THE FILM

My Florida Home is a psychological drama that explores the idea of familial guilt, responsibility, and how individuals come to terms with the consequences of their actions.

This project is a proof of concept for a feature film that will go into production in Lakeland, Florida, within the next two years. #FILMINFLORIDA #LKLDFILM

THE STATEMENT

The guilt of not being there for loved ones is at the heart of My Florida Home, a ScreenCraft Production Fund Semi-Finalist. Guilt along with anger, grief, responsibility, and redemption are emotions found throughout this uncommon narrative that focuses on elder care. The principle theme of guilt is a powerful and universal emotion that we all can relate to. I hope audiences will investigate their own idea of what it means to feel guilty and evaluate the ways in which they cope and redeem themselves. When they are presented with a similar situation as our protagonist, what will they do?

Our team has received a small grant from Florida Southern College as a part of a student faculty collaboration grant. This means about half our crew will be made up of student filmmakers who will learn first-hand from industry professionals! But, in order to bring all the pieces of this film together, we are asking for your help by launching a Seed and Spark campaign! Thanks for reading and I hope you consider contributing to our project. 

WHO WE ARE

Matt Herbertz (Writer/Director) 

Matthew is an award winning director, producer, and cinematographer orginally from Indianapolis, Indiana.The goal of his work is to challenge social, political, and ideological norms. He tends to focus on personal stories where simple situations are revealed to have greater meaning.His work has screened at film festivals worldwide such as Dances with Films, The New Orleans Film Festival, The Athens International Film and Video Festival, Emerge Film Festival and more. Matthew currently lives in Lakeland, Florida where he works as an active independent filmmaker and a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Florida Southern College.

Judy Phu (Director of Photography) 

An award winning cinematographer based in Los Angeles. She is the oldest child of Vietnamese war refugees. Their journeys provide her with unlimited curiosity and imagination. Their experiences inspire her to fight for once in a lifetime types of stories and storytellers. Judy navigates comfortably between narrative, documentary, commercial and music video collaborations. Her heart is set on nuanced,  bold ideas. Her work has screened at Sundance, Tribeca, LA MOCA, NY MOMA, on  AMC, HBO, PBS, the History Channel, and more.

Will Allen (Producer) 

As a Communication Artist, Mr. Allen strives to engage theaudience through multiple emotional channels creating a dynamic transaction. This transaction happens as he co-creates an environment in an artistic way through disciplined craftsmanship. Mr. Allen has a BA in Communication with an Emphasis in Broadcasting and then earned his MA in Media Communication. He also earned a MFA in Web Design + New Media from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.Most recently, Mr. Allen completed a feature-length documentary on the story of the pencil, “No. 2: Story of the Pencil”, which is now availble on Amazon Prime.

OUR CAST

LEAD: Denise Gossett (Andrea) 

Denise has been an actress in Television & Feature Films for over 20 years! She can most recently be seen in the Tom Hiddleston movie "I Saw the Light", the Mel Gibson starring Feature Film "Get The Gringo" and the Morris Chestnut movie "When the Bough Breaks". In addition to her acting career, Denise founded Shriekfest film festival in 2001!

SUPPORTING: Sarah Villegas (Elaine)

Sarah Villegas was born in Medellin, Colombia and grew up in Orlando, Florida. She began acting at age 10 locally in Orlando. She performed in the Orlando Fringe Festival multiple times with local theatre companies, and in regional premiers for shows such as Bare: A Pop Opera, Spring Awakening, and Anne Frank Superstar. 

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In NYC, Sarah received a BA in Theatre Performance with a Musical Theatre Minor at Marymount Manhattan College. While in school, she toured with the kid's show "Apple Corps." a musical sponsored by the DOT. She also performed at the JAZZ at Lincoln Center for STUNTS 911 which started her training in stunts. Upon graduation, she performed in her Off-Broadway Debut, Puppet Titus Andronicus (as Tamora) at The Beckett in Theatre Row, 42nd St.

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In 2017, she was awarded Best Supporting Actress in the Playhouse West Film Festival for her work in Grimm Brothers. This year her first feature, Nemesis premiers in festivals all over the world. In it she plays a US Marshall turned Bounty-Hunter after a deranged serial killer. 

HOW TO HELP

DONATE

This seems obvious. Your money will go to:

1. Paying for top of the line equipment for the production
2. Paying professional a sound designer/mixer
3. Paying for professional color correction
4. Paying for a musical composer 
5. Film Festival submission fees which can cost thousands of dollars

SHARE

You like the project, but not enough to help us financially? ; ) Give us a share on social media or send it to your rich aunt who might want to invest in a movie.

FOLLOW

Follow our project on Seed & Spark! Show your support no strings attached.