The low budget, 35-minute short film that brought “Brooklyn to Brooklyn” has turned into a more than two-hour feature film and could bring acclaim to the area, officials said Monday.
Director Michael Infante and his girlfriend and fellow film student, Jessica Thoubboron, brought their film, “Only Fear of Death” to Covington County in early March, where they filmed portions.
Though Infante and his crew didn’t want to pinpoint the various locations throughout the county, he did mention areas of Red Level, Florala and Brooklyn.
The film tells the story of how the encroaching Civil War forces and supernatural agencies disrupt the lives of a slaveholder and his family. The film follows the hesitant master, his dissatisfied wife, his prophetic brother and his conflicted young slave as fear, disloyalty and alienation tear them apart.
Infante was among the filmmakers to have work screened in the “23 on 23,” the 23rd annual Dusty Film & Animation Festival, which is under way at the School of Visual Arts Theatre in New York City through tomorrow.
The festival showcases more than 100 films from graduating students at SVA.
“There are no war scenes in the movie,” Infante said. “Instead, it’s a drama about the interaction between members of a slave-holding family. It’s a modern look at the social dynamics among everyone, about humanity and how people are forced into a situation they don’t want to be in.”
Infante this week told a New Jersey media outlet that he learned more about Southerners’ perspective of the conflict and ultimately, “how our respective educations have provided us with completely different narratives.”
After graduating from SVA, Infante plans to show “Only Fear of Death” to as many different audiences as possible — and this summer will begin to submit the film “to a myriad of important international, national and regional film festivals, including Berlin, Rotterdam, Sundance and South by Southwest.”