LYNN — “The Process,” the first feature length project by local filmmaker Jake Fay, made a splash this weekend when it debuted on Amazon Prime video.
The film debuted Thursday night and has received hundreds of views since it’s release.
“Prime is the biggest streaming platform in the world right now,” said Fay, a Lynn local who also wrote, self-funded and designed costumes for the project. “So ‘The Process’ is currently available to anyone in the world.”
Fay believes it is important for more people to see this film to connect Lynn residents to the art happening in their community.
“It’s an important film — it’s all about community and about the artists that are in our backyard,” said Fay. “It’s a good film to watch and learn about artists here in our community. It can help people understand what artists go through at any level.”
The film stars Jason Gervacio, a Lynn English graduate, as Sindele, a role that he based off of a local Lynn rapper. The actor was thrilled to see the film distributed on a scale this large.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Gervacio. “With all the time I put into my acting, seeing all these puzzle pieces come together into a masterpiece. It’s phenomenal.”
Gervacio did his homework for this role, losing weight, watching videos and working with the local rapper he was portraying for inspiration.
He said that the film does an excellent job capturing the experience of growing up in Lynn.
“That was the main reason I took the role in this film,” he said. “I can relate to it so much. Just having all these different personalities and cultures around you—it really becomes a part of you.”
The film’s soundtrack features 26 original tracks from Lynn artists, including Mic L, C Wells, Sauna Rell, Aston 80, Juke, Vintage Feen, Kaleo Jacobs, Reggie Douyon, Tres, Wst Taylor and Slim.
The Amazon Prime distribution was set up by Indie Rights, a studio based in Los Angeles.
There is no up-front payment for streaming on Amazon, though Fay does make “pennies on the hour” for streams of the film.
“The Process” is free to stream with a Prime subscription and costs 2.99 to rent and 9.99 to buy without the subscription.
The film has also been making waves in the local cinema circuit, winning the award for Best Feature Film at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival in September.
It was featured in four additional 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.
Fay has also been working on a feature length documentary about the life of Lynn basketball legend Antonio Anderson. The project, which was crowdfunded, is fully in production. Fay’s crew has interviewed 26 people for the project, including former NBA players Penny Hardaway and Mike Miller.
He expects that the Antonio Anderson film will be released in the spring of 2021.
