Filmmaking | Interviews

International Focus

1 Jun , 2008  

Written by Mike Sullivan | Posted by:

Patrick Jerome, director and founder of the Boston International Film Festival, talks about his inspiration for making films and for creating the festival.

I asked Patrick Jerome, the director and founder of the Boston International
Film Festival (BIFF) and the writer/producer/director/editor of many music
videos and independent movies, what was the inspiration that set him down the
long and winding road to filmmaking. Jerome sat back in his chair and exhaled,
recalling his youth in Haiti. He couldn’t remember the name of the movie, he
said, but he was 12-years old and it starred Clint Eastwood.
Immediately I
started thinking. Was it The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, the last and
best collaboration between Eastwood and visionary director Sergio Leone? Was it
Don Siegel’s Dirty Harry, the picture that introduced that iconic
character to the world? Or perhaps Eastwood’s own directorial debut, Play
Misty For Me,
where he took the lessons learned from both Leone and Siegel
and started his own path to Oscar glory?
Before I could begin to ask, Jerome
continued, “It was the one with that little chimpanzee.” What? Stop the presses!
Right turn, Clyde. That’s right, he was talking about Every Which Way But
Loose
. (I know, I know it was an orangutan, not a chimp, but let’s not
quibble about details. My father always says, “Never let the facts get in the
way of a good story.”)
Now, I know what you’re thinking. I thought the same, and Jerome could see it
in my face so he went on to clarify. Prior to viewing the monkey movie he had
seen a karate movie called Vengeance. The extreme violence he witnessed
onscreen traumatized the youngster, leading to many sleepless nights. “I
couldn’t believe such things existed in the world I was living in.,” he said.
Jerome never wanted to see another movie again, but a friend informed him that
not all movies are like Vengeance and told him to see the Eastwood
picture. Those two movies, about as opposite as you can get, showed the young
man from Haiti the power of filmmaking. He saw that it was possible to use film
to tell any story an artist wanted, or needed, to tell. The
twelve-year-old Patrick Jerome knew, “this is what I want to do in life. I want
to make movies.”
Jerome told me, “We didn’t really have a film community [in Haiti] at that
time. If you made one movie a year you were the only one who made a movie that
year.” After years of self-education in film and filmmaking, writing stories and
making short films, Jerome released his first feature at age19 in Haiti. Titled
Rezo San Pitye (Ruthless Gang) the story dealt with gang violence in
Haiti and became a national sensation. Writing very personal stories and using
thematic elements from his life and surroundings would become a staple of all
his movies, but the subject matter of Jerome’s first success seemed to hit too
close to home for some. A mere seven days after the premiere in September 1991
there was a military coup in Haiti and the teenage filmmaker found himself
declared an enemy to the new government — a charge based solely on his art.
Jerome spent the next year and a half in hiding where he studied English because
“there isn’t much to do.”
Eventually Jerome came to the United States for political asylum and settled
in Boston. Jerome’s desire to create impactful and personal films had only grown
over time and in 2001 he wrote and directed his first film in America. Titled
Deportation
, the story was about a man who finds himself set to be deported
from the US after a run-in with the law and the struggle his girlfriend takes on
to allow him to stay in the country. Jerome was inspired to make the film while
working as a social worker for the American Red Cross and witnessing people
living through similar situations.
Jerome traveled the festival circuit across the country with Deportation
and met other filmmakers from all over the world. He also observed that many
major cities, including New York, Las Vegas, Palm Springs and many others had
international film festivals yet Boston did not. In fact, the only screening
Jerome could get in the city he called home was at the Roxbury Film Festival.
Jerome could sense a frustration in Boston, a city of such diversity, yet many
people could not find movies from their worlds about their people. Seeing a void
to be filled, Jerome decided to establish the Boston International Film
Festival. The year was 2003.
Jerome and his partners went to both the Mayor’s office and the Governor’s
office to find out the protocol to begin such a festival. “We were shocked at
how easy they made it for us to get started.” The Mayor’s office even helped get
the word out about BIFF and soon enough Hollywood was knocking on their door.
“That was something to feel really good about.” Jerome said proudly. Over the
years Patrick Swayze, Jack Black, and Tony Shaloub have all had projects in the
BIFF either as actors or producers.
There is only one rule for submissions to the BIFF. Every project must
involve the international community. Meaning either the film is made in a
foreign locale by people from that country or, if it was made in the US, it’s
content involves stories and themes from foreign lands. The BIFF accepts
full-length features, shorts, animation, and documentaries and gives multiple
awards in all the different categories. The BIFF also has a sub-category called
“Boston Made Films” as well as a contest called “Screenplay to Production”
wherein a screenplay is chosen to be produced and the writer sees his or her
story turned into a movie at the Festival the next year.
This year’s BIFF runs from June 6th through the 14th
and has submissions from 57 countries. The latest project from Patrick Jerome,
Walls Have Ears, will have its grand premiere on opening night. Jerome is
extremely proud to be able to offer a venue for so many talented filmmakers to
present their work.  As Jerome says, “Through the Boston
International Film Festival I get to see the best the world has to offer.”
For more information on the Boston International Film Festival, visit
www.bifilmfestival.com.