Good Life School

Anthony Flores is a filmmaker who studied film and television production at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles. He is the founder of BonVida Films, his film production company, and he is currently based in Los Angeles. His most recent film release is a short film, BonVida Skool. “BonVida,” translated from Creole, the language spoken in his ancestral home, Cape Verde, is Good Life. And “Skool” is the colloquial spelling of School. Thus BonVida Skool’s literal translation is “Good Life School.”

We had the opportunity to dialogue with Anthony and we asked him about what led him to filmmaking: I always loved film. It captivated me as a young boy. The mere fact that you are able to create a completely new world with no restrictions was the ultimate art form for me to express myself.

And that is what he did with BonVida Skool. The film stars Colby Winston and Brian Fernandez, and can be categorized as an urban street drama film. He shot it entirely on location in Boston and Brockton, MA. He states: They’re my home. They’re the cities I grew up in. As far as telling the visual story of that world, no one knows it better than I.

Getting Schooled

The film lives up to it’s name as you can really get schooled by it. However, this schooling is done in subliminal fashion because as Anthony puts it: In today’s day and age you can’t blatantly push your message down your audience’s throat. Get their attention with cool stuff and then insert your lesson. Some use this method to corrupt, but I do it with the opposite agenda, to educate.

Given the poignant messages of the film, for example, avoiding the street life and getting an academic education, we had to ask Anthony what responses he has received from viewers and he retorts: I’ve had good and bad responses. The community welcomed it with open arms. But as far as negatives, it may have been from some actual gang members. They accused me of exploiting them.

In regards to his current filmmaking endeavors, Anthony says: I’m continuing work on my feature film debut, BonVida: A Cape Verdean American Dream. And I’m also working on a TV series based in the same world.

View BonVida Skool

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