Local filmmaker garners two awards

Documentary wins awards in both "Best Short Documentary" and "Fan Favorite" categories at Twin Cities Film Fest  By JAN WILLMS Longfellow resident Cy Dodson’s first film was not an easy one to make. The subject of his documentary, “My Last Breath,” could not see or speak. Telling his story would be a challenge. But Dodson was up for the task. Reading a copy of “My Last Breath” in one sitting, Dodson knew the chronicle Josh LaRue had written of his life had to be made into a film. Twenty-two years ago, LaRue was a seventeen-year-old boy living in the Brainerd area. Growing up with several siblings, he spent most of his time outside, enjoying the beauty of the lakes and forests that surrounded him. He fished and hunted and swam. But LaRue also had asthma, a childhood disease that seemed to worsen in his teen years. One January morning he awoke, struggling to breathe. His father put him in a car and headed for a hospital, meeting an ambulance enroute at a local gas station. LaRue was transferred to the ambulance but died on the way. He was revived, lapsing into a coma that lasted three months. “Josh woke up a totally different person,” Dodson said. “He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak and couldn’t hear.” The doctors were telling LaRue’s family that if this is what his life would be like, a life of paralysis, they should talk about doing something. They were not sure at the time if his mind was affected. But LaRue’s mother would have none of that, and he made it to his high school graduation in a wheelchair, the first time he had really been out of his room for anything significant. LaRue was weak, but he graduated. LaRue persisted in his will to live. He wanted a power wheelchair, but was not provided one because of his lack of eyesight. However, his nursing aide shot a video of Josh, showing his ability to maneuver by himself, and he got the power wheelchair a few years after his hospitalization. Dodson said that although LaRue’s family has been around him so much that they can translate some of what he says pretty easily, for the most part he cannot communicate by speaking. So he had the idea of using Morse code, and a method was developed for him to use an attachment with his computer, using his tongue to type out one letter at a time. He has used this to write and self-publish six books, including children’s books and poetry. As Dodson pored through “My Last Breath,” he said he knew this was a story that he wanted to tell through film. He had moved from Ohio to Minneapolis in 2000 to take a job working in news with KSTP Channel 5.  He currently works in video production, and started his own company, Triumph Pictures, in 2006. Dodson is soft-spoken, modest about his work with the History Channel, Travel Channel and ESPN, and his winning of two regional Emmy awards. But this would be his first documentary. As he finished reading LaRue’s story, he noted that Josh and his family had moved from Brainerd to Ohio, close to the area where Dodson’s family now lives. “So I would go home to visit family and then work with Josh on the film,” Dodson said. He said LaRue was eager to get his story told, and the documentary would be another avenue for him to do that. “His family has been great through the process,” Dodson added, “even though it meant revisiting some tough memories.” The film recreates the day of LaRue’s asthma attack, revisits Cayuna Regional Medical Center where he was first brought in and provides interviews with his family members and many of the people who first treated him that day. His caregivers are interviewed, and childhood friends talk about Josh. “It was kind of a handful to take on,” Dodson said. “We communicated through email through the contraption Josh has set up. But as far as having a conversation and going over details, it didn’t happen.” Dodson said LaRue is approaching 40 now. “We’re about the same age,” he said. “I think he’s content, as much as he can be. His mind was unaffected.  At one point, he had anger, more along the lines of ‘Why didn’t I just go?’” LaRue spends a lot of time writing, according to Dodson. He is bound to his chair relying on other people to shower and dress him, help him use the bathroom and put him to bed. Always an outdoor person, LaRue has a deer stand set up in his yard for his aides. “They go out there and hunt and he can coach them along.” Dodson said working on the film itself helped LaRue to have something different in his life. “He is definitely positive and wants to get things done. Sometimes I can’t, I have to work. If it were up to him, we would be taking this out on the road now and telling his story,” Dodson said. “At some point that may happen, but we are just sending it out to film festivals now.” The film has been screened at the recent Twin Cities Film Fest and also at the Square Lake Festival in Stillwater. “The hardest part of the film was to tell the story,” Dodson said. “After I gathered what I thought was enough for the story, then sitting down and putting it together was challenging.” He shot, directed and edited the production. Kelly O’Donnell produced the film, and Joseph Haidle composed the music. Dodson, who plays the guitar and piano, also composed some of the music. Dodson said the movie had many rewarding facets. “One was meeting people, having people around you excited by the story and wanting to help,” he said. “The other part is doing something for Josh. His family is involved, a lot more than me, watching me do the story and getting it right. It’s not just about me, for sure.” Dodson said that since this is his first effort at making a short film, he doesn’t know how to compare the film community in the Twin Cities to other areas. “But the film community here just seems to be very supportive,” he said. Dodson helped fund the cost of making his film with an online Kickstarter campaign. He said that although getting the film done is an accomplishment, in some ways it still feels like a work in progress regarding marketing. “Some say the work starts when the film is finished,” Dodson said with a smile. “There are a million ways to get your work out there, but who knows what the right way is? Everyone has an opinion on it. And finding the right situation for a short film is a lot trickier. Josh asked about what the next step is, and I’m just learning here as I go.” Dodson said that now that he has this documentary under his belt and can add it to his resume, he has some ideas for new projects. “There are definitely people I’d like to reach out to and work with,” he noted. Meanwhile, he continues working with video production, editing some network series and working with several corporations. His home office has a wood-burning stove, and while he works he sips from a huge cup filled with tea. He is preparing “My Last Breath” for another showing, this time in the Ohio community where LaRue lives. “We’re going to show it in Ohio over the holiday,” Dodson said. “It will be good. Josh and his family will be there, and this will be the first time we are all kind of together to watch it.” The film can be purchased at the website, www.mylastbreathfilm.com for $10 (digital download), $15 (DVD) or $20 (Blu-Ray).