(CNN) -- Being in the NFL is a bit like being a Wall Street banker or a pop star -- the job title comes with a laundry list of assumptions. If you've made it into the pros, then you must be not only physically elite and athletically talented, but also ridiculously wealthy and secure in a life the rest of us could only dream about ... right? Well, not exactly, as burgeoning filmmaker Matthew Cherry seeks to reveal in his first feature film, "The Last Fall." The indie, which premiered at SXSW this year and has racked up accolades on the film festival circuit, follows a 25-year-old pro football player who finds himself back at home, cash-strapped and trying to find his place in the world after his athletic career ends.
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Former NFL player Matthew Cherry is a rising filmmaker
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His first feature film is loosely based on his own experience
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"The Last Fall" stars Lance Gross, who sees the film as "a love story"
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Cherry hopes it will educate audiences and humanize players
And as an actor, @placeholder understood the fear of failure that comes with constantly placing one's fate in the hands of higher-ups.