Patch Blog: This SPHS Grad Is Rocking Film Festivals

As Sweet Old World, the feature film I made in South Pasadena in 2010, weaves its way through the film festival circuit, Jacques Colimon has been creating quite a stir.

Jacques, who studied theater at and graduated just before we began filming, is now in his second year in the Theater program at the University of Texas at Austin. Jacques plays Ethan, a talented musician who has a troubled relationship with his father. His natural performance and screen presence has attracted praise from critics and audiences alike.

When Sweet Old World premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival in March, it was singled out by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as the "Leading" film in the festival. The film blogger Dean Treadway called Jacques "A mindful young actor who's terrific in his debut," and blogger Tenaya Cleveland wrote that he's "a gem...a humble and talented artist (who) will continue on to much more success."

Howard Pousner's review in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had some wonderful things to say about Sweet Old World—calling the film a "solid portrayal of loss and love between father, son." He went on to write:

The death of a child casts a long shadow, as former Atlanta filmmaker David Zeiger can attest.

Zeiger's 1998 documentary ‘The Band’ chronicled the life of his son Danny during his junior year as a Decatur High School marching band musician, the story of a boy becoming his own young man. But it was also an essay of David's own free fall after he lost older son Michael in a 1986 accident, the breach it caused in his family and professional lives, and his gradual reconnection with Danny.

Now, Zeiger returns to the difficult theme in his first drama, ‘Sweet Old World'...one of the highlights of the 2012 Atlanta Film Festival...What the drama has going for it is the unblinking way it conveys familial loss and a renewed love between father and son that holds a ray of promise for their futures.

There'll be more to come as we continue on our festival journey, and again I want to thank the wonderful people at SPHS and in the South Pasadena community for being such an integral part of making Sweet Old World a reality.

Sweet Old World tells the story of Brian and his teenage son Ethan, whose relationship has become cold and strained in the years since Ethan’s brother Michael was killed in an accident. They find themselves on the brink of disaster and the potential for a new life when Michael’s best friend returns. Told in the midst of the South Pasadena High School Marching Band, Sweet Old World is about a father’s grief, and the son who frees him.

See the movie tralier above. 

Click here for photos of the SPHS Marching Band.