Wakefield Grad Earns Television Award Nomination for Short Film

Wakefield High School alumnus Christian Yosef is one step closer to pursuing a dream career in Hollywood. Trife, his short film about race and economic adversity, has earned a nomination for the Television Academy’s 45^th College Television Awards.

Nominated in the Scripted Series category, Trife tells the story of Troy and his dad, Andre. They’re living in their car and working on Troy’s basketball skills with hopes that sports stardom will offer an escape from poverty.

When Troy hurts his arm while training, Andre robs a convenience store to get money for medical care. The store clerk, played by Edwin Lee Gibson, best known for his role as Ebraheim in the Emmy-winning FX on Hulu TV series The Bear, takes pity on Andre and offers him a job.

The Television Academy awards are modeled after the Emmys. Academy members judge entries based on industry standards of excellence, imagination and innovation. This year, the academy received 186 entries from colleges nationwide and selected 24 for nominations. Trife is up against two films: ¡Que Suene La Banda!, which means “Let the Band Play,” and Patakha about an Indian girl who starts a job at a firecracker factory.

Winners will receive trophies and about $45,000 in cash prizes at an awards ceremony in North Hollywood, California, on March 28.

Making the Movie

The inspiration for the short film came from a news story Yosef read in 2020. “There was an article about this man who was robbing a CVS store, but he was polite about it,” says the filmmaker, who wrote and directed Trife while earning his Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Southern California. “He gave a note to the cashier that said, ‘I’m sorry, it’s for my sick daughter.’ That impacted me.”

Trife interweaves that story of hardship with Yosef’s love of basketball. The name references a lyric in a song called Trife Life by the 1990s hip hop duo Mobb Deep. It’s a play on the word “strife” and means struggle.

“By the time I finished USC, I wanted to have a short film that I wrote and directed…to showcase my work,” he says.

In the film, Andre’s character is played by Shane Paul McGhie, who appeared on Grey’s Anatomy. Caleb “CJ” Williams, whose credits include Abbott Elementary and The Wonder Years reboot, is cast in the role of Troy.

“If people in the industry gravitate towards the story and believe in the people behind it, they are more willing to join the project,” Yosef says.

Filming took three days last summer. “I remember how hot it was,” Yosef says. “One of our crew members was sick from the heat and had to go home. The chocolate melted at the convenience store…. Everybody would just show up with their A game, and I’m really proud of them.”

Arlington Roots

Yosef was born in Ethiopia and moved to Arlington with his family when he was 7. At Wakefield, he credits Douglas Burns’ English class and Greg Cabana’s history class for stoking his interest in storytelling. “English and history were my favorite subjects because they contain stories, making me see the world with a bigger lens,” he says.

He later attended Washington College in Maryland, earning a bachelor’s degree in international relations and affairs, communication and media in 2021 before heading to California for grad school at USC. He’s currently using Arlington as a home base while traveling the country for film screenings of Trife. In April, his film will be featured as part of the Milwaukee Film Festival.

This summer, Yosef will return to Los Angeles to join a fellowship program for Black television writers. With luck, it will lead to a job as a TV writer’s assistant. That’s how “you get a foot in the door in this industry,” he says.

Meanwhile, he will keep promoting Trife. He hopes to turn it into a mini-series or feature film so he can tell more of Andre and Troy’s story, expanding on the narrative of individuals who go to extreme lengths just to survive, including those who view sports as a road to salvation.

It’s also a story of community, he adds. “During tough times, Black people come together to help one another out, and that’s more important than ever.”

To find out when and where you can see his short film, follow it on Instagram.