VERONA -- Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter is scheduled to meet with several movie studios to promote central New York as a film location.
Halbritter will be in Los Angeles for the Academy Awards this weekend in Los Angeles. He says the largely rural stretch of upstate New York is a great place to film movies.
"With its diverse landscapes, universities, lakes, cities and workforce, Central New York is a wonderful place to film a movie," Halbritter told CNY Central in a news release. "Beyond the much needed economic activity movie production would bring to this region, many people living in this area who are trained to work in film production are forced to move elsewhere to find employment opportunities - we hope to change that through this effort."
The Oneidas' involvement in the film industry includes a 2007 3-D animated short about a tribal legend titled "Raccoon & Crawfish," which has won awards at film festivals.