Thak:
From Medicine to Moonlight - how a short film and a scrappy, DIY film festival paved the way for an Academy Award sensation.

Andrew Hevia
Co-producer of Academy Award Winning Film, MOONLIGHT [2016]

Date: 28 March 2017 (Tue)
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: LE1 Library Extension, HKU

Moderator Prof. Gina Marchetti (Department of Comparative Literature, HKU)

About the Talk
Before the three time Academy Award winning film Moonlight stunned the world at the this years Oscars, Director Barry Jenkins had only one other feature to his name: a 13,000 dollar film called Medicine for Melancholy. How did he get from a little seen (but beloved) movie made in San Francisco to a film widely hailed as a "groundbreaking masterpiece" filmed in Liberty City, the neighborhood where Jenkins grew up? The answer involves a scrappy, DIY Miami set film festival called Borscht and a strange, meditative short film called 'Chlorophyl' produced by Andrew Hevia. See the film and learn the unreported behind the scenes stories behind its production and how that led to one of the most talked about feature films in decades.

Chlorophyl: A meditative short film about a day in the life of a young woman set in contemporary Miami. Directed by future Academy award winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins, the short is lyrical examination of listless heartbreak. With striking cinematography by David Bornfriend, the film features non actors and music by Million Young.

About the Speaker
Andrew Hevia is a Cuban American film producer from Miami, Florida. He produced the groundbreaking, three time Academy Award winning film MOONLIGHT, whose stunning Oscar night upset was seen and cheered around the world. The film was named Best Drama at the Golden Globes and won over 100 different awards from critics, festivals and special interest groups across the globe. With a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, MOONLIGHT was named to over 130 top ten lists and has been hailed as a 'masterpiece' by too many critics to name.

Andrew is a co-founder of Borscht Corp, the non-profit film collective behind the Borscht Film Festival, which was named one of "the 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World" by Moviemaker and called "the weirdest film festival on the planet" by Indiewire. He has produced numerous short films including CHLOROPHYL for Academy Award winning director Barry Jenkins. He produced WHEN WE LIVED IN MIAMI, a short film written and directed by Amy Seimetz and was a producer on her debut feature SUN DON'T SHINE in 2012. He has produced experimental theater with the MacArthur Genius and Academy Award winning playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney and moonlights as a documentary filmmaker when time allows.

He is a graduate of New World School of the Arts and the Film School at Florida State University. He holds a Master's Degree in Media Entrepreneurship from the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University and was a Fulbright Fellow to Hong Kong, where he gave up 31 years of vegetarianism upon discovering seafood dim sum.
http://news.fordham.edu/fordham-magazine/through-local-storytelling-oscar-nominated-moonlight-illuminates-miami-films-co-producer-says/

Co-organized by:
Department of Comparative Literature, HKU
The Center for the Study of Globalization and Cultures (CSGC), HKU
Master of Arts in Literary and Cultural Studies (MALCS), HKU
American Studies, School of Modern Languages and Cultures (SMLC), HKU
U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong and Macau