The 17th annual Run & Shoot Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival (MVAAFF) is an Oscar-qualifying festival for short films. In the presence of pre-eminent visionaries in the industry, it is a coveted event to premiere a piece in the black film community. However, the festival does not provide assistance in securing accommodation for guests, and expects attendees to find their own.
Uche Aguh, the director of the film “The House Invictus,” is seeking housing for himself and his cast for the dates of August 5 to 9. On Tuesday, August 6, they will be premiering their 98-minute film to the public at the Oak Bluffs festival.
Not unlike many other visitors, Aguh told The Times over the phone that he has struggled to find a place for his cast to stay on Island.
A medical school graduate from Nigeria, Aguh said that this is his debut as a filmmaker, and he is “so grateful” for the opportunity to premiere at MVAAFF. “When we got the invitation to the festival, it was so unexpected and really cool,” said Aguh. “We are all so excited to come.”
The film was created on a modest budget — “we don’t have Disney money,” he said — with a cast of seven people. “When our actors weren’t on camera, they were holding the lights or the boom. It was a truly independent film, a real team effort,” said Aguh.
The filmmaker said that a house to fit them all together near Oak Bluffs would be preferable, but “we do not care how big it is, how comfortable it is, how lush or decorated with finery it is.” With cast members coming from Dallas, London, New York, and Atlanta, “we just want everyone to have a space where they may lay their heads,” Aguh said via email.
“We have made a piece of work that is deserving of recognition. We simply need your help in order to get us there.”
Email ucheaguh@gmail.com if you have space available for these days.
It would be nice if the MV Times provided a forum for any number of the desperate working families for their own housing needs on the island.
While this is certainly a worthy group of filmmakers who ought get every bit of help possible for this issue, I wish this local paper would make similar appeals for housing on behalf of the desperate already living here.
You mean like this…
https://www.mvtimes.com/2019/07/01/island-housing-crisis-impacting-children/
Or like this…
https://www.mvtimes.com/2017/12/21/island-family-end-rope/
Those are just two of the many housing related articles we’ve done and will continue to do. We have also advocated for more housing, zoning changes, etc. on our editorial pages.
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