JACKSONVILLE —Oscar-winning filmmaker, adjunct professor and Middleburg High graduate Drew Lewis Brown is returning home to Jacksonville on Nov. 6 with big plans in store for the local area.

Brown will be hosting a community benefit to help raise $100,000 for his new film "Baby Tooth"—which tells the story of an ostracized young man who faces his past while revisiting his rural hometown and providing support for his terminally ill grandmother.

Brown said it is a fictionalized retelling of the last four days his grandmother was alive.

"At the time in my life that inspired the film, I was at this really pivotal age of dealing with insecurities around masculinity and what it meant to be a man," Brown said.

Brown wrote the film back in 2019, and in 2023 went through two stage readings.

Last year, Brown said he created a proof of concept, or a short visual representation of what the film will be. And more recently, he has also been in talks for a potential partnership with a New York-based production company.

"It's a really big deal because this production company's feature, that they made last year, got into Sundance. And it was also nominated for a Spirit award, which is the Oscar's of independent films."

The movie will star two-time Tony Award winner Judith Ivey, best known for The Devil's Advocate, Women Talking and Netflix's Sweet Magnolias.

The Baby Tooth Variety Hour will be from 6-7:30 p.m. at WJCT Studios, 100 Festival Park Ave. The event is free and open to the public. Those in attendance will get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie, see a special guest and hear about the impact production will bring to the local area.

With the film currently in the development and fundraising phase, the variety hour will also be a kickoff to a month-long giving campaign.

Through the end of the year, all contributions will be tax-deductible. Brown said the plan is to reach the film's $1 million budget.

In total, he said "Baby Tooth" is expected to create more than 100 local jobs and generate over $700,000 worth of goods and services for the Jacksonville arts, hospitality and small business sectors.

The film will also produce educational opportunities through internships.

"Since the goal is to shoot the film in Northeast Florida, essentially that means that we would be putting the $700,000 that we would be needing for that part of the budget into local resources, small businesses."

Brown said that the city is not helping to fundraise, however their presence at the event will help to show their support for the project.

"Over the past 10 years, the state of Florida has not had a film incentive program that has been active. It sort of went away in 2016. And just within the last two years, the city of Jacksonville has been able to put together their own film incentive program. Which is really great for feature length films to come through."

For more information or to make a contribution, visit babytoothfilm.com. To RSVP for the variety hour event, visit babytooth.eventbrite.com.