.com
Website: http://christopherjulian.com
Jack Reynolds
Sound Editor
Information coming soon.