Masquerade

During a rehearsal for his school's musical, Simon discovers a magical mask that coveys different persona's, but after losing the mask he must decide to either get the mask back or to start living his true self.

  • J.M. Valentino
    Director
    When They Fell
  • J.M. Valentino
    Writer
    When They Fell
  • Kelsey Langat
    Producer
  • Jeremiah Hopkins
    Key Cast
    "Simon"
  • Bethany McSweeney
    Key Cast
    "Alex"
  • Brucellious Morris Jr.
    Key Cast
    "Bryce"
  • Ashley Banker
    Key Cast
    "Sophia"
  • Laura Holt
    Key Cast
    "Mrs. Weaver"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    17 minutes 5 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    RED
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.9 : 1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Liberty University
Director Biography - J.M. Valentino

J.M. Valentino is a senior at the Zaki Gordon Cinematic Arts Center, who started his journey in film during high school, after being an extra for the award winning feature film Natural Selection (2016). Being a natural storyteller at heart, he pursued editing for the rest of his high school career, and, since joining film school, he has worked on multiple short films as a producer, assistant director, and editor. One of those short films, When They Fell (2020), earned an award for best editing at its first film festival. J.M. Valentino has earned a total of four certifications in two industry standard editing software is known as Avid Media Composer and DaVinci Resolve.

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Director Statement

Before film school, I got into editing as a lifestyle and I used to use film as a form of escapism. What I explore with Masquerade is the idea of putting a mask on and presenting a fake version of yourself to others. I dealt with this issue a lot in high school until I realized I wasn’t being my real self. Not allowing yourself to be authentic is one of the most toxic things you can do at that age. I want to use film to bring issues like the one in Masquerade to the forefront of conversation and get audiences involved with deeper issues.