My Friend Tommy, a seriously comedic feature documentary by filmmaker Nem Stankovic, is set to World Premiere at the Dances With Films (DWF 25) film festival, taking place June 9-19 in person at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.
Real-life 40-year-old virgin Tommy has five degrees and works at the gym, but he still lives with his Christian Korean parents and adheres to a curfew. He’s never had a personal bank account and provides his parents with all of his earnings, but only receives a small allowance in return. Tommy has been both sheltered and pampered. Though many of us would love to say we’ve never had to cook or clean, there is a downside to this coddling: Tommy has never so much as kissed or dated a woman. He wants to change that. His unlikely best friend, filmmaker and athlete Nem Stankovic, vows to help.
Nem’s absurdly funny and heart-warming film follows a cross-continental quest to discover the adulthood Tommy never had, alongside his “wolfpack” of wild, younger friends. Tommy’s journey takes him from Toronto to Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and even the redwood forests of Northern California. Everywhere they visit, Nem challenges Tommy to learn a new skill, from asking a girl out and experiencing his first kiss, to cooking and doing laundry for the first time. The film features celebrity cameos from the likes of NBA star Dwight Powell, Grammy Award-winning super-producer Boi1da, and YouTuber Azzyland, among others. Constantly pushed outside of his comfort zone into scary places he’s never been before, physically or mentally, Tommy strips away the layers of his past. With its unorthodox, hip-hop-influenced style, My Friend Tommy feels more like a buddy comedy than a documentary. This belies the film’s other side: there are dramatic, and often hilarious, twists and turns, as an actual person’s life changes drastically in real time.
Nem says, “I met Tommy in film school. He was, and remains, a selfless soul, always looking to help others. After we became close friends, he constantly asked me for ‘help with the ladies’; I realized he was a virgin. I then ended up planning ‘The Trip’: a quest of challenges for Tommy to discover his adulthood he never had.”
“Tommy was the perfect subject because he dreamed of being a comedic on-air personality,” Nem continues, “and almost everything Tommy does or says is a highlight reel of awkward and quirky comedic gold. I decided to make this project out of love for a close friend, to help him change his life into the one he’d always wanted.”
Executive producer Oliver Mochizuki adds, “My Friend Tommy has been years in the making and we’re so pleased for it to premiere at Dances With Films, which bills itself as a ‘discovery’ film festival. Tommy is indeed a discovery and a revelation. His film raises the important point that there are hundreds of millions of adult virgins living in silence worldwide. Without aiming to be a social commentary, this film will be the first to document their lives and bring their voices into the limelight.”
Watch the trailer for My Friend Tommy
My Friend Tommy screens Tuesday, June 14th at 7:00PM PDT at the TCL Chinese Theatre, 6925 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA, 90028. The producers are planning a blockbuster celebrity party to follow the screening.
My Friend Tommy director/producer and subject Nem Stankovic – AKA “Big Nem” – is a filmmaker, comedian, and recording artist from Toronto, Canada. He was born in Belgrade, Serbia and fled to Canada with his family in the early ’90s, during the Yugoslav Civil War. Nem graduated from Ryerson University’s Radio & Television Arts program in Toronto, majoring in Screenwriting and Directing. Here, he met his best friend Tommy, which led to the creation of the film My Friend Tommy. Nem is a graduate of The Second City improv troupe and spent a few years doing stand-up comedy. He also has a number of viral videos online.