Professional Motion Picture Production and Distribution NEWS

(Tallahassee, FL) - If there were an Olympics for short film, Director Akil Dupont and his film, Underground, would take the gold medal. Underground has won 17 awards and played at 24 film festivals in the U.S. and abroad.

Featuring haunting Negro spirituals and beautiful cinematography, Underground tells the story of a slave who plans to escape after learning that his daughter has been sold to another slave owner.

Dupont says the inspiration for Underground came from watching two films: Sweeney Todd, starring Johnny Depp, and Ray, starring Jaime Foxx. Both of these films feature realistic stories told through song.

"After seeing these films, everything that FAMU taught me eventually bubbled up and I wanted to create a dark and real slave story told through song where the music was very organic and made sense to be in the story," says Dupont, who received his undergraduate degree from FAMU.

Filmed in Tallahassee, FL, the film stars Ken Wester, Tomi Townsend and Nike Eaton. Music was provided by the FAMU Gospel Choir.

Dupont co-wrote Underground with Ariya Watty and directed the film while attending the MFA program at The Florida State University College of Motion and Picture Arts, rated by The Hollywood Reporter as among the top 25 film schools in the world.

Underground has won two student Emmys: One for first place in Best Use of Music, and one for The Bricker Humanitarian Award. It placed first out of 287 films at the Palm Beach International Film Festival, and it received the Audience Award at the Beijing Film Academy's ISFVF Festival, Beijing, China. The list of awards goes on and on, making it one of the most decorated films at FSU.

The film plays July 27 to August 2 at http://www.redmoviehouse.com. Red Movie House (RMH) is an online social movie theater featuring rising stars - exceptional new talent in the film industry. Like your hometown theater, RMH plays movies for a week at a time. Films continue to be free as long as you rate and share them.





Resources:

www.redmoviehouse.com