For the Heart of Violet
Written & Directed by Cole Harp · Produced by Cole Harp & Nicholas Weaver · Thomas McFadden — Actor, Assistant Producer & Writer
1926. The mob is closing in, and one man will risk everything for the woman he loves.
Shot in stark black and white, For the Heart of Violet is a Prohibition-era crime romance — a gunman named Flynn, a woman named Violet, and a mob boss who won’t let either of them go quietly. Thomas plays one of Don Vito’s bodyguards, while also serving as assistant producer and a writer on the project alongside director Cole Harp.
Filmed around Clemson, South Carolina on a scrappy $150 budget (with a genuine 1929 Ford Model A on loan for the period detail), the film went on to win the CMF Jury Award and the CMF Silver Tripod Award for Best Production Design, an official selection at CMF Terminus the following year, and a screening in the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival.