We Had No Business Making a Bullfighting Film. It Won Stuff Anyway.

Soda City Films produced and shot Toreador, a short film entered by filmmaker Chad Henderson in the 2024 2nd Act Film Project, a Columbia, SC arts initiative run by the Jasper Project. The film won four of eight awards at the juried screening, including Best Cinematography for Jonathan Palance, Best Actor, Audience Choice, and the Producers Award (equivalent to Best Picture). Context: Soda City Films is a Columbia-based video production company with over 15 years of professional experience and a Regional Gold ADDY among its credentials. We don't really make short films. Until now.

Chad Henderson came to us with two ideas. The first was a mafia boss having dinner with his daughter. He steps outside, his car explodes. Clean, contained, cinematic. We nodded. That's doable.

The second was a bullfighter.

Our first thought: nobody in Columbia, South Carolina has any connection to bullfighting. Our second thought was something like, ...send us the script.

What the 2nd Act Film Project Actually Is

The 2nd Act Film Project is a Columbia arts initiative run by the Jasper Project — one of the most interesting organizations supporting independent film in South Carolina. The concept: filmmakers are given the first and third acts of a short film script. Their job is to write the second act and make the movie.

It's a constraint-based creative challenge, and constraints, as it turns out, are where interesting things happen. The 2024 edition brought together 14 selected filmmakers — no entry fee, a $100 stipend to help offset production costs, and a sold-out screening at 701 Whaley in front of nearly 230 people. All 14 scripts were bound, assigned an ISBN, and filed with the U.S. Library of Congress. The project had made 84 films total by the time this one screened.

Chad Henderson's second act? A Spanish bullfighter.

https://vimeo.com/1018846101

The Script

Ok let me contextualize this piece with one small, itty bitty, teensie weensie little requirement for the project: the words in the first and third act. They are wacky. They don't make sense. That's the "fun part", I guess you could say. How do you include them? How do you write that in?

Chad's a brilliant person when it comes to that. You could say he's a "Chad" (as the kids say). What won us over was the structure. The story moves in a stream of consciousness, back and forth between the present and the past, with glimpses of what might be the future. It's not a gimmick. It's literally the storytelling method.

The premise: a man was gored by a bull during a fight. He's now in an interview, being asked whether he'll continue. He decides he wants one last fight. His wife is against it. And if you're paying attention to the foreshadowing woven throughout, you already know how it ends.

He doesn't make it out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's a tragedy, but a graceful one. It sticks because it's about more than bullfighting. It's about identity, and the thing you can't walk away from, and the cost of going back. We've all done it (not bullfighting -- the "not giving up when you should have" thing).

The Night at 701 Whaley

October 23rd, 2024. Sold-out house. All 14 films screened back to back before a live audience of nearly 230 people. Artisanal awards designed by Columbia visual artist Michael Krajewski. Cash prizes. The energy of a room full of people who showed up specifically for local independent film.

That's a real thing, and it exists in Columbia. The Jasper Project has been building it for years. I love Columbia. sw00n. Moving on.

Toreador screened that night alongside films from some genuinely strong filmmakers, and the "producers" (judges), who had watched all 14 in advance, made their choices carefully. Wade Sellers, the 2nd Act Film Project director, put it plainly: "The talent in every category was just too good to pick an obvious winner."

Four Out of Eight

There were eight awards. We took four of them.

Best Cinematography went to Jonathan Palance. Best Actor went to Cesar Davalos, whose performance as the bullfighter carried the film (seriously, her rules). The Audience Choice Award, voted by secret ballot from the people in the room, went to Toreador (by 1 vote I think). And the Producers Award, which is essentially Best Picture, also went to Toreador and Chad Henderson.

Looking back, there's plenty that could be done differently. There always is. But winning half the awards at a juried film festival, including the one the audience decides, is a pretty clear signal that we made something cool. Even if it was just for ourselves.

Why This Matters Even for a Commercial Video Company

This film doesn't directly translate into brand film clients. It's not a case study in B2B storytelling or a testimonial structure we can replicate for a nonprofit. It's a short film about a fictional Spanish bullfighter dying in an arena.

And that's exactly why we did it.

Commercial video work like brand films, recruitment videos, testimonial shoots, is the job we love. But creative projects are what keep you sharp. They're where you take risks you can't take with a client's budget and a client's brand. They're how you find out what you're actually capable of when the brief is just: make something good. One of our colleagues, doing incredibly high-level work, once said "we make films so we can call ourselves filmmakers". Dig it.

Toreador was one of those projects. It pushed us. It reminded us why this work matters. And we're already looking toward the next one. Contact Soda City Films if you have an idea and want to get it made.