Lights! Camera! Me!

Or so I thought.

In March 2017, the “Film24” company came to Drew. Since Drew itself is no stranger to Tinseltown- films like The Family Stone & even The Incredible Hulk were filmed here- they decided to hold a “boot camp” here. Despite my ridiculous lack of organization, I decided to participate. After all, I had promised my insecure, eleven-year-old self I was going to be a big star someday, and by God I was going to keep that promise to her.

Then, St. Patrick’s Day 2017, the first day of boot camp, came and I was ready to go. I went to the Ehinger Center as I was asked, where I was split into different “groups” with other people. We were assigned different mentors as well, to show us “how” a film is made. Of course, I’m already such a film buff, that I already knew the ins-and-outs of film production, but I didn’t care. After all, this was my first time doing such a project, so I needed to understand “how” the whole filmmaking process went.

As it turned out, each group was also assigned a “theme” along with an object- our theme was “taking a stand,” whereas our “object” was a deck of cards- to incorporate into the video. We decided to create a video about discrimination and how we “took a stand” against it- “We are all part of the same deck, so shuffle the deck and play the game of life!” Seriously, I was the only white kid in the group. Technically I wasn’t the token non-minority since I was autistic, but I was by all accounts, the only person of Caucasian ethnicity.

Filming itself wasn’t a cakewalk. Because it brought back negative encounters with bullying, from time to time I would feel very nervous and borderline upset. However, I hid them so well, that nobody around could tell.

Throughout the film, my friends and I discussed our various encounters with discrimination. The film opened with a young man who was bullied because his hair made his African ethnicity more obvious, but he didn’t care what they thought, after all, his hair was his crown, and he was king. Another young man discussed the Islamophobia he felt living in a post-9/11 world, and how he couldn’t attack others even if he wanted to- after all, “Racism cannot fight racism.” And last, but certainly not least, the young woman there discussed the discrimination she felt as a young woman “I am a Queen, not the scream in a movie queen, a real queen!” Now, sometimes I get upset when I see women acting “too strong”- my mother in particular- yet, I felt no compulsion to attack her. After all, she was my friend, and I don’t want to attack my friends.

Finally, the day of the premiere began. I literally didn’t get a ride to the premiere until last minute, which was surprisingly easy to get, but still. Likewise, I was wearing my then-eight-year-old Bat Mitzvah dress, & was feeling kind of under the weather. (Don’t ask how.)

And yet, it was amazing.

Aside from my own film, I also saw a rundown of everyone else’s films. Finally, it was time for the awards ceremony. The runner-up was a Shakespearan film about a “bloody heart,” and the Grand Prize winner was *drumroll please*

The Game of Life! I was honestly pretty shocked. Not because I didn’t think it was pretty good, I just didn’t expect it to win anything. But, in a day and age where people are concerned about discrimination, especially of minorities, it’s easy to see why it would be so popular.

The fun doesn’t stop there. Long after the film got the grand prize, I took to showing it off on social media. Among the film’s fans include Laurie Hernandez (gymnast, NJ native), Debra Messing (actress), Abigail Breslin (Y2K’s most famous non-Disney child actress), Dustin Lance Black (gay filmmaker & author) & even Carly Pope (actress, religious tweeter, Manimal’s daughter.) Yes, really!

Even my own parents appreciated the film, when I showed it to them. Of course, they appreciated the film not because it made me “cool” or get validation from celebrities, rather, they appreciated it for the hard work I put into it. Despite all my obstacles in my junior year, I was nevertheless able to create something that spread a powerful message and moved many people. The certificate to such now sits on my desk, right next to my college diploma.