Lynn native needs your vote to get to Hollywood

LYNN – Keith Sonia was trembling behind the video camera as the artificial rain spraying from a fire truck turned a beautiful summer day on the Cape to what appeared to be the second coming of Hurricane Bob.His apprehension slowly fading, Sonia steadied his hand and set his sights on the speeding Ford Taurus, this was his only chance to get the scene right. He put his nerves aside and it all worked out in the end, as the red automobile lay roof down in a ditch, tires spinning, and the entire thing was caught on camera.Sonia, 19, a 2006 graduate of Lynn English High and current UMass-Boston political science major, is hoping that scene, along with the many others filmed that July day at Camp Otis, will be his ticket to Hollywood as he and 10 colleagues hope to secure votes for the 2008 Samsung Mobile Fresh Film Contest.The contest pits groups of teenagers from 10 American cities against one another for bragging rights to the best 10-minute film of the year.Based on applicants and essay answers, contest organizers assembled 10 teams from across the country that have the opportunity to spend a week with interns from the movie industry writing and filming a fully funded movie production.Sonia, who says he has always been a fan of movies, joined 10 strangers from across the state for a week in July to film their own National Guard action hero film.The group had six days to put the film together, interview actors and assemble a cast, and one day to film the short movie. Sonia said more than 200 actors turned out to audition, and the competition was fierce. In fact, the group had to turn away some accomplished actors who played roles in such films as the recent box office hit Gone Baby Gone.”I have always loved movies, from the earliest memories I have watching Steven Spielberg movies like Jurassic Park,” he said. “I can remember trying to write him letters with movie ideas.”The group’s action film centers around a family of three – a father, daughter and stepmother – who are having some family problems, coupled with the task of escaping a hurricane that is rapidly rolling in to the area.The bad weather forces their car off the road and into a ditch, when the daughter is thrust into the position of hero as she must run from the accident through dangerous weather to find help.There were many challenges to shooting the film, such as making a clear day look as though a hurricane were rolling in, but Sonia said one thing that came easy to the group was working together.”I was worried going in that I would end up with kids that didn’t have the drive to win, but they are actually the complete opposite,” he said. “At first everyone was pretty shy, but by the time day two or three came along we all got on the same page pretty fast.”The film, along with two additional action films, three comedy and three drama films will be posted Aug. 7 on www.fresh-films.com, where fans can watch and vote for their favorite movie. If the Boston film makes it out of the action category, it will face the winners of the comedy and drama categories to see which group wins the grand prize.The first-place winner will travel to Hollywood and have the film screened at the AFI Youth Film Festival.All 11 members of the group are furiously promoting the film in the hopes of securing votes, which can be made either online or by text messaging the word Boston to 95615.Win or lose, Sonia says he is grateful he was able to experience the process of filmmaking and participate in a program that is positive for the state’s teenagers.”It is very important for young people to get involved in any program that gets them off of the couch and keeps them out of trouble during the summer,” he said. “I have always been interested in movies, I have done some writing but I have never been involved with the actual film making.”