Edward Buckles Jr. | Between Bites Podcast with Nina Compton & Larry Miller S2E10

On episode ten of the Between Bites podcast, Nina Compton and Larry Miller are joined by award-winning New Orleans filmmaker Edward Buckles Jr. to discuss his love of filmmaking, storytelling, cooking, and New Orleans.

Buckles talks about his critically acclaimed film "Katrina Babies", a documentary that was not only an outlet for his own trauma but also a means to explore the collective trauma experienced in New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina.

Inspired by his grandmother's dedication to preserving family photos, Buckles was drawn to collecting footage and assembling narratives at an early age. This would prove invaluable to Buckles on his nearly seven-year journey of interviewing and compiling stories for "Katrina Babies".

Hear about Buckles' current and future projects as his work seeks to document collective traumas but also foster healing and understanding through the power of narrative.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hello again.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome back to season two Between Bites with Tina Compton
and Larry Miller, brought to you by the amazing folks
at Caesar's New Orleans.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
We like those guys a lot. Today is another one
of those blessing days. As uh.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
We're joined with a very special New Orleanian with amazing
story to tell and just an amazing future in front
of him as well, Edward Buckles Jr. Doing business as
he Buckles Producer.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
It's been a uh, it's been kind of like a
a struggle trying to find my stage name, if you will,
I guess think it's strong Edward Buckles Bucky.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
But I'm very happy to be here.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
Thank you for having We are honored. You have no idea.

Speaker 5 (01:06):
I We've interviewed a lot of very influential people and
powerful people, but you know, you and be Mike, like
the creatives that just it's just beautiful. And I've been
a fan and I am like starstruck right.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
Now watching you know.

Speaker 5 (01:28):
No, I'm honestly like I just want to hug you
every day, you know, because it's just I think you're
such a beautiful person and it really shows in everything
that you do.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:40):
It's we are honored. I am like I'm trembling, thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
I'm really honored and throwed to be here as well.
I mean, you know, as you know, I love I
love food, I love caninary, I love to cook.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
So you've got some skills. Yeah, I have some skills.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
And obviously I know who you are, so you know
I am just as you know, andor to be here
since sitting here, you know, sharing space and conversation with
you as well, well.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
I think that's how we had our banter, you.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Know, you know, you know also how he knows you.
Oh yeah, your sister she was mad at you, Edward,
you're in trouble.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
Well, last year my sister was.

Speaker 5 (02:20):
She lives in between London and Solutions. She she comes down.
She loves essence fast and she came home one night
and feel likes to Galliphant and be around and she's, yeah,
I don't even know where she's half the time.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
And she says, I met, I met e Buckles.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
I said what I said before me even possible. She
came to my screening.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, I know I have a screen ATAC and I
was supposed to be going some more technique. The next day,
and I mentioned that in my in my discussion, and
then I heard some people in the crowd say whoa.

(03:00):
I said, okay, And then after I realized that they were,
you know, visiting from you know, wait where she is?

Speaker 1 (03:10):
She yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, back then she was in London.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
She was just transitioning to Solution, got it.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, So she and I thought that that was that
was just such a weird like coincidence, because you don't
expect anybody in New Orleans to be like whoa. So
we had a discussion after, and you know, she told
me that she knew you or.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Maybe or maybe things were moving so fast.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
That I kind of just, you know, right right right,
misunderstood her. But it's crazy that y'all are actually.

Speaker 5 (03:45):
Sisters, Like, yeah, it is, and it's going back to Martinique.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
It's such a small island. Solusia is such a small island.

Speaker 5 (03:54):
So when I started cooking, I always have to explain
to people where Solutions it's because people say, oh, it's
in the Virgin Islands.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
I said, no, we're for the South, and I had
to keep on explaining.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
So when I did Top Chef, my whole thing was
to tell people we're down here.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
This is the food that we cook.

