Wilfred La Salle, who grew up in the West Farms neighborhood, is forging his own path in the art of feature films — with the goal of becoming “the world’s greatest” independent filmmaker.
He founded La Salle Productions Inc. and is almost singlehandedly creating full-length movies on a nonexistent budget — often using actors and locations from his native borough.
“We’re doing these films essentially broke,” La Salle, 38, said in an interview with the Bronx Times. “You just figure it out along the way.”
La Salle, a former corrections officer with a day job in security, has managed to write, direct, produce and act in a full-length film each year for the past six years — all despite never having attended film school. Fueled by his lifelong passion, he invested in equipment he didn’t initially know how to use and began spending his nights editing scenes and summers shooting around the Bronx and Westchester County.
“I had no idea what I was doing, but I had a vision for what I wanted to do,” La Salle said.
Growing up with a single mother in NYCHA housing, La Salle said that movies were his “outlet for everything.” Though he now lives in Mount Vernon, he still finds much talent and inspiration in the Bronx.
La Salle has cast over 70 actors throughout his films, mainly people of color, mostly from the New York City area and some from across the country. In lieu of pay, the actors receive their reels (scenes they are featured in), allowing them to show high-quality finished work to casting agents, he said.
La Salle is dreaming big, but for now, he’s doing a lot with a little. “You’d think I have a crew of 50. It’s just me.
‘The underdog’
La Salle said he is driven to tell stories about ordinary working people. “No one makes a film about the postal worker, the sanitation worker because those occupations are not glorified.”
At the same time, he also focuses on giving meaningful roles to local not-yet-famous actors, “instead of being Pedestrian #4.”
La Salle’s latest film, “The Security Guard,” was shot primarily in the Bronx and seizes on the hot-button issue of gun control. It tells the story of a Brooklyn man, Omari Russell (played by James B. Randolph of Brooklyn), who is fighting for custody of his young daughter Mya (played by Makenzi Reign D’Angelo from the Bronx) and working at her school as a safety officer. When gunfire breaks out in the building, the father is put to the test.
The film addresses gun control from various angles, from police to gun dealers to Democrats and Republicans, and it offers a powerful message that violence can happen anywhere, said La Salle. He views Omari as “the underdog,” a regular man who ends up in a heartbreaking situation.
“People are gonna need handkerchiefs and tissue,” La Salle said.
His next film, “The Veteran,” set to begin filming in 2025, will tell the story of a man dishonorably discharged from the military and addicted to oxycontin. It is another story that is “gonna really hit home” with audiences, he said.
“You don’t have to have graduated from Harvard for your story to be important,” said La Salle.
‘Guerilla-style’
La Salle has big ambitions — but is also banking on his family’s continued support and his ability to stay out of trouble while making his work.
“My wife will kill me. I’ve gone through debt just to make the films,” he said.
La Salle shoots “guerilla-style,” under the threat of being shut down by police. A chase scene shot on the Cross Bronx Expressway was especially dangerous, and La Salle said he has almost been arrested twice. “To me, you have to take the risk.”
So far, those risks have paid off, and his work is being seen by larger audiences. His 2022 film, “Graves,” is available to stream on Tubi and Amazon Prime. And “Hilo II,” from a trilogy about corrupt police officers fighting a new gang, won Best Debut Director at Italy’s Vesuvius International Film Festival and Best Film at the Madras International Film Festival.
La Salle said his goal is to make a film that lands on Hulu or Netflix and that he plans to get his work get in front of directors at Lionsgate, the famed production studio with a campus in Yonkers.
“I want to be the greatest independent filmmaker in the world. Why can’t [that person] be from the Bronx?” he said. “I’m just trying to show people what’s possible.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
