The award-winning film entitled, “CRU” has been screened last Saturday, February 28 and three more on Sunday at Prior-Jollek Hall at Antilles School.
The film CRU, directed by Alton Glass and co-written by Oliver W. Ottley III, is a story about four high-school friends who reunited after 20 years where they experienced a serious car crash that laid challenges to their friendship.
Co-writer of the film, Ottley was born and raised in Georgia but has Virgin Islands heritage has been screening the film at different parts of USVI since January. CRU won several awards at American Black Film Festival 2014 for its moving lessons, artistry and new breath of creativeness. The film has been nominated for 23 awards and won 11 of them, including best film, best director, best screenplay and best actor.
A lot of audience at last Saturday’s screening complimented the film’s intimate script and story about the depiction of friendship between African American men that they said is infrequently portrayed and budgeted in bigger Hollywood films.
A fan asked Ottley on Saturday’s press release about the film where he said, “a lot of African-American males are dying at an unprecedented rate all over the country, pockets like Chicago, here, New Orleans. So we definitely wanted to relay that message [of love] to do something different.”
On the same day, Ottley also shared his experiences at California when he was just starting to pursue his career in screenwriting. He said, he was formerly aiming to be a hip-hop artist at California when his passion for writing is initiated by his friend in Los Angeles who introduced him in the world of filmmaking. Due to his interest in screenwriting, he even partook at several writing boot camps before making the CRU film.
He said that he even became a homeless for 2 months while transitioning from music industry to film making world.
“I wasn’t going to go home beaten. I just believed in what I believed in. I was on Skid Row. I did the car thing, I did sheds, I did parks. But I was always centered on what it is I had to do. ‘Do I follow my vision or do I go back home and lick my wounds?’ I just chose to walk out on blind faith and just get to it,” he said.
Ottley also added that he already considered making a new film in the territory, and he actually began talking to people that would help him make it possible. The audience responded excitedly about his upcoming plans.
Award-Winning CRU Film, Received Positive Feedbacks From The Audience
No comments:
Post a Comment