Speaker 5 (04:12):
Because I feel like people just there was a caravan
and one thing, and you know, that really made me
push to like, Solution is a small island. It's one
hundred and seventy thousand people. A lot of people don't
know where it is. But now because I'm pushing that,
people are like, I know where you're from.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
It's really important. It is.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
It's really important because I feel like often with you know,
the places where we're from, I think that they try
to box it and group it.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
It's like this one big place I mean almost like
New Orleans where.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
People say, oh, you're from Louisiana, like you know, and
and they will assume that I know stuff about Lafayetta,
right right, right right, I'm actually know much about it, right, yeah, exactly.
So yeah, I think that's really important. Enjoyed for food, right,
you know?

Speaker 5 (05:02):
Yes, So you love to cook and you're kind of
bougie because the other day you put something out you
were cooking with duck fight.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
I'm like okay, and he's like yeah, he's like that's
so good. So, yes, you love to cook. Where did
you learn cooking from? Was this his family?

Speaker 5 (05:18):
Or just.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
A few different places. So my parents obviously, you know,
they both cooked growing up in New Orleans. That's just
something that everybody in my family, the men and the
women and the children, we all cooked. And my father
did like a lot of slow cooking growing up. So
I can always remember, you know, being impatient.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
And be liked, right. So, and he just did it.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
You know, you know, for satisfaction. It wasn't for a passion,
it wasn't for well. Actually, he also was a grill master,
so you know, he grilled. Everybody came on weekends and
birthday parties, holidays to taste his girly.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
You know, like barbecue, chicken, barbecue.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Fish, steaks, pork chops, sausage, all of that stuff. So,
you know, just being kind of like a witness to that,
I think that, you know, subconsciously.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
It was always there.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
But then once you know, I became like an independent adult,
that's when I really started to activate it. You know,
whenever I went to college and you know, me and
my friends were.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Starving in the dorm room and I was like, wait,
I can cook.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
And I still remember the the very very day where
you know, where I activated it. I was going to
Dilli University and I was in I was in my
friend's dorm room and we were all just starving. We
were broke, like we didn't have any money, so and
you know, the calf was closed. So I was like, yo,

(06:51):
like let's let's let's put together and go and get
some uh, some pork chops from I think it was
like when Dixie.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Right right, like a little struggle mill. And I was like,
I can make us some gravy and rice and macaroni.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
And I was so nervous though, because I was like,
I don't know, so like you know, I called my
dad and like he was like, yo, do this, like
you know, go and get some you know, onion soup,
go and get some whatever, blah blah blah, and you know,
come and get my roasting pan. So I went and
got his blue famous unsand that every black family has
rosan and uh and I still cooked it for about

(07:27):
two or three hours.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
And you know, I remember it was like a lot
of pressure because it was like a lot of like
there was a lot of girls.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
In there, but also it was athletes. Now athletes pretty
much you know, they pretty much eat anything.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
They just when they're in college.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
So I remember when I feed them, I gained the
most respect. To this day, they still respect me and
they probably don't even really remember why. But that was
what activated it, because you know, I cooked and just
getting kind of like that response.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Were you, you know, to my food? You were happy
with everything you put out that night? I mean it
was delicious.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
I don't it's not my style of cooking anymore, but
it was delicious, like you know it like for like
college college kids. It was gravy, gravy and rice with
a small pork chops and you know, pepper, and you
know I I was pleased.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
I was pleased.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, I mean, you're not one of the neurotic chefs
who's just gonna stare at everything.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Well, then it becomes not fun.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yes, yes, when you're cooking to please other people or
feed them and nourish them, Yes, there's a lot of satisfyent.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Did you get a girlfriend out of it?

