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Robert Moore
My thesis film at Brooklyn College, El Sueno Americano is the story of Cuaethemoc, a young illegal immigrant from Mexico who discovers his "American Dream" soon turns into a nightmare. His hope to make a good living and provide for his family back home is destroyed after a fateful accident involving his racist employer, which threatens his future forever. The film reflects my interest in neo-realist filmmaking by utilizing stories that reflect current events in society especially the hot topic of immigration. Being an immigrant myself, I felt compelled to tell the story of fellow immigrants with less fortune than myself and how difficult it is for certain people to achieve better lives for themselves and their loved ones who are forced to leave their homes and risk their lives to reach America illegally. The film was shot on 16mm with a small crew of friends and fellow film majors in and around NYC including Brooklyn and Yonkers. After winning the student grant award from the NBR the film went on to make several festivals around the world including Los Angeles and London and even stoked up interest from independant producers in LA who are interested into expanding Sueno into a feature film. I am currently working on the screenplay.
My follow up film, Detachment, was a post-graduate thesis film I made with financial help from Brooklyn College. The film was shot on 16mm and filmed entirely on location in Garrison, New Jersey. The story concerns a young Marine who returns home from the battlefield in Iraq on liberty leave. Santiago returns to his hometown and to his mother and estranged son, Noe. Unable to deal with the pressures of domestic life Santiago fall in love with a young woman from the neighborhood which further estranges him from his son. Soon, Santiago must decide between family and his loyalty to his fellow soldiers in war. The film was inspired by reading the war diaries of my friend, Omar Portilla who was the lead actor in my previous film, Sueno. Before becoming an actor, Omar served two tours of duty in Iraq and his real life experiences became the basis for this film. To keep it as real as possible, we shot the film entirely in Omar's hometown in New Jersey which helped keep the film's structure in a more documentary style. The film proved to be another success by winning the prestigious 'Diversity in Film' award at the 2008 Cinema City International Film Festival in Los Angeles and I was presented the award by legendary TV actress and civil rights campaigner, Nichelle Nichols. Winning that particular award was very special as it showcased my desire to make films about ethnic minorities and promoting Latino themes and stories into my films as with Sueno and to keep my films rooted firmly as socio-realist stories. The film went on to make several other festivals in the U.S. including the Big Apple Festival in NYC and the prestigious G.I. film festival in Washington, DC which is the only film festival in the country dedicated to showcasing films about the brave men and women in the armed forces. Detachment was also selected to be part of the Short film corner at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
My current short, entitled Freedom, has just been completed. The short film departs from my previous films in style by being more experimental and atmospheric in tone and features almost no dialogue. I felt like I needed to try a different style of film and to challenge myself as a storyteller, both which will help me in my future career to show people I can manage different genres and stories. The story depicts a nameless young boy from a small rural town who yearns to be free of his bleak existence and experience life outside of the town's boundaries. The film was recently selected by the Cinema City International film festival in LA and was inspired by own personal experience yearning to escape my oppressive boarding school growing up in rural England. The film was shot on HD and shot entirely in Elk township, New Jersey, with my same team of fellow Brooklyn College alums that I hope will stay with me in my future film career. I believe strongly in keeping with the same people who helped start your career and people who you can depend on and trust, as the film business can be very demanding and overwhelming at times.
Currently, I submitted a feature screenplay about Colombian immigrants to the 2010 Sundance Screenplay lab and plan on making my first feature production in the next year or so.
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