2016 WILMA’s Women to Watch Awards
Tanya Fermin’s inspiration for her first short film came from close to home.
The Arrangements, which Fermin released this year, centers on family and what happens when it’s time to say good-bye to a loved one.
The film is based on a conversation Fermin had with her mother and aunt as they were making her ailing grandmother’s final arrangements.
“My film is based on a true story wherein hospice was called in for the care of my grandmother,” Fermin says. “When the hospice nurse spoke of the need for education in black communities on what hospice does, it motivated me to write the film. This is a film that can be shown in churches, hospitals, hospices, adult care facilities, and so forth.”
In the film version, three sisters discuss arrangements for their mother, with differing opinions in a conversation Fermin describes as poignant but also humorous.
“This film is bringing awareness to the community about having the conversation of death and dying but in an entertaining way. Too many times people neglect to plan for the inevitable, and with this series of short films that I am writing/producing/directing, I bring the subject to light,” says Fermin, a member of the Wilmington Female Filmmakers' Collective - Wilmffilm.
The Arrangements was picked up this year to air as part of Badami Productions’ African American Short Films , a syndicated TV show. It also was included in the fifteenth annual North Carolina Black Film Festival, held September 15-18 around Wilmington.
***UPDATE!! THE ARRANGEMENTS will be shown at the CUCALORUS Film Festival on Friday November 11th, at 1:15 PM at City Stage Theater in the Pufferfish Shorts Block! Wilmington, NC***
In the past year, Fermin also created a TV pilot for a supernatural drama called HAON, that is now in post-production.
Fermin’s goals include starting a nonprofit, making speaking appearances, and working on companion pieces to The Arrangements like workbooks and podcasts.
“My production company, Fermintation Productions,” she says, “is primed to move forward to inform people to make the best end-of-life planning.”
Who do you admire in film? “Without a doubt Shonda Rhimes. She is breaking barriers with what she is doing with diversity on TV.”
---Article taken from the October 2016 Issue Wilma magazine
Photo Credit: Chris Brehmer
Photos taken at Belle Vue Wilmington
Help the 2016 Women to Watch Finalists CELEBRATE on October 21st at Union Station @ Cape Fear Community College from 5:30 to 10pm. Tickets are available at W2Waward.com.
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