BE NEAR ME

Category: Documentary and Experimental Shorts
Year: 2011
Run Time: 4 min (total)
Credits: Director/Writer/Editor: John X. Carey

ARKANSAS PREMIERE!

Synopsis: Filmmaker John X. Carey from Mountain View, Missouri, has a special relationship to the Ozark Foothills FilmFest. His first FilmFest screening took place at the third annual Ozark Foothills FilmFest in 2004, when Carey was 16 years of age. It wasn't great, but we saw something there that made us sit up and take notice. Evidently, we were right. Carey is a recent graduate of the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, works as a freelance director, and was hired upon graduation as a staff director for The Famous Group (an integrated digital production studio in L.A.). His powerful documentary about the AIDS epidemic in Africa, VOICES FROM THE FIELD, screened at the 2011 Ozark Foothills FilmFest and earned Carey a Young Director's Award from the Cannes Film Festival. His unique vision is again evident in these three ultra-short shorts.

BE NEAR ME
A love story based on a Tennyson poem. A film about talking to those you've lost and finding solace in their memory. Shot over the course of four days in Los Angeles.

SHELTER FROM THE STORM
Ms. Reifler is a one of a kind elementary school teacher who educates her students on the importance of living a life that matters. Her classroom gives her low-income, East Los Angeles students a brief refuge.

HARLEM ELVIS
Elvis lives in a low-income area of the inener-city (Harlem, New York) but he has the passion to become somebody.

"BE NEAR ME is an astonishingly moving short love story based on a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson that takes a slightly different approach to the importance of hope. In it, a young woman's hope allows her to accept a devastating loss and find solace in the memory of her loved one. Both the music and the camera work contribute significantly to the overall power and beauty of the film." --zacuto.com

Awards: Onvidi First Place Prize for Drama (for BE NEAR ME)