I spent an eventful week in New York City at the IFP Market and Conference. It was an invaluable experience for a whole lot of reasons. In addition to attending panels and discussions on film that are always useful, the most important thing I think was connecting with cool, talented filmmakers with interesting projects. There's so much energy and inspiration you get from being surrounded by likeminded people in various stages of similar paths. Thank you to Detra Thibodeaux for making it possible for me to attend.
Internet DIY legend M Dot Strange was one of the first people I met up there, a San Jose California native that made his own animated feature, the Sundance selection "We Are The Strange", in a style he invented (Str8nime)- all in his damn bedroom! He's been covered all over the damn place and is one of Filmmaker mags 25 fresh new faces of indie film but he came up to me and just started chopping it up. We were just two cats talking about our films. The next time I saw him he told me that he wanted to mention The Jack Mackey Project in one of his entries as a guest blogger for Filmmaker Magazine and sure enough, he shouted us out.
Domingo Martin is an extremely intelligent Brooklyn based filmmaker who just finished directing his first feature, Black Astronauts. We spent most of the conference just geeking out on movies comics and then on my last night there, video games.
Aaron T. Umentani was with us for the game geek out and was cool as hell. In fact we never made it into this party because we were standing outside kicking it. He expressed interest in TJMP and was given a sneak preview of the album.
Jennifer Sharp, the director of "I'm Through With White Girls" was cool as hell and I promised her we'd all kick it when her film shows at the Chicago film festival next month and that I'd get some friends there. Note to self: "Don't be broke next month and make some friends."
I had a great conversation with Megan Scibona, another Brooklyn based filmmaker who's working on podOpera Brooklyn, an interactive soap opera that develops and evolves based on audience participation.
I decided after attending a panel on film fests that Sundance probably isn't for us. The Austin based film and music festival, South by Southwest would be a much better fit. I also promised Agile today that when we get in, we'll set it up so he can perform the entire album with a live band and his exited reaction was: "Don't say no shit like that to me. That's the typa' shit that'll keep me up at night."
Overall the trip was the shit and I realize now, it's all in our hands. We have an intriguing idea, all we gotta do is finish the film and make it as good as the album.
In the meantime, I would like to thank everyone that has supported us so far with funds, advice, and encouragement, especially Dwight Anderson, Cerissa Chaney, Alex English, Jerome Carmon, Kofi's pops, (who's name I don't have right this second) Floyd Webb, BigFace, Carlos Finney, Jocelyn Washington and Kimberley Huggins. Without this group of people we wouldn't be as far into the journey as we are now.
This ship feels like it's moving as fast as it ever has and we'll keep everyone updated as we approach land.
Later on, I'll post pictures and sound clips from our radio appearance on Focus Talk with Dennis Snipe. Thanks again everybody. I'll get back.
