When a free-spirited former student inspires an innovative current student, there’s enough momentum in the equation to get a budding documentary-filmmaker all the way to San Francisco.
Meet Benjamin Prawer, a Communication senior and producer for a full-length documentary inspired by and about Tyler Lorenzi (McCormick ’10), a friend and classmate who died in a boating accident last spring.
San Francisco was Lorenzi’s hometown. A remarkable city by anyone’s measure, through Lorenzi’s eyes, it had even more to offer.
“There’s the regular trip to San Francisco and there’s the trip that Ty would have taken.” Prawer said. “We really want to show the audience the discrepancy between the two.”
Prawer, 22, has spent the greater part of this school year working on a documentary to be called Ty’s List. Prawer will complete his senior year this quarter and will spend the rest of spring and summer working full time on the documentary.
“He has definitely been the force that has taken this project to the next level,” said Communication junior Jesse Swedlund, Prawer’s partner and director of the documentary. “Ben has really been ambitious and we’ve been able to make this something a lot bigger than it originally might have been.”
After Lorenzi’s death, friends shared his emails on the NU Sailing Team and Project Wildcat email listservs, one of which was a detailed account of things to do in San Francisco.
“I always knew that Tyler was an incredibly unique person,” Prawer said. “He was the type of person who would take homeless people home for dinner. That’s really what Ty did, walk through life and see the potential in everything.”
Swedlund and Prawer plan to bring four of Lorenzi’s friends from various walks of his life – including time spent studying at NU and working at NASA – to San Francisco for about a week. Using Lorenzi’s original list as inspiration, the pair wants to film these people adopting Lorenzi’s unique life philosophy.
The project originated in a proposal that Swedlund, 21, wrote for the PWild class last summer. Swedlund’s original proposal was a documentary in which he filmed himself accomplishing the things on this list.
Later that summer, “I had this epiphany and I called up Jesse and I said, ‘Jesse, I think you have an amazing idea and I believe in it and I’d like to get involved in any way,'” Prawer said.
And that way features Prawer and Swedlund as producer and director, splitting the work 50-50. Prawer’s work lies more in the logistical area: working on publicity, leading the board of students behind the project, dealing with legal obligations and fundraising for the $100,000 project.
“Sometimes I’ll talk to my friends who make student films and their budget’s $2,000, and they ask, ‘Oh how much is your budget?’ and I say, ‘$100,000,’ and they go, ‘Oh do you mean $1,000,’ and I said, ‘No, $100,000,'” Prawer said of skeptics. “I think it kind of freaks them out, honestly.”
When talking about the documentary, Prawer speaks with great intensity and passion. Even those who did not know Lorenzi find the project very compelling. SESP Junior Olivia Brown is on the documentary’s executive board as the fundraising coordinator but never knew Lorenzi personally.
“I was drawn by Tyler’s positive attitude, but also, I knew Ben Prawer and I respect him,” Brown said.
For Prawer, the documentary is a sure thing, despite the challenges that come along with being a full-time college student and wading through the new waters of documentary-making. One of those challenges includes starting a production company with Swedlund called Crazy BenJee Productions LLC.
“I’m kind of a creative mind, big picture-type thinker, and Ben is very logistic-minded and realistic. He grounds me and helps me be where I need to be,” Swedlund said.
According to Prawer, the project is right on track. Swedlund said he is working tirelessly on a trailer which will be ready along with their website by Spring Quarter. The trip is set for August, with the premiere of the film scheduled for next fall.
Prawer said that the process has been incredibly personal for him, especially since both he and Swedlund knew Lorenzi personally through PWild.
“I’ve never felt more passionate about anything in my entire life,” Prawer said. “I don’t know what it is, but I feel like I’m doing something right.”
–Simone Alicea
