Filmmaker van Davis scores feature funding at AFM

Filmmaker Jeffrey van Davis

Award-winning Chicago filmmaker and screenwriter, Jeffrey van Davis, left the breath-taking panorama of snow-capped mountains of his adopted home of Überlingen, Germany to attend the sand and ocean of the American Film Market last week in Santa Monica.

Van Davis’ trip was successful, as an undisclosed investor signed to bring his lauded screenplay, “The Hotel Room,” to the screen.

He secured $100,000, or half of the film’s projected $200,000 budget, which he had previously raised, due to his personal efforts and his attachments — popular Venezuelan actress, Marisa Román (“The Zero Hour,” and “Ellipsis”) and actor, Bob Jaffe, who has extensive stage and TV credits including “Law & Order: SVU.”

Although van Davis doesn’t have a sizzle reel, he had edited the actors’ auditions to help interest investors.

The story focuses on a bigoted Caucasian lawyer, Ed (Jaffe), who is in mourning over his deceased wife and calls a Mexican-American prostitute (Roman) to his hotel room. It’s here that they have a brutally honest confrontation over drinks and sex, disclosing their fears and desires as well as discovering each other’s humanity.

“I wanted to explore themes of fall and redemption in a contained setting therefore making it filmable,” says van Davis, who names filmmakers John Cassevetes, Robert Altman and civil rights pioneer Jesse Jackson among his inspirations.

“Sex seems to be the only way Ed, a successful lawyer, can escape his painful existence. When Maria shows up at his hotel room, he gets more than he bargained for as he soon discovers that Maria is also suffering from pain and loss,” he explains.

“The Hotel Room” was an official nominee for best screenplay at The Beverly Hills Film Festival and was a second-round candidate in the Austin Film Festival, both 2016.

Van Davis is no stranger to awards as his dramatic film, “14th Place,” won a Silver Plaque Award at the 2016 Chicago International Film Festival.

Another screenplay, “Heidegger in Ruins,” won a Silver Remi at the 48th WorldFest Houston International Film Festival 2015 and his short “Momentum” screened at Cannes in 2013.

Van Davis aims to film “The Hotel Room” in 2017 in Tuscon, Arizona, with a 2018 release. German producer Benjamin Tomoff is aboard. But for now, the jolly filmmaker is content spending the holidays with family in Chicago.

Colin Costello’s credits include the Emmy-nominated “Moochie Kalala Detective’s Club” and the 2017 family film, “Traveling Without Moving.” He can be reached at colin@colincostello.com.