Photo credit: Utopia
Philadelphia in all its late-summer glory takes a star turn in Chestnut, a feature film by writer and director Jac Cron, BS entrepreneurship ’15, that appeared at the Philadelphia Film Festival in 2023. Cron’s film follows a young woman named Annie, played by Natalia Dyer of Stranger Things, during a post-college summer in Philadelphia, exploring the intimacy of queer relationships and friendships and the tumult of young adulting. Cron studied film and finance at Drexel, with minors in entrepreneurship and astrophysics, and has since moved to Los Angeles to build a career in the film industry. She spoke with Drexel Magazine about making her first feature film, and what she misses about Philadelphia.
Q: The main character in Chestnut has just finished college and is on the fence about moving to Los Angeles. She seems to have a real ambivalence about the role of Philadelphia in her life. Was this true for you, too?
The feelings around it were based on real feelings that I had. I went to Drexel and after four years I kind of felt like I had seen it all. It’s not a massive city: I was like, OK, cool, I’ve done everything. In the summer all my friends moved on to work at their co-ops in different cities, and I was left a little bit alone to explore different parts of the city. That was kind of a renaissance period for my relationship with Philly. I got to work during the day and go out to all these bars at night and see what that feels like. It was just a very different light on the city. You don’t really know what it’s like until you kind of grow up a little bit.
Q: What did you learn about filmmaking at Drexel that you brought to this project?
Drexel really creates a hands-on experience. You’re very much making things in school. I think a lot of schools can get caught up on learning theory or conceptualizing how to make movies, whereas Drexel is like, “Here’s a camera, go out and shoot.” At first it’s intimidating, but I think ultimately it allowed us to collaborate and work with each other. There’s a big Drexel-to-L.A. pipeline, and a lot of people I went to school with, and others who went to Temple, we all kind of look out for each other. I’ve worked with Drexel people on most of my projects. I think it just creates a really teamwork-based mentality.
Q: What was it like to screen at the Philadelphia Film Fest?
It was great. People were really receptive to it. I went to the screening and that allowed me to interact and be immersive with an audience, which sometimes is really difficult to do. When the movie is out, people will be streaming at home, on their couches. And obviously I can’t be in every theater, but when I go to film festivals it allows me to see what kind of audience shows up and how they feel about it.
Q: What are you up to in L.A.?
I’m just trying to make a living out of making movies. I am currently writing a lot, working on a pilot for an episodic dark comedy, which is a little bit of a departure from what I’ve been doing. I’m also working on a feature — a psychological drama that is a little more high-concept. I’m also assisting my mentor, the writer and director Drake Doremus, and doing a bunch of odd jobs to stay afloat. I’ve taken headshots for people. I do assistant work. I work on other people’s shoots. I’ve directed music videos. I just did a commercial in December for Valentino. I’d love to do more commercial stuff to pay those bills.
Q: Are there things either at Drexel or in Philadelphia generally that you wish you’d taken advantage of, or taken advantage of earlier?
I love Philly, truly. It’s one of my favorite cities. I had such a blast showing everyone around when I was shooting the film. You have to be a little bit older, but I really wish I took advantage of the bar scene. Philly really does have the best dive bars. And Philly has such an elevated food scene. There are some really interesting things always popping up — Kettle Black, Wm. Mulherin’s Sons, LaserWolf. My producer Lizzie Shapiro and I went for the Film Festival and we were like, how much food can we fit in in five hours? When you’re at Drexel you’re staying kind of in that University City bubble. I wish I had checked out other neighborhoods more.
Q: Anything else you want to say?
Just to support LGBTQ films and filmmakers, and to check out all the other things the cast and crew are working on.
Chestnut comes out in theaters June 20 and streaming on July 2.