Mokena Filmmaker Finds Joy In Process Of Latest Film, Delays And All

MOKENA, IL — When Brad Podowski’s aunt came to him more than five years ago and said she had the perfect idea for his next filmmaking project, he wasn’t exactly holding out hope that the suggestion would lead to anything significant.

Podowski had always known that his uncle died tragically in a freight elevator accident at the age of 16. But when his aunt told the Mokena resident and now 43-year-old filmmaker that for years, someone had been mysteriously placing flowers at his uncle’s graveside for years and that the family had no idea who it was, the storyline for Podowski’s next feature film started to take shape — even if the movie's creator didn't know it at the time.

But over the course of the next five years, getting a film that the Lincoln-Way Central High School graduate originally envisioned as a documentary to the finish line took on a journey that no one, Podowski included, could have ever seen coming.

Yet, last month, “Silent As The Grave” premiered in Chicago, bringing a painstaking and emotional journey to a close. For Podowski, who has lived in Mokena for the past six years, completing his second feature-length film proved to be satisfying. But given all that had gone into a process that included working through the COVID-19 pandemic, seeing this project through to the end came with even more meaning.

Podowski certainly isn’t new to the process. Since graduating from Columbia College in Chicago in 2003, the Richton Park native who grew up in Frankfort has written and directed a series of short films, television pilots, and corporate video projects. After his first feature film debuted in 2017, Podowski knew he wanted his second endeavor to be more ambitious and a project that he could really throw himself into.

What he didn’t see coming were obstacles that made getting the project done even more challenging. Despite projecting the film project as a documentary, the plan pivoted when both of Podowski’s aunts and then his mother, backed out of scheduled interviews for the film a month into the process.

That forced Podowski to shift the film from a true-crime documentary to a fictionized version of a true story, which forced him to walk a very fine line between creative storytelling and respecting his family’s own real-life mystery.

The question then became, what if a filmmaker’s own family didn’t want him to know what really happened? That was never the case, Podowski said. But because there were certain uncomfortable elements of the tragedy his mother and aunts had lived through years before, he knew treating the film carefully had to become the top priority.

Podowski received his mother’s blessing to move ahead with the project as a fictional narrative that was based on the story of what his family had lived through. He continued to bounce ideas off his mother, who was very close to her brother and only separated in age by a year. That made it necessary for Podowski's mother t understand what was happening throughout the filmmaking process.

Even at times, if her son didn't have a clear picture of what that looked like.

Having a personal connection to the story, Podowski said, added to the meaningfulness of the project.

“It wasn’t that I was anymore or less dedicated than the first (film), but I guess I felt much more at home,” Podowski told Patch on Monday. “It just felt right, and I just so had much more fun. …Once I got into this one and it was a mystery and it had these darker elements even though it is an uplifting story ultimately, it was a lot more fun to play in that world for me.”

After writing the script in six weeks, Podowski moved into a year-long process of refining the script before it took close to a year to get funding for the project. Podowski declined to specify just how much was spent on the film but said that production was completed for less than $250,000 — a low-budget effort in comparison to the average of $65 million that is spent on Hollywood films.

But just when funding had been finalized, COVID hit. The start of the pandemic threw the schedule off by a year before the film finally moved into post-production for almost a year. While bigger-budget projects have the ability to throw money at a problem, independent projects like this one often are forced to deal with things as they come, Podowski said.

The pandemic forced Podowski to hire COVID compliance officers to be on set for the film, which changed the budget.

At times, Podowski wondered if he could even finish the project, which was funded through equity crowdfunding, which makes each person who donates to the cause an investor in the project. At the time, Podowski’s project was only a handful of films that relied on this form of fundraising, which is typically used in tech start-ups.

While the project hit its share of bumps along the way, when it finally debuted last month in Chicago, the sign of relief was almost palpable. A second screening of the film is scheduled for April 12 at Emagine Theaters in Frankfort.

Through it all, Podowski has been forced to learn the value of patience and trusting the process, he said. Not patient by nature, Podowski said had to work through all of the ebbs and flows — along with the unforeseen delays —while keeping focused on what he could control at the time. And while all of his projects bring a certain level of satisfaction once they are complete, Podowski says that between his personal connection to the film — which is dedicated to his late uncle — and everything he endured along the way, this film will carry a special place in his heart.

He said this film showed him the value of being passionate about the storyline. Rather than focusing on a style of film that might be popular at the time, Podowski said that finding a connection to the plot and the characters as well as believing in the reason why he chose to make this movie and feeling like it could help make a difference in the world on some level.

“(A completed project) is always a big deal, it’s always a big release of emotions,” Podowski told Patch. “Regardless, it’s always a huge process that takes so much time, resources, and talent that goes into — and so it’s always a big deal.

“But you learn to trust the process and you learn to be patient and you learn to have faith in the journey and you learn to enjoy the process. It’s not just about the finished project. It’s about enjoying the process to get there.”