This week has been a blur. I mean, I was just having coffee with my son at a Starbucks and the next I am having a conference call with Tzeitel Abrego, Assistant and Associate Producer to Jordan Yale Levine, Producer of the upcoming film 'michigan' (yes, all lower case in case you were wondering).
Before I get into what the film is all about, it is important to correlate exactly how Starlight Music Chronicles SMC) fits into this project. I will tell you a story......
"On December 9th,
1995, our family was impacted in a
way that was never expected. You see, that's the day my cousin ended his life
by his own hand at the tender age of 18. Still just a child and with his whole
life ahead of him....it was surreal. I remembered walking up to the front step
at my aunts house and she telling me, 'My son is dead. He hung himself. He's
dead'. At the time, I had my own son who was only a year old and with life just
beginning for our family, it was incomprehensible going home and imagining him
gone only 17 years later. I held him tight that night and rocked him to sleep, grateful
for the moment and wishing I could bring my cousin back to heal the pain my
aunt was going through.
Even as a teen, I recall attending my first funeral at the
age of 16 for a local boy who had ended his life at the age of 17. Before then,
I had never seen a body before. I mean, it's not the natural order of things
in life when it comes to accepting death, especially on those terms.
Afterwards, I recall being relentless in my own crusade to help others:
skipping a whole afternoon of school with a close friend to help him through a
crisis in his life and talking him out of suicide. He is still around to this
day and living a happy life with his wife and daughters in Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada. Years later, he called and thanked me for that time.
I don't call myself a hero. Some I have helped and some I
couldn't. Being a survivor of suicide (I have had 4 friends and one family
member pass away in my lifetime) it makes you truly appreciate the little
things in life and cherish the moments. I have remained determined and focused
knowing I can't control always what other people choose to do, but remain
hopeful that my actions speak volumes when I spend that 'extra' time talking to
a friend or family member who really needs me.
I don't know why I have witnessed such tragedy in my
lifetime, I suppose a higher power has guided my path to be one of a helper and
healer and, well, I have just followed suit to what comes naturally for me to
do. All I know is this: This topic is very real. No one is exempt and the more
we address why this is happening by talking more openly, the more we bring
awareness to the source: Depression, Mental Health Disorders, Bullying....the
list goes on. We won't change the world entirely, but we can make an impact,
and we can only do this if we try."
______________
Fast forward to present day.
The last month has been a whirlwind with preparations, emails, planning, and scheduling for the first ever launch of Starlight Music Chronicles as an online magazine. My team and I have been busy behind the scenes working to bring the very best to our audience and for the Music Artists we work with. It has been an amazing adventure so far. In addition, we have teamed up with some amazing organizations such as: Project Cuddle, Be The Game, and most recently, Morgan's Mission, a cause that directly connects me to a the Dunbar family who lost their child Morgan to suicide at the tender age of 13. In support of the family, specifically to Bailey Dunbar (Morgan's twin sister), SMC has opened a 'Teen Beat' page which launched July 21st, 2015 with Bailey as our Teen Writer Contributor. (see here for her blog)
So this brings us back full circle, and why this is important to me which brings us to 'michigan' and what, exactly, our affiliation will provide for this independent film:
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| Jordan Yale Levine |
'michigan' is a film which will begin production in March 2016 in New York, USA and is being produced by Jordan Yale Levine (click here for complete info on Levine), the mastermind behind Yale Productions.The company boasts completion of films such as 'My First Christmas', Dynamite', 'Love on the Run', 'Petunia', and 'Wreckage' to name a few working with big names such as: Thora Birch, Brittany Snow, Michael Urie, David Arquette, Bijou Phillips, Vivica A. Fox, Aaron Paul, Scoot McNairy, Cameron Richardson, Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Michael Urie, Jesse Eisenberg, Ben Stiller, John Waters, Jennifer Coolidge, Lance Henrickson, Andrew Keegan, Corbin Bernsen, Tom Conti, Evanna Lynch, Carol Kane, and many more. Levine has also managed stars such as Obie Trice and former WWE wrestling star Earnest Miller (aka: The Cat).
The film will be directed by Janos Szasz of the film 'The Notebook' 2013 (see link) which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, was picked up by Film Classics and was on Oscars' top nine foreign films to be considered for an Academy Award.
The Storyline for the film (as submitted by the 'michigan' team) is as follows:
Our story highlights the isolated, desperate and sometimes
comically dark life of young people trapped in a small town in the Midwest. The
story begins in the snow-buried parking lot of a high school in the state of
Michigan, where three teenage boys are making a suicide pact. Two of the boys
carry it out, but the third backs out at the last moment. Thirteen years later,
we meet this same boy again – Jude. He has become the successful screenwriter
of a hit film about teenage suicide. Now a grown man, Jude returns to his
hometown and must choose how to keep the promise he made thirteen years ago,
while his girlfriend Jesse must decide what really matters and what role
honesty plays in her life and her relationship with Jude.
Starlight Music Chronicles will act as a media platform helping to promote this film in conjunction with Morgan's Mission as well as networking the 'michigan' team with media supports, music industry support, and a myriad of other organizations and platforms to help make the project reach Global distribution. A kickstarter campaign will begin in a few months which will help with funding to promote the films mission: to bring awareness to teen suicide.
*Keep watching for more updates on our Facebook Page as well as the 'michigan' page (click here) for further announcements as this project moves forward.
We look forward to this venture and are happy to support Tzeitel Abrego, Mickey Solis, Jordan Yale Levine, and Janos Szasz as they move closer to production!
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| Tzeitel Abrego |
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| Mickey Solis |
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| Janos Szasz |
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Website: http://www.michiganfilm2016.com/ (coming soon)
www.yaleproductions.com/michigan-1.html (active)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michiganfilm2015
Twitter: @michigan_film
Instagram: @michiganfilm
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/michiganfilm
Google+: http://bit.ly/1IPGIAt
Tumblr: http://michiganfilm.tumblr.com/
https://vimeo.com/69808203 - Janos Szasz on michigan (6:20 start time)
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