There is creation in destruction.
After a particularly painful break up with his girlfriend, Kevin W. White used his pain to write and direct a movie titled “Broken Promise,” the first movie released by his independent production company KMW Films.
White, who attended LSU for two years but left to work on a film titled “Tough Luck,” said the movie was inspired by the need to put into art the feeling that consumed him after he broke up with his girlfriend.
“You can explain what it’s like to have your heart broken, but you can’t know what it feels like until it happens to you,” White said.
White said “Broken Promise” is about two people meeting by chance through the art school they are both enrolled in and falling in love. They break up, which White said is common in early, intense relationships. Instead of getting back together, which White said is also common, they remain apart, forcing one of them to suffer in an unusual way.
“It’s a dark, dark love story,” White said.
The movie was mostly shot in various locations around Baton Rouge with some of the scenes shot at Saenger Theatre in New Orleans.
White got into film at 18 years old when he began acting at Southeastern Louisiana University. He also studied acting at Baton Rouge Little Theater and in Hollywood under William Levey, the man who discovered Jean-Claude Van Damme. From there he began to write movies, and finally he decided to begin a production company.
“I decided to [start KWM Films] because I want to do my own movies,” White said. “I want to pick it from inception of and see it through to the screen.”
He said he had some trouble when searching for investors to fund his company because not many people are willing to take a chance on a mere idea.
“No one wants to give you any type of credibility or attention because an idea for a movie is not tangible,” White said. “You can’t put it in someone’s hand. It’s a huge obstacle to get people to listen to you.”
Finally White was able to get enough money to start his company, and he said the release of his first movie has helped him gain credibility.
“Now that I have a tangible item in my hand to show, people are like, ‘okay, he can do this,'” White said.
White said he has a special love for the camera, which ties him intimately to films.
“I love being in the camera,” White said. “I love watching a scene through the lens of a camera.”
“It’s the most intimate thing you can do without getting physical with somebody else,” White said. “You’re closer to someone with a camera than you are to them in real life. If you got that close to someone in real life, they’d probably slap you.”
The movie is set to premiere Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the BREC Independence Park Theatre. Tickets are $6, and popcorn will be provided.
“Broken Promise” will continue to run all weekend as part of a film series. The movie’s trailer can be viewed online at www.KMWFilms.com.
Contact Travis Andrews at
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Director premieres film at BREC park
March 9, 2006