TAMPA, Fla. — There was hardly an empty seat in the auditorium of Tampa Theatre.
Monday night, hundreds of people — adults and children — bought a ticket to see a brand new film directed by a Tampa native.
“Blink” provided the audience a sobering, harrowing warning about gun violence and its consequences.
Aida Torres brought her four young grandkids to see the short film.
“The way the world is going, I don’t sugarcoat anything for them,” Torres said.
In 17 short minutes, the film shows how gun violence can and does destroy lives.
Derrick Perez, from Tampa, directed it.
“This is one of my proudest pieces of work,” he said before the screening. “If I just reach one person tonight, then I did my job.”
Freddy Barton wrote the script.
“This film is all about changing the decisions that are being made,” Barton said.
Barton is the executive director of Safe & Sound Hillsborough, a think-tank that is trying to stop the violence across Hillsborough County.
“In 2022, there were over 300 shootings — nonfatal and fatal — in Tampa and Hillsborough County. Those numbers eclipsed all of the numbers in 2021, and with just three months into this current year, we’re already on track to beat the numbers from 2022,” he said.
Barton hoped the movie will start uncomfortable conversations that ultimately lead to better decisions from both adults and young people.
For Torres, those conversations are already starting with her grandkids, some of whom are growing up without their dads because they’re incarcerated.
“I call ‘em kids, even though they’re adults now. But they’ve been in and out since they were young,” she said of their dads.
As she plays a part in raising her grandchildren, it’s a cycle she’s trying to break, even if it means taking them to a movie with a sobering, harrowing warning.
“I always tell them there’s consequences for everything you do in life,” Torres said.
The filmmaking team said it plans to put the movie on YouTube eventually, so everyone can see it. It also hoped that local school districts will start showing it to middle school and high school students regularly.
You can watch the trailer and learn more about the film here. Learn more about Safe & Sound Hillsborough here.
