(dramatic music) - What else do you want, Mary?

You, you want the moon?

Just say the word, and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down.

- [Jason] "It's a Wonderful Life," the story of George Bailey.

- Welcome home, Mr. Bailey, - [Jason] A man who gave up all his dreams and ambitions to help others in his small, tightly-knit community.

- This town needs this measly one-horse institution, if only to have some place where people can come without crawling to Potter.

- [Jason] And whose thoughts of suicide on Christmas Eve brought about a life-saving intervention (water splashes) from a guardian angel.

- I said, I wish I'd never been born.

- You've got your wish.

You've never been born.

- [Jason] Starring legendary Hollywood actors, James Stewart and Donna Reed, the movie was produced and directed by Frank Capra, who had his own rags to richest story.

- My grandfather immigrated from Italy, he's from Sicily, with his family.

They were very, very poverty stricken.

They came from a very rural place in Sicily, and they came to America really looking for that American dream.

- [Jason] The youngest of seven kids, Capra started out as a writer, working his way up to directing.

- [Christina] He directed really hit after hit after hit through the 1930s and 1940s.

(upbeat music) - [Jason] Among his hit movies "It Happened One Night," starring Clark Gable.

- How do you expect to get to New York at the rate you're going?

- That's none of your business.

- [Jason] "Mr.

Deeds Goes to Town."

(upbeat tuba music) And "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."

- Which is probably one of my favorite films that he made.

- And I saw three of them in his room the day I went up to see him.

- [Actor] Will the senator yield?

- No sir, I will not yield.

- [Jason] He also produced the "Why We Fight" series, shown to us troops during World War II.

Then as the war ended came, "It's a Wonderful Life."

(door clatters) - Mary!

Well, hello, Mr. Bank Examiner.

How are you?

- Mr. Bailey, there's a deficit.

- I know, $8,000.

- George, I've got a little paper.

- I'll bet it's a warrant for my arrest.

Isn't it wonderful?

I'm going to jail.

- [Jason] A six-time Academy Award winner for best director, Capra earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

- We present to you, Frank Capra, this award.

- He had a moment in cinema and in film history that I don't think has been repeated by another director.

- [Jason] Frank Capra Jr. followed in his father's footsteps becoming a movie producer, notably the 1984 sci-fi horror thriller, "Firestarter," starring a young Drew Barrymore.

The film was shot entirely in North Carolina.

- So they came, and they've made this film.

And actually, my dad met my mom when he came to film "Firestarter," and she and her family were from North Carolina.

He did mostly producing, until he became more of a studio head.

- My name is Frank Capra Jr., President of EUE Screen Gems Studios.

- [Jason] Often seen having fun, playing on her father's movie sets, Christina Capra, who years later, is now the third generation of the Capra family to work in the film industry.

- I think similarly to my dad, I did not initially want to work in film, so since graduating from UNCW, I've worked on a few small documentaries that I directed.

One of them was about Karen Paden Crouch, who is a, well, she was a local trial attorney in Wilmington, very prominent for years, and she decided to quit her law career in pursuit of a career in art.

- [Jason] The 10-minute feature, titled "In the Land of Make Believe," was seen in various film festivals.

It focuses on Karen's journey from attorney to welding artist.

- And I finally accepted that I was just burned out on trial practice.

They didn't come in with any preconceived ideas about what they were gonna do.

It ended up being a lot more personal than I thought it would be.

- [Jason] Christina and boyfriend, Jamie, met about three and a half years ago.

At the time, Jamie had no idea about Christina's family history.

- The best part about it was the night before I met her, I didn't know who she was.

I just knew I'm meeting somebody named Christina tomorrow night.

But the night before I met her, it was around Christmas time, I was watching, "It's a Wonderful Life."

I actually had started to watch that movie, and I watch it every year.

Little did I know, the next day I was about to meet somebody connected to it in a very important way.

- [Jason] Christina and Jamie recently moved from Wilmington to Charlotte, primarily from more creative and film opportunities.

- And we're really enjoying Charlotte so far.

- [Jason] Their home is filled with lots of pictures of Christina's family.

- This is my grandfather and my dad who was young and another photo of my grandfather.

- [Jason] She has her grandfather's autobiography and his old working desk.

- This desk was actually a captain's desk off of a ship.

(laughs) It's very old.

It was my grandfather's desk for a long time and then it became my dad's desk and then mine.

- [Jason] She even has her dad's old producer's chair and a throw blanket featuring Bedford Falls.

(joyous music) - Yay, hello Bedford Falls!

- [Jason] The fictional town in "It's a Wonderful Life."

- I just remember we've kind of always had this, but I think it's really fun.

- [Jason] Up next for Christina, expanding her creative efforts from short form documentaries into full length movies, just like her father and grandfather used to do.

- I've been doing more commercial video work, which is one thing I'm interested in doing.

I'm also very interested in pursuing more of a feature-length directorial role.

My next endeavor is I'm currently working on a screenplay that I will attempt to get funding for and direct myself.

- I think when she gets into her feature-length things that are coming, I think her father and grandfather definitely would be proud.

- I think my dad would be so proud.

(laughs) He would be so happy.

(bells ringing) - Look, Daddy!

Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.

- That's right, that's right.

(holiday music) Attaboy, Clarence.

♪ Auld Lang Syne