Kutztown, a town of about 5,000, looks like most other small Pennsylvania towns -- unless you looked on Sept. 17, when seven international musical acts wrapped up the EuroRock2007 Peace Tour, which brought acts from all around the world to the United States to spread a message of peace.

The tour will be the subject of rock documentary, or "rockumentary," Euro Rocks America.

The film is being produced by Haydenfilms, a Kutztown-based independent film company started by Hayden Craddolph, who started the company during work on his thesis at Kutztown University.

"The last show was fantastic," said Craddolph, one of the film's three producers. "We're in a very small town. We were actually competing with Monday Night Football with the Eagles, so that was pretty tough."

Haydenfilms became involved with the documentary through its relationship with Victor Colicchio, who will direct. Colicchio's credits include a role in the recent No. 1 film The Brave One and writing for Spike Lee's Summer of Sam.

The tour was headed by an organization called EuroRock, which will also run a West Coast leg of the tour that Haydenfilms will not be following for the film.

The film is now in the editing process, and the time spent in that stage -- which Craddolph said "could be weeks, could be months," -- will determine how the film is marketed.

Craddolph said there were two main possibilities: The film might be entered in the festival circuit or it could go straight to DVD distribution, which they could achieve by using some contacts through Colicchio.

"I think we're leaning towards distribution because we'll miss the end of the festival circuit," Craddolph said.

He called possible entrance into the Sundance Film Festival "a missed opportunity" because the deadline is too soon.

The film would likely have to sit around for a year to make the next festival circuit, which Craddolph said could make interest in the film fade.
Producer Jeri Carroll traveled with the crew to all of the concerts, which included shows in New York City, Nashville and Miami.

Carroll said they shot more than 24 hours of footage, including performances, interviews and sightseeing at some of the venues and locations with the bands.

"We took them down to Graceland and took film of them outside and in the Elvis shops," Carroll said. "We went to Nashville and took shots of them trying on cowboy hats and country boots, and then we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

The sightseeing was exciting for some groups on their first U.S. tours, like the Swedish band The Models. Vocalist/guitarist Rebecka Cronsten said the band received an invitation from EuroRock through MySpace.

"When we first got to New York, it was just 'wow!,' " Cronsten said. "I've never been to a city that big. Sweden is a country of not that many people at all. I was thinking 'there's more people here than in my whole country.' "

For Midterm Break, a band from Sunderland, England, this tour was the second with EuroRock.
Vocalist/guitarist Callum Cowie said the band played a shorter tour last year, but this year's event was better, especially the final show.

"It was the best show on the tour," Cowie said. "A lot of people from our age group were actually into the band, like 14- and 15-year-old girls. Quite a few teenagers there, and dancing."

He said the tour was a great experience for the band whose members range in age from 17 to 19.

Craddolph said the purpose of EuroRock was not necessarily a specific political agenda, but promoting a peaceful atmosphere.

"[EuroRock founder Lou Ricca's] vision was like 'we're going to put together a group of artists from different countries and prove that if they can get along, why can't we get along?' " Craddolph said.

Cowie said he and his band mates had particularly befriended other English musicians and a band from Wales and hoped to set up more shows once back in Europe. Carroll said the crew had become "like a family" during the tour.

"[We're] all very close," Carroll said. "We were all crying when they went back to the airport."