Rolando Hudson must have thought he'd hit the jackpot when he beat out a host of other filmmakers for corporate sponsorship of a short film.

The New York-based filmmaker already had had a successful career as the director of music videos for the likes of Salt N Pepa, Heavy D, Ice Cube and Diana Ross, but funding from the Ford Motor Company enabled him to make his first short film.

That film - The Life - is now being screened at the Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF) and may be Mr. Hudson's "launch pad" for getting in to feature film making.

Mr. Hudson told The Royal Gazette he is in talks with an Los Angeles-based entertainment company on making The Life in to a full-length feature film.

Mr. Hudson is on the Island - it is his second trip to Bermuda after having visited a decade ago to film a spot for now Attorney General Dame Lois Browne-Evans - with representatives from Ford's advertising agency, the UniWorld Group (UWG) through Thursday for BIFF week. UWG account director Linda Dukette told The Royal Gazette that Uniworld Group has had the Ford account for about 15 years and handles "African-American urban-targeted marketing" for the car manufacturer.

The idea of producing a film as a marketing tool was hatched as a way to catch the attention of a specific target audience: African-American "urbanites" in the 18 to 24 year-old range. But Ms Dukette said in choosing Mr. Hudson to make the short film - which has been dispersed over the Internet - the only real requirement was to include one of Ford's newer models, the Ford Focus in the footage.

Ms Dukette said: "We gave him carte blanche, expect the Ford Focus had to be placed in the film. And it had to be organic to the film." Ms Dukette added that their young target audience is "never home. They are out and about doing things," and alternative media seemed the way to go.

Ms Dukette would not reveal the numbers of how many people have "logged on" to see the short film through the Internet. But she did say that the numbers have exceeded expectations and that is has been "hugely successful". Reflecting on the assignment, Mr. Hudson said working "product placement" in to the film was a challenge. Having made commercials in the past, Mr. Hudson said this project was a different beast as the product was not the focus of filming but had to be intrinsic to the story line.

Working with a budget of $80,000, Mr. Hudson first created a 15-minute film which then had to be edited down to the final 12-minute project. He added that there was a certain amount of "politics" due to the nature of producing the project for a client.

The story tells the tale of Emiline Crane, which is played by veteran actor Mary Alice Smith, who falls to her death and ends up at the gates of heaven. But in a strange twist of fate she is told that she has died prematurely and she is sent back to earth in the body of a younger woman.

Coming back to earth as another person - and for a stated time of 22 years - brings its own set of challenges; including encounters with up-to-the-minute technology and a love interest. The story was written by Mr. Hudson's wife Julie Atwell.