Senior prepares to premiere first film on campus

Just days away from the premiere of his directorial debut, IU senior Jacob Sherry is still in production mode.

“Nathan and the Luthier,” directed and produced by Sherry.

The film premieres at the IU Cinema on Tuesday and is the first student film to be screened there since the facility’s opening.

“We’re incredibly lucky to have it premiering at the cinema,” Sherry said.  

The premiere comes before a week of IU student film productions May 1, 3 and 4.
IU Cinema Director Jon Vickers said the product doesn’t really resemble a student film at all.

Vickers rolled the dice by agreeing to screen the film before he’d even seen a finished script.

After looking at Sherry’s “clip reel” of past work and fully vetting the young filmmaker, Vickers said he decided to go for it.

And he hasn’t been disappointed.

“Production values in his end product rival that of any major film school,” Vickers said.
“Nathan and the Luthier” follows the story of a middle-aged man named Nathan, who returns home after his father’s death and finds solace while rebuilding a violin.

Local actors, musicians and locations were used during production.
The film is Sherry’s final project for his individualized major, filmmaking from directorial
perspective.

Sherry’s Individualized Major Program adviser and mentor Susan Kelly said Sherry’s determination and vision were essential to the film’s success.

He doggedly tracked down resources, promoted the piece and had 15 to 20-hour photo shoots, all with the goal of producing a high-quality film at IU.

“He has a passion and a drive to do something good, and other people feel it and they wanted to be involved with this project,” Kelly said.

Senior Ed Wu served as director of photography and colorist on the project. Wu said he was finished coloring the film by mid-April and was relieved to be done.

“It’s just great to have this project finally wrapped up after so many months and months of production,” Wu said.

Sherry said the production team was wrapping up one last piece of the production puzzle: the score. The music is composed by Joseph Toth. 

The film features a soundtrack of original music by local musicians Carrie Newcomer and Krista Detor to provide an “extra emotional push,” Sherry said.

Sherry said the collaborative efforts of his team won’t let him claim sole ownership.

“It is my final project, but with all the community involvement I feel like it’s not really my film anymore, it’s the crew’s film,” Sherry said.

Sherry described his plans for the film after the premiere.

“A film’s life kind of begins after it’s made. Now that we’ve made this film, we have to figure out how we’re going to get people to see it,” Sherry said.

But he has some solid ideas. Film festivals, contract shopping and sales on Amazon or Netflix may all be on the horizon.

“We feel good about what we made, and we want to get it in front of the largest audience possible,” Sherry said.