Before the three-time Academy Award-winning film “Moonlight” stunned the world at the 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 neighbourhood 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. Academy of Visual Arts is delighted to welcome back Andrew Hevia a former Fullbright Researcher with the Academy and jointly organise the talk with Academy of Film. In this talk, the audience will 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.
Andrew Hevia is a Cuban American film producer from Miami, Florida. He co-produced the groundbreaking, three-time Academy Award winning film “Moonlight”. 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.
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 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 Researcher to Academy of Visual Art, Hong Kong Baptist University.