A short film created by two Baylor University professors has landed on the Academy Awards shortlist — a first for a Baylor-funded project.
The filmmakers behind “Ado” held their first Waco screening Sunday afternoon at the Mayborn Museum, just days before official Oscar nominations are announced Thursday.
The screening drew a packed audience, many of whom stayed after the credits rolled to hear the filmmakers discuss a project that began close to home and has now reached Hollywood’s biggest stage.
“Ado” centers on a middle school theater teacher rehearsing Shakespeare when an ordinary school day is suddenly interrupted by a shooting. Writer and director Sam Henderson told the Waco audience the story was inspired by a conversation with his mother, a longtime school theater teacher, following the Uvalde school shooting.
“She said, ‘If I was ever in that situation, I think the only chance I’d have is if the shooter knew me and remembered me. I don't think he could hurt Mrs. Bee,’” Henderson said.
Henderson said that idea stayed with him and shaped a story told from the teacher’s point of view, a perspective he says is often missing from conversations about school violence.
That deeply personal story has now landed “Ado” on the Academy Awards shortlist, placing it among just 15 films selected from hundreds of short films submitted worldwide.
“It was a mix of relief and shock,” Henderson said in an interview. “Statistically, this is the hardest phase of the process.”
Ahead of the shortlist announcement, the film had won four Oscars-qualifying film festivals: HBO Short Film Showcase Winner at the American Black Film Festival; Best Short at Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival; Best Short at the Bronzelens Film Festival; and Best of Fest at San Jose International Short Film Festival.
The film was funded in part by Baylor University, making it the first Baylor-supported project to ever reach the Oscars shortlist. But production did not unfold as planned.
The filmmakers originally intended to shoot the film in Waco and had already begun production when their lead actress, Jennifer Lewis, was injured. Henderson said the team faced a decision: recast the main role or relocate the entire shoot to Los Angeles just months before filming.
“With about two or three months before we were going to shoot, we packed up everything and came to her,” said producer Rachel Jobin during the post-screening panel.
She said the move nearly doubled the film’s costs and required rehiring crew members and securing new locations, challenges the filmmakers told the audience ultimately shaped the version of the film that exists today.
Editor and associate producer Maverick Moore said he tried to keep the team focused on the film, even as Henderson, his long-time friend began to dream about what the film could become.
“The goal that I've had is always just to make the film as best as possible with what we have within our control,” Moore said.
For Henderson, watching “Ado” with a hometown audience, many of whom are educators themselves, carried a different weight than any festival screening.
“It’s not until you’re sitting in a room full of people who have no attachment to the film and you see their response,” Henderson said, “that’s when it hits you that you may have made something meaningful.”
Oscar nominations will be announced Thursday.
Got a tip? Email Molly-Jo Tilton at Molly-jo_tilton@baylor.edu.
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