ABOUT
“Those Who Fear Him” is a feature film written by J.T. Cernero, that’s currently in development with the help of Mister Sauce Productions in association with Green Lung Studio. It’s at it’s core, an exploration of where identity, sexuality, family structures, devotion to religion & queerness meet. All these different pressures can create a strange dichotomy in a person. There’s a fragmentation or diminishing of parts of yourself when you must quiet or minimize very true things about yourself for the sake of others. Our film, in a lot of ways, is a coming of age story for an aging character who’s very much “set in their ways”. As you can imagine this is not an easy road for Francessco(Frankie), our protagonist, as he begins to explore & discover himself late in life.
Our team has created a “proof of concept” trailer & a few full scenes which we’re very excited to share with you, as well as a short film that we’ll be sending off to festivals in the coming months. Our goal is to raise the funds necessary to take our feature length script into production in late fall-early winter. Through the next few months we’ll be holding kick-off events in New York & around the country.
If you’d like to join us at one of our events or get more information about our film(deck, budget, etc.), we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to drop us a line here with the link below.
Please follow us on Instagram as well to keep up to date on the latest updates as we move toward production: @thosewhofearhim
SYNOPSYS
Francessco(Frankie) lives a quiet life with his ailing mother Rita in Bensonhurst Brooklyn. His routine set, life ordered, with very few surprises. He takes care of his mother, pals around with his neighborhood buddies and spends most of his time helping out at his local parish, a devout Catholic, with dreams of becoming a deacon in the church.
His ordered world is thrown for a loupe when Harold, a local bookshop owner that’s seen the world beyond the neighborhood, takes an interest in him. His long repressed sexuality is awakened and with the help of his good friend Celeste, he begins to navigate these feelings, sending his life into uncharted territory.
His beliefs about himself and the world around him are thrown into chaos as he begins to allow himself to pursue a relationship with Harold. Frankie’s feelings for Harold & new found freedom will be tested as he must reconcile the expectations of the church, his heritage, his overbearing mother & his own mid-guided self-loathing, with the fact that he is a gay man.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Those who fear him is a story of A man at war with himself and the toll that battle takes on a person’s psyche, when for many reasons, they cannot accept themselves for who they are. A devout faith can be constrictive, but there is a beauty in it. A deep bond with your mother & the safety you feel with her can turn into a prison. The church you love so much can turn dark & abusive. The beauty of your sexuality can be repressed, only allowed to be expressed in disembodied ways that corrode identity to the point of self-loathing. In spite of all these wounds & the dichotomies that produce them, you can at any age, be surprised at the ways you can grow. Frankie is a character who’s being challenged to do just that for the first time in many years. Each step he takes toward self-realization, is a step away from what he’s devoted himself too.
I want to tell this story because so many of us live in this this state of limbo, self-conscious & lonely, scared to put ourselves out their. Afraid to live into the things we know are true about ourselves, because the cost is too great to fathom. In spite of that turmoil, I think there is an inherent beauty in a person that deserves to see the light of day. Frankie, like all of us, deserves to be loved without qualification. This film is an exercise in sifting through the many important things that make up a person’s identity, and finding the strength to reconcile those seemingly disparate parts of one’s self, leaving behind the things that don’t suit us any longer.
It’s a sort of fucked up love letter to so many people I’ve cared dearly for throughout my life, who couldn’t love themselves. it’s also a fucked up love letter to myself. Though I’m clearly not in my 60’s just yet, Frankie’s journey mirrors my own in some very real ways. I love my family, my heritage & my faith. That being said, all those things made me deeply ashamed of my own sexuality in any form growing up. It took many years to reconcile all of this with the fact that I’m bi-sexual. for many reasons that was a bridge too far & I think there are many people who live in that same quiet place, unable to fully love themselves. I like The old phrase “our secrets make us sick”, it’s a great reminder that the things we keep from the light fester and degrade our sense of our own humanity. Any attempt to be honest with ourselves, though some times deeply broken, are beautiful. this film is an exploration of finding a path to acceptance of that love & a recognition of the gracious people that love us before we can love ourselves.
