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WILDCAT ROUNDUP
Producer Mickey Meyer ’03 earned a statuette for Best Live Action Short Film at the 93rd Academy Awards in April
Oscar Moment
An award-winning film from Mickey Meyer’s Group Nine Studios provocatively captures the issue of race and police violence BY KATE LAWLESS
The 2020 movie “Two Distant Strangers,” portrays a Groundhog Day–like scenario in which a Black man is killed by a white police officer over and over again, despite trying to avoid a confrontation. On Sunday, April 25, film producer Mickey Meyer ’03 had hustled home from coaching his son’s Little League game, and turned on the TV just in time to hear the announcement that his 32-minute film had won an Oscar. In a normal year, Meyer would have been dressed to the nines at the ceremony, along with writer/codirector Trayvon Free and co-director Martin Desmond Roe.
“That’s one of the positives of a global pandemic,” he said. Meyer watched the program surrounded by family. “Being able to see my sons react, having my parents there, who instilled in me that sense that it would be possible to move this film through—it was incredible,” he said. “I’m still trying to process it. It doesn’t feel real. It feels like a movie.”
Free approached Meyer with the script shortly after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, at a time when the country was undergoing a racial reckoning. “My role was removing hurdles, finding financing, connecting the dots on talent—basically building an army behind the film.” The coronavirus didn’t stop the protesters in the street, and it didn’t stop the making of the movie. “Two Distant Strangers” was the first film that the Screen Actors Guild allowed to go into production after the pandemic began. It was filmed in five days. Keeping it short was a way to make sure it saw the light of day quickly, Meyer said, and to reach a wider audience.
Meyer is president of Group Nine Studios, which produced the short that streamed on Netflix and which manages digital media brands such as The
Dodo, Thrillist, PopSugar, and NowThis News. He said it fit perfectly with the studio’s mission.
“Black Americans have the feeling of Groundhog Day every time they hear about another police shooting of an unarmed Black person,” he said. “They’ve tried everything they can possibly think of,” just as the “Two Distant Strangers” protagonist has. “Our country is divided right now, and it’s hard to find a way to communicate when words fall on deaf ears. Art is a way to evoke a feeling in viewers, helping the conversation along.”
Sports Shorts
Six Wildcats making their mark in athletics BY DENNIS CROMMETT
MAX WILLMAN ’14
Max Willman continues his climb toward the NHL, signing a two-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers starting in the 2021–2022 season. Willman recently earned AHL Player of the Week honors for his five-goal outburst in three games.
COUPER GUNN ’18
Couper Gunn’s road to signing with the National Premier Soccer League began on a podcast. Gunn was interviewed by the Atlantic City Football Club’s social media director, who then encouraged him to send his highlight tape to the club’s general manager. Gunn will now join the team for their summer season before returning to ColbySawyer College for his senior year.
PHOTOGRAPH OF MICKEY MEYER BY CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY
MACKENZIE POSSEE ’15
File under “Dream Jobs”: In December, Mackenzie Possee took the field as an NFL Editor at CBS Sports, after two seasons on the editing staff of the NFL and Front Office Sports. A former editor and photographer for The Willistonian, Possee now edits all the online coverage of the NFL and major league events. “I love being paid to watch and read about football,” she writes. “I think I have the best job in the world!”
GABBY THOMAS ’15
There’s no stopping the fantastically fast Gabby Thomas, who won the 300-meter at the 2021 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in March and the 200 at the USATF Golden Games in May, with new PRs in both races. Thomas is currently pursuing the goal of making the 2021 Olympic team, and if there’s one thing we know about her, what she pursues, she catches!
ERIK OSTBERG ’14
Erik Ostberg has been hitting it out of the park since being drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2017. After crushing it in his first week of the season with the High-A affiliate Bowling Green Hot Rods, catcher Ostberg was called up to the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits in May.
JOHN AYLWARD ’15
Following a stint with the NFL’s Houston Texans—first as intern, then offensive assistant—John Aylward is now an offensive assistant coach for the illustrious Notre Dame football team. We’ll be following this former standout Williston quarterback as he prepares the Fighting Irish for the gridiron next year.
