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Blind Eyes
TYPE: Narrative Short
GENRE: Drama
STATUS: Development
LOGLINE
After witnessing a neighbor drag a woman inside his home, a protective ex-prisoner risks his freedom to prevent the woman becoming a victim.
SYNOPSIS
Jamal is writing near his bedroom window. He sees his neighbor Tommy dragging a woman inside his home. Subsequently, after multiple calls to police from Jamal, police arrive and find several corpses in Tommy's basement.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
I seek to produce feature films that challenge human perceptions by illustrating the deception of human prejudices. This notion is permeated throughout society, religion, finance, education, multimedia, corporations, politics, and race. Blind Eyes is a homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window from my own perspective. From his work I learned many suspense and mystery techniques in which I intend to illustrate in this project. I intend to shoot with 35mm film. I believe shooting on film forces me to prepare and create with greater intention and detail throughout the entire process. My goal is not only to create an impactful and aesthetically pleasing motion picture but also to fully immerse the audience into the story as a character and share the emotional journey with them. In Blind Eyes, Jamal, a Black man and ex-prisoner, alerts police of possible crimes committed by his neighbor, Tommy, a Caucasian man. Jamal is arrested long before the guilty Tommy, and the rise of missing Black women and girls is ignored by news outlets. Sadly, this work of fiction is a reality. In January 2022, the New York Times published, “Lauren Smith-Fields, a twenty-three year-old Black woman died in her Connecticut apartment in December of 2021, after a date with a Caucasian man she met on the dating app, Bumble.” When Smith-Fields’ father asked the detective about the guy, the detective replied, “he was a nice guy, there was no need to investigate.” I intend to tell this story to make the argument that we as a people should judge ourselves on the content of character and not on physical image, religious beliefs, or sexual preference. My objectives for Gotham Week are to introduce myself and my work to the industry, develop a network of lasting relationships, and to submit myself to the service of the industry.
KEY CREW
Jerry Jerome - Producer/Director/Writer
Jerry Jerome is a producer, director, writer, actor and computer engineer. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Prairie View A&M University and a Master of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Houston-Clear Lake. He served briefly as a Project Manager at AT&T in Atlanta, Georgia, after which he decided to fully pursue independent filmmaking. He began his filmmaking journey as a production assistant on any project he could find to learn the process. Once comfortable, he produced, wrote, and directed his own short films. He believed writing was his best route to his feature directorial debut. He spent the past several years developing his writing in order to prepare and pave the way for a long successful career. Jerry is devoted to becoming a master of cinema. He develops suspense/mystery, sci-fi, and crime thrillers illustrating deception in people and institutions in order to bring about positive change.
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