 "Photo: Courtesy Lance Kawas")
Wayne State alumni Lance Kawas and Heather Kolf will show off their latest work at the Detroit Independent Film Festival March 3-7 at the Burton Theatre, which includes the first-ever Michigan Film Awards on March 6.
Writer/director Kawas, a Dearborn native, will premiere his movie “Street Boss” on March 4. The film is adapted from the book “With Honor and Purpose” by FBI agent Phil Kerby, about a Detroit mobster brought down by the FBI.
Growing up, his parents owned video stores that exposed him to movies of all kinds, both domestic and foreign, he said planted the seed for his movie-making dream to grow.
But since movie-making isn’t a considered a practical career, he studied finance.
After graduating from Wayne State, Kawas worked as a banker for five years but gave it up to follow his passion and start writing screenplays, without the support of family and friends.
“They thought I was nuts. They might still think I’m nuts,” Kawas said, laughing. “No one understands this business.”
It would have been easy for Kawas, 39, to think he was nuts at one time as well. His bedroom wall is adorned with every Hollywood rejection letter he has ever received — 138 in total — all to remind him of how he didn’t quit regardless of how tough it was to get his first break.
He started focusing on writing screenplays nine years ago, has written 30 scripts, won 19 screenplay writing awards and is now becoming a player in the indie film game.
“Street Boss” stars Vincent Pastore (“The Sopranos”) and Nicholas Turturro (“NYPD Blue”) and is Kawas’ second directorial effort, after 2005’s “Silent Scream.”
“The Deported,” a comedy starring Talia Shire (“The Godfather,” “Rocky”) and Michael Rapaport, will be out later this year. Two more of his scripts, “The Violinist” and “Restitution,” have been sold and are currently in development.
Kolf also took awhile to find her groove as a filmmaker. After graduating from WSU in 2001 with a master’s degree in English, Kolf was hired as an office manager for a concrete company. During that time, she met with a friend every Saturday to hatch screenplay ideas, finishing three scripts over the years with her.
Although she originally did it to intellectually stimulate herself and remain active as a writer, Kolf came to recognize screenwriting as her calling and entered the Motion Picture Institute in Troy.
Her final student film for the MPI, “Hellbent and Broken,” is a story about two brothers abused as children who discuss it later as adults. The film is nominated for Best Academic Short at the MFA.
“It’s my third (short) but I like to call it my only one,” Kolf, 36, said. “I’m really proud of it, and I hope people can see it if nothing else for the performances of the two actors.”
The parts are played by David G.B. Brown and Luke Richmond, two semi-professional actors from Michigan.
The Michigan Film Awards will begin at 7:30 p.m. March 6 at the Helen L. Deroy Auditorium, 5203 Cass Ave.
Both Kawas and Kolf said they are excited to keep putting a wide variety of ideas on paper in this new era with relatively inexpensive editing software programs and, they hope, in what continues to be a film incentive-laden state of Michigan. Kawas is seeing his hard work and faith in his imagination rewarded, and encourages all those dreamers like him to follow the beat.
“Working in movies is very tough. You must have a stomach for rejection; it bludgeons you,” he said. “But it’s also the most gratifying business there is. I can’t describe it.”
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