FOR IMMEDIATE RELAEASE
Contact: Katherine VanHenley
Tel. 323-337-9055
Email: kvanhenley@yahoo.com
OAKLAND FILMMAKER FOCUSES ON LOCAL PROJECTS
Short film to be featured at Oakland Airport
Oakland hasn’t failed to take notice of long time
resident Mateen Kemet’s success since Hollywood’s On The Lot, where he placed as a finalist. In fact, the Port of Oakland has
commissioned a short film by him, to be screened on a new media display housed
in the Southwest Airlines terminal of the Oakland airport later this year.
The film, Oakland
b Mine will show Oakland as a prime destination spot through a storyline
wherein a traveler pursues his dreamgirl (also named Oakland) around the
city. The Oakland Airport receives
approximately 5 million travelers each year and being housed in a busy terminal
like Southwest Airlines, Kemet will surely find his work being enjoyed by an
immense viewership throughout the coming year.
Not that he’s any stranger to a large
audience. During On the Lot, his short films aired for the entire world to see. Kemet placed 7th in this internationally
aired reality show, and he was the only African American contestant, repeatedly
earning America’s votes throughout his eight weeks of competition.
After his outstanding finish, the Oakland Cultural
Funding Program made him an honoree and keynote speaker for their First Annual
Oakland Arts Day Ceremony on October 5th and he was also featured as
a panalist at the Oakland International Film Festival on October 20th. On November 13th, 2007, the
Oakland film Commission will screen his award winning film silence as part of their bi-monthly Local Focus Screening Series at
the Oakland Metro.
Since graduating from film school in 2003, Kemet
has made quick strides towards international acclaim, including an invitation
to FESPACO in Burkina Faso, West Africa – the world’s largest Arts Festival of
the African diasporas, where he won the Special Director’s prize . Locally, the San Francisco Arts Council
awarded him with a Cultural Equity Grant for his latest script, The
Fillmore Flower which is scheduled to go into production early 2008.
His rapid progress propelled by On the Lot, Mateen Kemet is on his way
to becoming a major player within the film industry.
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If you’d like more information
about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Mateen Kemet, please call
Katherine VanHenley 323-337-9055