Wah Do Dem

2009 | 76 minutes | NR | IMDb

Directed by Ben Chace & Sam Fleischner

Cinematography by Sam Fleischner

Starring Sean Bones, Kevin Bewersdorf, Carl Bradshaw, Mark Gibbs & Norah Jones

Premiered at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival

New York Times review | Filmmaker Magazine interview | Slant review | kinocaviar review

Synopsis

Max (Sean Bones) lives in Brooklyn. He enjoys playing soccer, skateboarding, and drinking with his friends at local bars. Last summer he and his girlfriend, Willow (Norah Jones), won a free cruise to Jamaica but two days before the trip, she dumps him cold. When his friends flake, Max winds up alone on the high seas navigating through crowds of grey-haired cruisers. Over the course of several days he flirts with the staff photographer, drinks cocktails with the boat's celebrity juggler and has several strange encounters with the only other loner (Kevin Bewersdorf). When the cruise liner docks in Jamaica, Max quickly escapes the tourist zone. At a local jerk stand he meets a charming Rasta who offers to show him a secret beach. Feeling irie as he lounges on the tropical sand with his new friends, Max loses track of time and his personal belongings. In his pathetic attempt to do something about it, he finds that the cultural divides he thought he could transcend are not so simple. Naked and broke in a foreign country where he stands out like a sore thumb, Max begins to make his way towards the American Embassy in Kingston. Along the road Jamaica is waiting to meet him. (Factory 25)

Notes

Filmed in Brooklyn, NY and Jamaica

Shot on the Panasonic HVX HD

"With a pro-sumer Panasonic camera (and with the help of a friend of a friend knowing Nora Jones), these kids wound up with a fish out of water comedy that is doing quite well on the festival circuit and is pegged for an eventual DVD release."
-- the Film Historian

Budget: $75,000

Featuring

DVD Factory 25 DVD