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By A.J. O'CONNELL

Times Staff Writer


STAMFORD -- The police have a nightmare on their hands: local women are disappearing. They aren't the sort of women the police expect to vanish. They're professional women, women in their 30s. Now, one police officer, Sheriff Nickie Welles, is trying to solve the case with the help of a psychic before her job is terminated by state budget cuts. Welles' lover, Detective Sandra Franks, has her own suspicions.

That's the story told in "Person of Interest," a movie written, directed and co-produced by Stamfordite Christopher Ward. The thriller was released Tuesday on DVD by Ariztical Entertainment.

If you think you might recognize some of the locations in the movie, you do. The movie was filmed in Norwalk, Stamford and Greenwich.

"I live in Stamford and I love this area," he said.

Ward, as a former documentary-maker, is also extremely comfortable shooting on location. He and the actors never entered the studio while they were shooting "Person of Interest" in the summer of 2007.

Instead, they filmed at locations like St. Paul's on the Green in Norwalk, on the deck at Ward's home in Stamford, and on the fishing pier off Cummings Park.

As a documentary-maker who worked for Showtime and freelanced for a variety of networks, Ward is probably best known for his 2003 ABC TV documentary "Outwitting Hitler."

"Person of Interest" is Ward's first feature film.

"It was something that I've always wanted to do, but I really couldn't do it until the digital revolution," said Ward. "Instead of costing millions of dollars, it cost thousands of dollars. I got to a point where I could do it myself."

Ward wrote the story, found a co-producer in Apple executive Michael Wong, and hired some actors from the area. Elise Rovinsky, who plays Welles, is a New Yorker, but Julie Bell lives in Rowayton and Cuyle Carvin, who plays psychic James Hart, was a Stamford resident at the time. And, if you examine the supporting characters, you may see faces you recognize, like Curtain Call executive director Lou Ursone.

The same-sex couple at the heart of "Person of Interest" was inspired by one of Ward's previous films.

"I had done a documentary on a policewoman who was a lesbian," he said. Ward spent time with the woman's friends while he filmed, and learned that the women felt that the mainstream media was not properly portraying lesbians. So Ward decided to write his own film, featuring a lesbian couple.

"I wanted to write a conventional mystery with unconventional characters," he said.

"Person of Interest" has not yet been shown on the big screen, although Ward is working on a possible screening for the film. It is currently available on Amazon.com.

Ward has since filmed another movie, which caters to the vampire set. "Fog Warning," features another kidnapping -- this time three men kidnap a woman they believe to be a vampire and hold her hostage. Rovinsky and Carvin both assume leading roles in that movie as well. Ward says he is currently seeking a distributor for "Fog Warning."

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