The short film Legacy that was filmed Utica is receiving a ton of national recognition in various areas of film-making.

Anna Casadei is an award-winning screenwriter, and her husband Mark is an award-winning producer, and together they are Awesome Monkey Productions (AMP) from Rome NY.

Anna wrote the script Legacy in hopes of shedding some light from a personal tragedy her family went through. The dramatic short film was shot in 2017 in Calvary Cemetery and Forest Hills Cemetery, both in Utica.

Legacy is based on the true story of how Anna's father tried to cope with the death of his son. The film focuses on a father's transformation as he tries to come to grips at his son's gravesite on his birthday, centering around a conversation and how an interruption can either destroy the moment or help it all together.

At the end of August of 2017, the film was a wrap, and AMP started the submission process at festivals worldwide. They quickly received ten nominations and eight awards that include Best Drama, Best Writer, Best Overall Film, Merits of Achievement in Filmmaking for Editing and Sound Design. To date, Legacy has 16 nominations and 13 wins.

The film festivals are a great networking opportunity for Mark and Anna. She was currently hired by a director that works with Netflix because of the film Legacy. The festivals also put Rome, Utica and all of CNY in a positive light as directors, producers and more are inquiring about the beautiful location and opportunities in our area.

When asked about seeing the award-winning movie Mark says "We want to show you the film, but there are rules of the film festival that specify that you're not allowed to screen the movie until it premieres.  We're going to do a local screening because we want to invite not only the locals for that but we want to invite the leadership from Rome and Utica so they can see really what this film was about that got so many awards."

Awesome Monkey Productions has three projects coming up this year including a documentary about a 17-year-old boy with developmental amnesia and a feature film with a very well known director. Keep it tuned for more details!

Bonus Video:

 

More From 96.1 The Eagle