Yesterday before the Oscars, we went to Queens where a large West Indian community exists. We put up some flyers and spoke with a few people about supporting the film.
If even one person gets interested, it will be worth it.
Pounding the pavement, this is grass roots filmmaking.
A while back, my friend Luke Matheny asked me to record the sound on his film called God of Love. Luke is a fantastic guy and the script was hilarious.
A lot of my friends are filmmakers and we work on each others films for reciprocity. Not money. We don't have any. However, you quickly realize that people's time is far more important than cold hard cash.
It was fun making the film, with no long days and no drama off camera. The great Bobby Webster was the DP and we shot on the RED Camera, which was a learning experience for me.
Luke and another friend, Levi Abrino spent a long time editing it. The film went on to win the Wassserman award at NYU's film festival. It made the rounds at festivals (winning a lot of prizes along the way) and eventually it won a Student Academy Award. Great news. That award qualified it for the "REAL" Oscars. Then it got shortlisted.
Then it got nominated! What the....?
No one makes a short film to win an Oscar. No one.
The meteoric rise of this film has given me so much encouragement and hope for my own work. It means that if you make a good film people will respond and recognize it.
So tune in tonight and see if God of Love wins for Best Live Action short.
This one's for all of the little guys
UNDERCITY from Andrew Wonder on Vimeo.
