Oscar-nominated short depicts real school shooting 911 call
LOS ANGELES (AP) — With the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School still fresh in the minds of many in the country, a pre-Oscars event Wednesday at the SoHo House in Los Angeles took on a more serious tone with a screening of the nominated live-action short "DeKalb Elementary."
The film is based on a 911 call from a 2013 incident in which Antoinette Tuff, a bookkeeper at an Atlanta-area elementary school, was able to calm a 20-year-old man armed with a rifle and convince him to put his weapon down and surrender.
Writer and director Reed Van Dyk, a UCLA graduate, made the 21-minute film with the help of a grant from the Princess Grace Foundation, which hosted Wednesday's screening and Q&A prior the Academy Awards Sunday.