An International N.Y. Film Festival award in his 20s

Those two otherworldly gargantuans, King Kong and Godzilla, battling each other for dominance, glued John Silecchia to his parents’ television set in second grade.

“You had to do miniatures,” he said, observing the technology. “And guys in rubber suits attacking each other. How did they create the illusion of giant monsters attacking a city?”

That film was the start of his journey into learning the complexities of filmmaking. His curiosity, classes, films, and perseverance won him a 2024 International New York Film Festival Diamond Globe Award for Best Documentary as director/executive producer for “By Day By Night: Working to Make People Laugh,” featuring comedians Donna Moran, Ellen Orchid, Louis Prats, Mitch Shapiro and Ruth Ann “Bernie” Collins.

It was written and produced by Claudia Bonavita and John Bonavita, (Silecchia is executive producer). The film was released and premiered at the Sayville Movie Theater in February.

Silecchia is a 2015 Bayport-Blue Point High School graduate.

“We were in pre-production May 2022 and filmed from July to October of that year. Then it was in post-production to December 2023.”

Bonavita had the idea: comedians with eclectic day jobs discussing the reasons for their passion to perform stand-up comedy after hours. She reached out to performers who agreed, crowdfunding was pitched, investments came in, their production team of 11 was secured, and the rest is history.

There were half-hour interviews with each comedian that were edited down. The documentary is 1 hour, 28 minutes.

And, yes, he said, Sayville Theater was packed at the premiere that included the comedians in the documentary.

It has been a steady road for Silecchia creating his craft. He worked as a property master/production assistant at TROMA  Entertainment Inc. (the longest-running independent film studio in North America for five years starting in 2017; “The Toxic Avenger” is one of their films). He created an animated TV segment within the feature film “Curse of the Weredeer” for them.

His first film shown at Five Towns College, “Taquitos,” a 2019 horror comedy short about monster taquitos, got the Directors Cut International Film Festival nod as a semifinalist in 2020. (It was screened at 14 film festivals.)

Five Towns was where he met film colleagues Eric Casey, Antonio Bottiglieri, Sean O’Brien and Jacob Casio.

If there is one thing about Silecchia, it’s his steadiness of purpose.  He was videographer and editor for Local TV Inc., in Wainscott, for nearly two years. He created “Loch Ness Detective Agency,” an animated, 8-minute comedy. He’s working on an adaptation of “Crime and Punishment,” as well as another animation for TROMA.

He credits the Gary D. Bixhorn Technical Center in senior year for learning film tools. “It was how to frame a shot and edit,” he said of his classes. “I think people should be more open to technical schools. You want to build skills and that got me going.”
Wacky animation has an allure, he admits. “It’s the way they make the characters and how you get from Point A to Point B. You make your mind flow,” he said. “A lot of my work is on the computer,” he said. Also, a tablet. He moves frames, looks for backdrops.

He enjoyed his time at TROMA, especially during a six-week stint working with props and the art department, and would hope for a career in that area, or as director/producer.

His downtime includes local walks in nature preserves like Meadow Croft—a good way to clear your head, which allows creativity to roll in. “I don’t have a lot of hobbies,” he said. “I try to perfect my craft.”