Arts & Entertainment

Local Student Film in Running for Film Festival Award

Film nominated for Best Picture and Best Actor in NUHO Online Film Festival.

A group of former Coventry High School students are in the running for awards in an online film festival as their film, Northwood, is garnering praise for its video blogger format without the cliche ghosts and paranormal events.

Brandon LaFleur, a member of B2D2Productios — the student film production group behind the film — said the movie was produced for $100 in four months between August and September.

It's a story about a video blogger and his best friend after they move in with friends at a house at 23 Northwood Drive, a fictional street in a fictional town in Northwood, Rhode Island.

Shot from the perspective of the the video blogger, the film documents things going downhill fast. 

"Our goal was to create a found footage film that didn't rely on ghosts, the paranormal, and anything unrealistic, as seen in films like Paranormal Activity and The Devil Inside," LaFleur said. 

The film was shot in Rhode Island locations such as Wakefield, Greene and Coventry, including Summit General Store and Bella's Sports Bar.

They submitted the film to the NUHO Online Film Festival. It's the first year of the festival and Northwood was originally set to play for just one day on Feb. 7.

Now, the film has earned the group nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor.

"Thanks to substantial viewership from fans in and around Rhode Island, the directors of the NUHO Film Festival chose to make the film available all month. We are very thankful to our fans for making this possible, since this is our very first film as a production group," LaFleur said.

The festival runs until Feb. 28 and votes are tallied through Feb. 23. Whoever gets the most votes wins a monetary prize. It does cost $2 to screen a movie — much like you have to pay to play at the Sundance Film Festival. But the point of the NUHO (think: New Hollywood) contest is to break down the wall that still exists between amateur filmmakers and big Hollywood.

Here's some more info via LaFleur:

Find out what's happening in Coventrywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The film can be screened here: http://www.nuhofilmfest.com/b2d2productions

Voting can happen here, only after a film is screened http://www.nuhofilmfest.com/vote

Find out what's happening in Coventrywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This is our Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/B2D2Productions

We are comprised of mostly college students and had a very small budget for this film, so we can use all the publicity we can get.

We are B2D2Productions, a student film production group that resides in Coventry, Rhode Island. Our group consists, at its core, of former Coventry High School students and Drama Club members Brandon La Fleur, Brendon Lewis, Devon D. Decker and Dayle D. Decker. Brandon, Brendon and Dayle currently attend college, while Devon works full time.

More FAQs regarding the festival are available here https://www.nuhofilmfest.com/assets/pdf/press_kit/FAQ.pdf


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