By Nick Smith
The legend of Bloody Mary has been around for generations. It is said that the ghost appears in a mirror if you call for her three times. She might show you the future; she might be the death of you.
Calvin ‘Kalvo’ Griffin knows the legend well. When he was young, he and his cousins would go into a bathroom, light a candle, look into the mirror and try to summon Bloody Mary. ‘We risked our lives!’ he laughs. ‘We’d heard the urban legend and it scared me.’
Now Kalvo is turning that childhood fear into a web series called Mirror, telling a story in 10 episodes that will vary from three to six minutes long. ‘The idea started as a short film, showing three kids testing the theory of Bloody Mary and running out of the bathroom,’ says Kalvo. He expanded the idea, developing it into a full series. ‘I jumped years down the line and made the characters adults, so I could show what they did as kids affected them later in life. The main character is living a regular life but one day she and her friends are having a movie night and one friend poses the question, “what scares you” …’
Kalvo has made an art of exploring what scares and excites him, mining his own feelings and concerns, as well as those of the people around him, to make movies. Originally from Troy, Alabama, he has a background in broadcast journalism. That brought him to WEAR ABC 3 News in Pensacola. After working as a media specialist at a local private school, he took a leap of faith and pursued filmmaking as a full-time freelancer. Then the pandemic hit.
Not one to wallow in self-pity, Kalvo wrote two scripts that became short films, both partly inspired by COVID and the state of the world. One was a romantic comedy centered around a couple separated in the midst of lockdown, called Love Me 6ft Away. He modestly describes his other film, 6ft From the Gun, as ‘two men having a conversation.’ There’s more to it than that – in an environment weighted with the fate of George Floyd and the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, the short has been described as thought provoking and impactful.
Kalvo says his background in journalism helps him to tell other people’s stories. ‘I authentically write out stories,’ he explains. ‘Either my personal experiences, or I use characters to tell the stories of other individuals.’
As well as bringing those narratives to life, Kalvo has also provided opportunities for other filmmakers to screen their films, founding a Gulf Coast Culture Fest and its offshoot, the Gulf Coast Short Film Fest. Both were held for the first time in May of this year. ‘It started small as a way of self-expression,’ says Kalvo, ‘to celebrate life, have conversations and learn about different backgrounds. It was a really beautiful thing.’
He’s planning a second Culture Fest for May 21st 2022, with a film festival around the same time. Kalvo started his own movie-making journey with a film contest and screening in Mobile and he wants to give a similar opportunity to other, local artists. ‘To make something and have it shown publicly is an awesome feeling,’ he says. ‘The Film Fest was a great way to provide a showcase for family and friends, and to give the chance for new filmmakers to make something and show it.’
After this year’s Short Film Fest, a lot of participants reached out to Kalvo, telling him the event inspired them to ‘get back in the groove and get back out’ after the 2020 pandemic. ‘You don’t know how much your actions impact people,’ Kalvo has realized. With his web series and a feature film in the planning stages, this director is set to impact many more in the months to come.
To find out more about Mirror, visit https://gofund.me/b9c813f1
