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Reality shows, as unreal as they may be, can help launch an artist’s career. Although she finished seventh on American Idol, Jennifer Hudson parlayed the exposure from the show into an audition for the part of Effie White in the movie Dreamgirls, a role for which she won an Oscar. Oakland-based independent filmmaker Mateen Kemet hopes for a boost from his seventh-place finish in Fox Television’s reality show On the Lot (OTL). Kemet, who is in his early 40s, grew up in the South Bronx, where movies were an integral part of his life. He and his friends saw kung-fu movies in the local theaters (and re-enacted the fight scenes while walking home), and his father took him to Manhattan to see more mainstream films. Those movies were “a way for me and Pop to bond,” Kemet says. Although he loved film, Kemet wanted to make money. Growing up he says he wanted to be “the black Donald Trump.” In college, he majored in economics and became a bond trader on Wall Street. In 1995, a close friend’s death made him reconsider his career choice. “If I die, what would my legacy be?” Kemet asked himself, and decided to become a filmmaker. Created by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett, OTL ran for one season, starting in May 2007. Contestants competed for a $1 million dollar development deal with DreamWorks Studios. On the show, Kemet and the other contestants wrote, directed, and edited several short films. Each episode, some of the films were screened and the public chose one contestant to leave the show. Although he learned about the technical side of filmmaking while an MFA student at Chapman University film school, Kemet used his time on the show as a training ground and as a place to test his artistic approach to filmmaking, which he describes as highly visual and realistic. Kemet, like Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, believes that “a film should be like a pebble in your shoe.” Profile, Kemet’s entry for OTL’s Horror Night, shows his obsession with realism, and like von Trier’s pebble, is not easy forgotten. While other horror entries involved monsters and zombies, Profile eschews the supernatural and paranormal. In Profile a young black man who is stopped by a police officer has flashbacks (or nightmares, the viewer is never sure) of being beaten and tortured by the police. The film is full of intimate sensory details, including a drop of blood falling from a police officer’s nightstick. In making Profile and other entries on the show, Kemet experienced the mixed blessing of working in mainstream film and TV. According to Kemet, the show provided a $100,000 budget, a pool of actors, and placed a large number of professional film technicians at contestants’ disposal. However, Kemet had to wear the golden handcuffs that come with studio funding: union rules. Kemet and the others were only allowed to shoot for eight hours a day. Kemet, who was used to working as many hours as necessary, said the rules “were difficult for me,” given the short time he had to finish each film. In the long run, however, the networking opportunities afforded him because of OTL may be the biggest benefit of all. Life after graduation from film school was not what Kemet expected. “I thought after I got a Director’s Guild Award [while a student at Chapman for his film Silence] it would be easy,” Kemet says. Now, he realizes the value of relationships in the film business. Kemet has developed a relationship with director Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman, The Odd Couple), who was one of the judges on OTL. “I can call him up” to ask for advice, Kemet says. Kemet knows that getting his foot in the door in the business does not mean that people are going to give him anything. “It’s up to me to make it work,” he says.
Locations include Esther’s Orbit Room on 7th Street in West Oakland, a club where black artists such as Al Green and T-Bone Walker performed. Esther’s is consider the last remnant of 7th Street’s golden era, when the area was a hive of activity, with restaurants, clubs and other businesses that catered to the railroad, military and dockyard workers employed nearby. Kemet is awaiting funds to complete the post-production work on the film, which he expects to be finished by October. Oakland Be Mine will be part of a one-year exhibit in Terminal 2 at the Oakland International Airport. Kemet’s other ongoing projects include Fillmore Flower, a film noir set in 1950s San Francisco. As befitting someone who started in the business relatively late in life, Kemet takes the long view when thinking about his film career. Kemet says that OTL gave him the chance to practice, and he expects to improve. “I am hoping that I will be a great director,” he says. “No matter what, you have to feel the future is bright, particularly as an independent or guerrilla filmmaker. The minute you don’t you’re done.” « « Previous Post | Next Post » »CommentsYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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