2008 Woodie Awards
Alum returns with film premiere
Erica Bauwens
Issue date: 11/13/08 Section: Entertainment
Rowan Alumni Ben Davidow is returning to campus and bringing his new film, "Happy Birthday, Harris Malden" with him. Davidow, 25, and the co-creators of the film will show the film tonight at 8 p.m. in Bozorth Auditorium.
Davidow graduated in 2005 with a Radio/Television/Film degree and was also a member of the Cinema Workshop on campus. After graduating, Davidow and friends Eric Levy, Juan Cardarelli, Nick Gregorio, and Matt Sanchez, all Drexel University graduates, created their production company, Sweaty Robot.
"I had spoken to the guys from Drexel for a while, and we started our own production company right after we graduated college," Davidow said.
Davidow went on to work in film production.
"I worked on some movies in Philadelphia," said Davidow. "I did 'Lady in the Water' and 'Rocky Balboa.' Then I went out to L.A. for a year and I worked for NBC."
The Sweaty Robot crew started out with their first short film, "Happy Birthday, Harris Malden," as a contest entry.
"There was a contest in Philadelphia that was associated with the Philadelphia Film Festival, and the theme was little white lies," Davidow said. "You were supposed to make a documentary about yourself, like a lie or a secret that you had, and we made a documentary about a guy that fakes his moustache, like, a guy that draws on his moustache as a joke."
Davidow and the rest of his production company submitted "Happy Birthday, Harris Malden" with little expectations of winning.
"Then we get a call a couple months later saying 'Hey, you guys won,'" Davidow said. "And we thought, 'Oh God, we're embarrassed.'"
Davidow and his crew were pretty shocked by their win, especially after seeing the serious and controversial issues presented in the other entries.
"We showed up at this thing, and the second place winner was about a guy that would tell his friends he was Italian because he didn't want his friends to know he was Arab, and we were standing there red-faced thinking 'I can't believe we won this,'" Davidow said with a laugh.
Davidow graduated in 2005 with a Radio/Television/Film degree and was also a member of the Cinema Workshop on campus. After graduating, Davidow and friends Eric Levy, Juan Cardarelli, Nick Gregorio, and Matt Sanchez, all Drexel University graduates, created their production company, Sweaty Robot.
"I had spoken to the guys from Drexel for a while, and we started our own production company right after we graduated college," Davidow said.
Davidow went on to work in film production.
"I worked on some movies in Philadelphia," said Davidow. "I did 'Lady in the Water' and 'Rocky Balboa.' Then I went out to L.A. for a year and I worked for NBC."
The Sweaty Robot crew started out with their first short film, "Happy Birthday, Harris Malden," as a contest entry.
"There was a contest in Philadelphia that was associated with the Philadelphia Film Festival, and the theme was little white lies," Davidow said. "You were supposed to make a documentary about yourself, like a lie or a secret that you had, and we made a documentary about a guy that fakes his moustache, like, a guy that draws on his moustache as a joke."
Davidow and the rest of his production company submitted "Happy Birthday, Harris Malden" with little expectations of winning.
"Then we get a call a couple months later saying 'Hey, you guys won,'" Davidow said. "And we thought, 'Oh God, we're embarrassed.'"
Davidow and his crew were pretty shocked by their win, especially after seeing the serious and controversial issues presented in the other entries.
"We showed up at this thing, and the second place winner was about a guy that would tell his friends he was Italian because he didn't want his friends to know he was Arab, and we were standing there red-faced thinking 'I can't believe we won this,'" Davidow said with a laugh.
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