Cash Mob for Avi

The Situation

My good friend wanted to do something nice for her beloved local shopkeeper who was closing due to a rent increase. She asked me if I could help her document the flash mob that she was planning to surprise him with a store full of customers. I immediately saw that this was a beautiful story that also touched on the hurt many small business owners were facing. I decided to create a full short documentary about Avi, the flash mob (aka Cash Mob), and the town who loves him. The challenge - we needed to keep our real motives for filming secret from Avi so we wouldn’t ruin the surprise.

My Role

I assembled a talented team to help me produce this film. I directed, shot second camera, edited, and produced the entire project. I also convinced my friends to create a GoFundMe so that people who saw the film could also help Avi.

The Results

The feel good film was a viral sensation! After screening at a number of film festivals (including the Big Apple Film Festival at the world famous Tribeca Cinemas), we launched the 10-minute film on Youtube. It ended up hitting the front page of Reddit, and immediately racked up hundreds of thousands of views from around the world. Our film was featured in ABC World News Tonight, HuffPo, GodVine, and many other international publications and social media accounts. We also raised $20,000 from the generous viewers from around the world who were moved by Avi’s Story.