Above: Actors Kyle Gallner, right, and Sosie Bacon, left, are shown in a scene from Cotton Fever, directed by Daniel Blake Schwartz. Image courtesy AC3 Media
By Gage Vieno
Reporter Fellow
Award-winning independent film producer Phil Keefe of Dorchester has spent his career helping filmmakers bring their stories to the big screen. Now, he is getting a taste of his own success with “Cotton Fever,” a feature film that recently won honors at New York City’s legendary Tribeca Film Festival.
The film, a drama set mainly in Chelsea, Massachusetts, that deals with addiction, recovery, and the power of human connection, won both the Founders Award for Best US Narrative Feature and Best Cinematography in the US Narrative Competition at the festival in May.
For Keefe, who grew up in Dorchester and has lived in the neighborhood for some 30 years, the recognition is gratifying, but it was never the goal.
Directed by first-time feature filmmaker Daniel Schwartz, “Cotton Fever” follows several interconnected individuals as they navigate lives with addiction, recovery, and the relationships that shape both. The story is rooted in Schwartz’s own experiences with addiction and homelessness, giving the film a level of realism that immediately drew Keefe to the project.
“This film was a grassroots, small-budget, scrappy project,” the 37-year-old Keefe told The Reporter last week. “A lot of people who really cared about the film and about Daniel came together, not for the money, but for the experience of helping him tell his story.
“What attracts me often to these kinds of independent films is authenticity,” Keefe said. “I specialize in working with first-time feature directors, usually on very personal stories, and I find that it just comes out in the final product.”
Keefe was introduced to Schwartz through a casting director they had both worked with. After meeting the filmmaker and hearing his vision, Keefe said, “I felt he had the maturity and the filmmaking chops to go out and make something really special.”
Rather than recreating Chelsea elsewhere, the production returned to the streets where Schwartz’s story unfolded. Keefe said filming in those locations brought emotional challenges for the director but also strengthened the film’s realism.
“What could be more authentic than shooting in the very place where Daniel was struggling?” Keefe said. “The people of Chelsea really rallied around us and supported us. Everybody who helped out had a family member or a friend who dealt with addiction.”
Like many independent productions, “Cotton Fever” was made on a modest budget, often by filming on active city streets with limited resources. Keefe said unavoidable challenges ultimately enhanced the film’s grounded feel.
“Those very imperfections lent authenticity to the movie and gave it a feeling like it wouldn’t have had anywhere else,” he said.
The production also benefited from recognizable talent. Keefe helped bring actor Kyle Gallner aboard after previously working with him during the pandemic. Gallner, who has spoken publicly about his own dealings with sobriety, connected deeply with the material and later recommended the actress Sosie Bacon for the project.
“I think them being involved really helped us get into Tribeca and will help more people see the film,” said Keefe.
Keefe grew up on Ashmont Hill, one of four boys raised by Christina and Jim Keefe. His mom helped start Ashmont Nursery School and worked as director of Codman Square Main Streets. His father’s business, Trinity Financial Inc. has built numerous properties in and around Dorchester, including the Carruth and Treadmark buildings in Ashmont.
Above, the film producer in a more candid moment at the 2025 Ashmont Hill Yard Sale with a toaster that, he lamented, no one wanted. Seth Daniel photo
Phil sang in the All Saints Church choir alongside his brothers, attended Milton Academy and Fordham University, where he studied screenwriting and English, and earned a master’s degree in Education from Boston College. He taught at the Epiphany School and Roxbury Prep before getting into film.
While the film’s story takes place in Chelsea, Keefe said Dorchester played an important role behind the scenes. “The Dorchester community was extremely supportive of this project,” he said. “We called in every favor in the book to stretch our budget.”
Residents housed actors visiting from out of town, volunteered as background extras, and found countless other ways to support production.
“I was really moved by the outpouring of support,” Keefe said. “These are people taking actors who they’ve never met into their homes for days at a time and saving our budget thousands of dollars. Without them, we really couldn’t have made the project.”
Keefe also credits his hometown with helping shape his own career in filmmaking.
“I think Dorchester has a great art scene and is very supportive of this kind of thing,” he said. “A lot of it was influenced by seeing other people in my community striving for careers in the arts and seeing my community support that.”
That sense of community continues to influence his work as a producer, a role that spans creative development, financing, production, and distribution.
“A producer’s job is to empower the vision of the filmmaker,” Keefe said. “It’s half business and it’s half creative. You have to pull all these people and all these elements together at the exact same time and go make the movie.”
As “Cotton Fever” continues distribution discussions following its Tribeca success, Keefe hopes its eventual audience will take away more than just an appreciation for independent filmmaking.
“I think the thing I really love about this film is that it is about human connection,” he said. “It feels deeply real. Hopefully people come away thinking about addiction and the people struggling with it in a different way.”
