A filmmaker’s love letter to his son
This filmmaker set out to answer the question: “Is love eternal?”
Is love eternal?
“Does love last forever?”, ponders filmmaker Jeremy Thomas.
“Is it eternal?”
There are but a few things in life that shake us out of our comfort zones and make us question what we take for granted. For Jeremy, it was mortality that came knocking a few years ago, when he fell ill.
“During that time, mortality became a recurring theme in my life,” Jeremy recounts. “Questions around love and its longevity started to rush into to my consciousness and overwhelm my heart.”
For years, these are the questions that he has wondered about. Questions with no clear answers, but for a man who tells stories for a living, there is more than a little joy in asking them. And perhaps a little sadness.
But as a father, it made him grapple with a much harder question, one he had longed to answer. “How would I reach my son?”, he worries.
“If I passed on, will the love, which is so strong it hurts sometimes, be enough?”
Perhaps it’s fitting that, for a man who tells stories for a living, to immortalize his love in a form he knows intimately, and maybe—who knows?—answer those questions.
It had been floating about in his head for 5 or 6 years; the story that haunted him ever since.
The story. His story. The timeless tale of father and son, one as old as mankind.
“It’s a love letter from me to my son.”
Upendo, which means “love” in Swahili, is a short film that tells the tale of a father and son whose connection defies all human understanding. We follow a 12 year old boy, Ishmael, and his father, as they find their way to cross the farthest barriers to reach one another.
“The love Ishmael and his father Simon have for each other is of infinite power,” Jeremy, the director, tells us.
We meet Ishmael during a tough time in his life. He’s faced tragedy and loss while trying to navigate his childhood. He wakes up, goes to school, comes home, sleeps, then repeats—always wanting more.
Ish and his father are very close: his dad is his rock, and he emulates his every essence. When he and his dad can’t be together, it shakes him to the core, causing him to evaluate what love really means.
A story of love, hope, and spirit, Upendo is a timeless tale about a family whose love for one another breaks down the barriers of time and space.
To help the crew of Upendo pay for post-production costs, you can chip in $9 or more →
