Woodmere native Tyler Gildin highlights late grandfather in film

Woodmere native Tyler Gildin has released a film that he hopes will make people think about and reach out to their grandparents during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The Starfish” details Gildin’s late grandfather, Herb Gildin, and his upbringing in Germany. As World War II began, 10-year-old Herb and his older sisters Cele, 14, and Margaret, 12, were split up and sent to Sweden to live with non-Jewish families far away from the Nazis’ reach.

The film was released to streaming services on May 5 and the title refers to a folktale about an old man who sees a boy on a beach tossing starfish back into the ocean. The man tells the boy that there are so many starfish that he’ll never make a difference, he won’t save enough. The boy responds by tossing another starfish into the water, and telling the man that he just made a difference to that one. Gildin saw this as a connection to his grandfather’s family in Sweden.

After Gildin heard his grandfather speaking at his aunt Cele’s funeral in May 2017, he became inspired to sit down and talk about with his grandfather about his upbringing. 

“When my grandfather spoke about his childhood, that was the spark plug,” Gildin said. “It’s not the typical World War II story but people can relate to the story. It's a human interest piece about obstacles he faced and situations he was in.” Herb died in May 2019 at the age of 90. 

The release in May was no coincidence according to Gildin. “Over the last month, I pushed for my distributor to release the film in May due to the current circumstances,” he said. “I felt this would be a good time for the film as many people are home looking for something uplifting and I think the themes and messages of the film would resonate with a large audience.”

Gildin, 30, who now lives in Manhattan, first created a video with a few friends called “Nassau State of Mind” the parody of Jay Z’s “Empire State of Mind” song that went viral in 2010. He worked as a standup comedian, at Elite Daily, an online news platform and then started his own company Gildin Media.

Alex Utay is Gildin’s cousin who helped produce the film. His favorite part of filming occurred when he visited his grandfather’s business, Satco, a nationwide supplier of lighting products based in Brentwood, New York that Herb help found in 1966.

“We went through the entire building as he talked about the company and the genuine joy people showed towards him was incredible,” Utay said. “Employees were calling him dad and that's something that doesn’t exist in this country anymore.”

For Gildin, he hopes that people walk away from the film with a smile on their face. “I want people who watch this film to know who my grandfather was and what he was able to accomplish,” he said. “I also want people to connect with their family’s and appreciate what their grandparents have done.”

The film can be purchased at: https://geni.us/TheStarfish.