Project of the Day: Newark High School is Jersey’s “Best Kept Secret”
Here’s your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you’ll have the chance to vote for your favorite.
In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments.
“Best Kept Secret”
Tweetable Logline:
A Newark high school teacher struggles to help her autistic students find a place in the brutal world that awaits them after graduation.
Elevator Pitch:
BEST KEPT SECRET is a window into the world of a Newark, NJ public school teacher, Janet Mino, and her students with autism. It follows her struggle to help secure her students’ futures during their final year of school before they age out of the system, and are pushed into the real world. Miss Mino is a single, beautiful, African-American with 4 grown children of her own. She’s been teaching 6 severely autistic young men for 6 years. They are poor, minority, and most have single moms or foster parents. What will happen when they must leave their safety net?
Production Team:
Director – Samantha Buck (“21 Below”)
Producer – Danielle DiGiacomo (“Billy the Kid,” “Nancy, Please,” “21 Below”).
Executive Producer – Scott Mosier (Producer: “Clerks,” Chasing Amy,” “Dogma,” “Zack and Miri Make a Porno;” co-Executive Producer: “Good Will Hunting”)
Cinematographer – Nara Garber (“Flat Daddy”)
Associate Producer – Zeke Farrow (“21 Below,” “Gayby”)
Editor – Jenny Golden (“Manda Bala,” “The Bully Project”)
About the Production:
“We are making this film because we believe everyone deserves a chance to have a good quality of life. Much research has been done on what causes autism, rather than looking at celebrating the lives of those on the spectrum, and making sure they have the chance at a full life.
“We’ve seen many films about children with autism. They were important and sad, but spoke of a limited population- predominately Caucasian and financially stable. It seemed extremely difficult to have an autistic child if one was affluent, but what about the children with autism in less fortunate circumstances?” — Danielle DiGiacomo
Current Status:
Post-production.
For more information and to support this film:
Kickstarter Project
Film Website
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