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By Douglas McCulloch
Hometown Weekly Staff
Jared Marshall, a Medfield native who now runs his own film company in Los Angeles, will show his first feature film, “Of Fortune and Gold,” at the Boston International Film Festival.
The film is an indie adventure that tells the story of four young millennials who travel across the country in search of a hidden treasure. Taking inspiration from classics including “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and “Once Upon a Time in the West,” he was also inspired also by his own story of getting into the film business.
At its root, the film tells the story of a choice between following one's passion, or going with the flow.
Marshall’s journey to Hollywood began at a young age. As a kid, he was always surrounded by cameras for as long as he could remember.
The 2004 graduate of Medfield High recalled the many moments of his life captured on camera by his parents, photos and videos of birthday parties, sports games, and more.
“When I was young, my parents always had a camera of some sort,” Marshall said. “I was always around cameras.”
When Marshall arrived at Medfield High as a freshman, he was quick to become involved in performing arts.
“I was always in theater, and it was small at the time but I was also in the television production class at Medfield High,” Marshall said.
As he struggled to keep both his studies and his commitments to the Medfield High drama program and his position on the football team, he decided to dedicate more time to theater by leaving the football team.
The film is Marshall's first time directing and writing a feature film. He had previously directed a short film, called “Dark Times,” which was featured in a compilation film called “”Zombie World.”
His work with short films helped open up distributers to his ideas for a feature film.
“You show first and foremost that you know how to tell a story visually, and you show distributers that you can be trusted with a budget,” Marshall said.
Marshall picked up his first real experience in the film business locally with Mandeville Films, where he worked for several films that were shot in and around the Boston area, including “The Proposal” and “Surrogates.”
“I was fortunate enough to get myself into a small circle in Boston,” Marshall said.
Mandeville Films brought him to Los Angeles, where he gained experience working for the studio system. He left Mandeville to create his own production company, Prominence Films. From there, he began working on his first feature film.
The film premiered on April 2 at the Academy Theatre in Maryland. The Boston screening is scheduled for April 17 at noon at the Paramount Theatre in Boston.
Click here to purchase tickets to the screening.
