Evan Schoeberlein never liked being the center of attention.
“He never was anybody that wanted to draw attention to himself,” said younger brother Marc. “He didn’t want anybody to feel sorry for him.”
Evan will be the center of attention on Friday, Nov. 14, when Marc’s film, “My Brother and Me,” premieres at the Palace Theater in Eastwood. The film chronicles Evan’s battle with and ultimate passing from Ewing’s sarcoma and his family’s struggle with the loss. Proceeds from the premiere will benefit two Baldwinsville charities, Paige’s Butterfly Run and Maureen’s Hope.
Marc made the film as a way to honor his brother, as well as to take the next step in his own film career.
“In 2000 or 2001, before [Evan] was diagnosed, for Christmas, I got a Hi-8 camcorder, and that Christmas day, we made our first movie together, this thing with toy robots,” Marc said. “Every so often, we’d make something together. Once Eric and Evan went to college, they were making things with their friends. I was in high school, and I was making things with my friends. It’s something we kept doing for several years.”
Marc ultimately decided to pursue a career in film production and headed off to the University of Buffalo to get a degree in film. A couple of years ago, after making a few short films, Marc started to think about doing a feature.
“When I started out, I knew I wanted to make something bigger and more involved. I wasn’t sure what story I wanted to tell,” he said. “But then I thought, if I’m going to do something like this, it should be a story I was really involved in and felt strongly about.”
It seemed like the perfect opportunity to pay tribute to his older brother, who passed away in 2008 at the age of 25. He wrote a script and decided to turn to crowdfunding to raise the money necessary to produce it. The response was overwhelming.
“I got a huge initial response from a lot of people who knew Evan or knew our situation, even strangers who’d been affected by cancer,” Marc said. “Everybody was really generous.”
After spending a year casting actors and getting all of the necessary elements together, production began in the summer of 2013. In order to produce on as minimal a budget as possible, Marc and his crew turned to the community for donations — and they weren’t disappointed.
“Everyone we went to donated time, space, money resources — it’s amazing,” said dad Warren. “Almost everyone’s life has been touched by cancer. When you explain that you’re doing something for charity, the response was overwhelming. Everybody said sure, from the Syracuse hospitals to the volunteer ambulance corps to the neighborhoods that let us close off their streets for filming.”
Thanks to those donations, the Schoeberleins were able to make the movie for just $7,500, a sum practically unheard of in the movie business.
“People were incredibly generous,” Marc said.
The Schoeberleins, who now live in Liverpool, are eager to pay back that generosity, which is why they’re donating all proceeds from the premiere to Paige’s Butterfly Run and Maureen’s Hope.
“For both charities, we are family friends with the founders,” Marc said. “We’re close with the Arnolds, who started Paige’s Butterfly Run. When Sue Bertrand was first getting Maureen’s Hope off the ground, Evan was one of the first patients she donated a care basket to. They were the first people we wanted to talk to.”
Bertrand, who lost her sister, Maureen, to a rare and aggressive cervical cancer in 2003, said she was happy to see Marc using his numerous talents to honor his lost sibling and even happier to have his support for her own organization.
“It’s incredibly heartwarming to know that Marc wants to help support the mission of Maureen’s Hope as well as Paige’s Butterfly Run through proceeds from his movie,” she said. “I hope we fill the theater with people of all ages and I am sure everyone will leave with a bit more understanding because of Marc sharing his journey. A favorite quote of mine is, ‘When we know better, we do better,’ and that begins with understanding.”
Chris Arnold, who started Paige’s Butterfly Run after his daughter’s death due to complications from leukemia in 1997, said he’s grateful to be associated with the project.
“Ellen and I very much appreciate that Marc and his family thought of us when putting their premiere together,” said Arnold, whose older daughter, Alex, graduated from Baker High School with Marc. “This movie was a work from the heart, an effort on their part to make sense of the senseless, to heal and to help others heal. We’re very proud to be associated with ‘My Brother and Me.’”
Marc Schoeberlein said his main goal for the film is to raise money for those local charities, but he also hopes to start a conversation about independent film in Syracuse. That’s one reason the premiere is being hosted at the Palace.
“We did our research, and the last few independent films in Syracuse all premiered at the Palace,” he said. “We spoke with them and they were very accommodating, very happy to help us out.”
Marc said he’s particularly proud of the film itself, which he said details “the ebb and flow” of life for someone undergoing cancer treatment.
“I think that a lot of people, if they haven’t been affected by cancer, they don’t understand that there are times it’s difficult, but there are also times of happiness, and families can rally around the situation and help each other,” he said. “I tried to capture that in the film.”
According to Warren, he was successful.
“I think it’s very genuine,” he said. “It doesn’t fictionalize, and it doesn’t create stereotypical images. It’s a very honest approach to the emotions you go through [watching a family member with cancer]. Having lived through the real event and then having been an integral part of the movie, I guess I had to like it. But what I really like about it is that it’s honest.”
Warren also believed Evan would love the film.
“From a parent’s perspective, it’s difficult to figure out how to pay tribute to a child’s life,” he said. “Some people opt for a scholarship. Others do a fun run. For us, this was the perfect choice, knowing Evan, knowing our family. It’s unique, but it’s exactly what he would have enjoyed.”
For Marc, it’s the perfect way to honor his brother’s memory.
“It’s a way to celebrate his memory, and I think it’s nice to be able to still continue a discussion with someone who’s passed away and show everyone the person he was,” he said. “He’s still affecting people.”
The movie premieres at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14. VIP tickets, which allow guests access to a reception after the film, are available for $50, though they’re almost sold out. General admission tickets are $10. The trailer and tickets are available at mybrotherandmefilm.com.
