Friday, April 15, 2011

Jesús with a Mohawk: NaFF short film premieres Sunday and Tuesday, is a showcase of Hispanic actors, director, and main character



One of the many films at the Nashville Film Festival (going on now through next Thursday) is "Jesús with a Mohawk," the story of a teen who challenges his Catholic High School with his new haircut.

This is the first student short film for Kevin Scott Page of Watkins College of Art, Design, & Film. The short premieres during the Tennessee Film Night for Narrative Shorts: Sunday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday, April 19 at 7:45 p.m.

Hispanic Nashvillians Diana Holland (the nun) and Jasmine Vaca (the "love interest") star in the film. Also, director Kevin Scott Page has some Hispanic roots himself - his grandfather is from Puerto Rico.

Page will be in attendance for both screenings, with official Q&A time to follow.

HispanicNashville.com asked Page why he featured a Hispanic main character in this film:
Why not. A lot of the short films I see made locally feature the same type of cast and look. I really wanted to serve the community a different look and story. Also, my story was inspired by a real event that happened to me so when it came time to create the characters I just copied the same looks and ethnicities that surrounded me.
Page tells about the professional touch he was able to incorporate into "Jesús with a Mohawk":
When it came to the crew, it had to be a mix of professionals and students. The experienced crew added a great dynamic to the student film set by sharing tricks of the trade and advice to the students. After the film shoot, some of the students had landed jobs in the industry through their new contacts. Some of the professionals' resume included Scrubs, Country Strong, 21 Grams, Crash, and The Last Castle. The Executive Producer for my short was David Deeb (VP at Encore Media).

We had 50 people on set, two cameras (Super 8 film & High Definition video) that recorded at the same time, and 12 hours for 64 shots. The day before production, our main location dropped out so St. Ann's Catholic School came to our rescue. This was my first short film made at Watkins Film School.
Page also talked about his path to the screens of the Nashville Film Festival:
I grew up in a small town of 800 people in Sardis, Tennessee with a father in the construction industry and a mother serving as a teacher assistant. My parents taught me to have a strong work ethic, and by the end of my freshmen year in Nashville, I was able to work on 20th Century Fox’s “Percy Jackson & the Olympians” as a production assistant (it's rare for a student to work on feature films). By volunteering at every film and artistic related event in Nashville, I was able to build up a network of new friends. The more I helped out others, the more opportunities came my way. At the age of 21, I have been truly blessed enough to find myself among people like Gwyneth Paltrow, Tobey Maguire, Al Gore, and Bill Clinton, to name a few.

For the past three years, I have traveled to different middle schools, high schools, and professional conferences to share my stories about goal setting and community service.
LINKS:

Full Film (3 minutes): vimeo.com/18858634

Photos from Set: flickr.com/photos/ksppictures/sets/72157624449965491/with/4824962737/
Behind the Scenes On Set: vimeo.com/14169319
Personal Website: www.ksppictures.com
School Website: www.watkins.edu

SHOW TIMES for JESUS WITH A MOHAWK:
Nashville Film Festival
April 17th @ 7:30 PM
April 19th @ 7:45 PM




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