LYNN — “The Process,” a locally-produced feature film depicting the underground Lynn hip-hop scene, has been making waves in the independent cinema circuit.
Against a slate of more than 50 other projects, the movie took home the award for Best Feature Film on Sunday at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival.
“The Process” has also been featured in four festivals and has been nominated for five additional awards, including Best Urban Feature at the Urban Film Festival in Miami, and Best New England Film, Best Cinematography, Best Directing and Best Actor at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival.
The film marks the directorial debut of Lynn native Jake Fay, who also wrote, self-funded and designed costumes for the project. Fay went through the Lynn public schools, spending a year at Classical before transferring to play basketball at Brimmer and May.
For him, filmmaking is about telling stories about real people that feel true to life.
“I don’t need huge character arcs or big endings,” said Fay. “I just want to see people go through life and learn things and feel different emotions.”
The project focuses on Sindele, a Lynn rapper trying to maneuver through day-to-day life in his hometown.
“It’s about the perseverance that a local rapper needs to make their art,” said Fay.
Sindele is played by Lynn English graduate Jason Gervacio, who has also appeared in “A Lost Song: The Mystery Man.” Along with acting, Gervacio works as a security officer, and he used his real life hustle as inspiration for his role.
In addition, the film features Dorchester native Martin St. Jean as Backpack Brian, veteran actress Samantha Valletta as Elena, and Lynn Tech grad and local MC Adam Lawn as Winsten.
The cast of this project was massive for a low-budget production, featuring 35 speaking roles and more than 50 extras.
The film’s soundtrack is a sonic tapestry of Lynn’s music scene, featuring 26 original songs from Lynn artists, including Mic L (Lawn’s stage name), C Wells, Sauna Rell, Aston 80, Juke, Vintage Feen, Kaleo Jacobs, Reggie Douyon, Tres, Wst Taylor and Slim. Fay intends to release the full soundtrack on Apple and Spotify.
Fay is still waiting to hear back from 30 additional festivals. He has also been in touch with local venues about running a showing of the film once things begin to open up more.
“I have a few distribution offers on the table,” Fay said. “But I want to make sure we can do a local showing before I go forward with anything.”
The project featured 20 Lynn locations over the course of an 11-day shoot. Fay was particularly grateful for the people who loaned out their homes and businesses as shooting locations and for the love and support he received from the community throughout the entire process.
Later this year, Fay plans to crowdfund a feature-length documentary about the career of Lynn Tech basketball legend Antonio Anderson. The fundraising video for this new project will go live Thursday on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo.