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Well? So I was. I was.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
I was at my girlfriend's doing room because she played
volleyball and the volleyball team and the basketball team was cool.
So you know, I was, I was. I was at
like yeah, crossroads, a crossroads, and you know, from there
you know obviously being a filmmaker, I begin to travel
and my mentor, Chi k Oza, he lives in New York, so.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
He also cooks.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
And one way that he judges people and one way
that he kind of like decides who he's gonna like
really invest into and mentor is if they're willing to
try things, different things to eat.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
So I have witnessed this, Like I have witnessed this
dude offer people food and if they say no to it,
and he immediately like just like okay, Like I don't think.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
I don't think this is going to work out.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
But I was so into it because you know, like
like food to me is like art. So in the
same way I go to a museum and I look
at a painting. If like there's like this, you know,
weird dish in front of me, I'm gonna eat it,
you know. So I was able to expand my vocabulary, right,
you know, by traveling and.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Kind of bring it back to like what I was learning.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
You know at home, your dad and your mama cooks.

Speaker 5 (09:56):
What was a typical like Sunday, the good Sunday.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
Typical Sunday is my dad on the grill, the entire
family is over.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
You know.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
My dad has the you know barbecue chicken wing styes,
leg quarters, you know, burgers, uh, alligator sausage, hot sausage,
like all different types of smoke sausage.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Uh. My uncle Dwyane brings his famous ray beans and rice.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
And his potato salad, and my mama is in the
kitchen doing something with doing doing something random, you know,
like everything that she brings, it's always random, but like delicious.
So that's not the typical Sunday, you know, just everybody
kind of gathering around and like it's literally a feast

(10:46):
and it's just like a typical Sunday.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
It's not a holiday.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
It's just a feast, you know, and and the and
the food is like really charred. Yeah, that's that's like
the typical Sunday. But now I'm the one who's grilling.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Right.

Speaker 4 (11:00):
So you did a snaper the other day?

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 4 (11:04):
Marinated it. I'm like, okay, what was in the marinade?

Speaker 1 (11:07):
So that was all and like that was all freestyle.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
I didn't plan it, So it was a I I
set out a butter, you know, overnight soft. I softened
it and I put rosemary parsley, garlic, black garlic and sage, okay,
and I you know, whipped that together. I actually got

(11:30):
that butterspread from my mental cheek because he and I
cooked together a lot now, And the first time I
ever experienced it was on a whole chicken that he made, okay,
So I was like, yo, this is the mission. I
want to try it on a fish. So I put
it on the red snapper. But I also jerked, jerked, okay,
all right, and then I grilled it and then I

(11:52):
blackened it in the oven, and you know, it.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
Was it was crazy. It was crazy. It was interesting.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
The redfish has like almost like the same consistency as
crab meat.

Speaker 5 (12:04):
Somebody told me that there's some people now that are
using that as un necessarily it as crab meat.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
So really yes, because.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Either yes, the well, anyway, if this filmmaking thing doesn't
work out, we have a space.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
I'm trying to figure it out.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
And seriously, I would love to come and shadow like no, no, no,
I'm really I am really serious about that, because you know,
I haven't tried to capitalize off of my you know,
food yet, because that's the only thing that still belongs
to me and only me. You know, I don't have
to I don't have to share with the industry. I

(12:45):
don't have to worry about profit. I don't have to
worry about you know, these like demands, and so I
kind of like just like do it as therapy, and
I do it for my friends and my family, but
it's getting expensive.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
We would love to have you. We would love to
have you, and we do in the summertime sometimes cooking classes.

Speaker 5 (13:07):
We do it here like on a Sunday between like
one and three where people are cooking. I'm demonstrating, they're
making the dish and they sit down for a nice lunch.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
So we will make sure that you Yes.

Speaker 5 (13:20):
So I have watched Katrina Babies, and I've watched it
multiple times and each time yes, And when I each
time I look at it, I see a different I
catch different things because it's very it's not one dimensional.

(13:41):
It's there's a lot of layers in it. And you know,
there's one part where you're setting up the scene for
the intro where they're fluffing the couch that they're putting
the thing over, and then it ends where you are
supposed to be in your in the house, and then
you get up and then.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
The set lights come on where it's not really the house.
So tell me.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
What is spoiler? You know, I know, I know it's
all good.

Speaker 5 (14:11):
I know, but I'm just saying I the first time
I watched I never picked up on it. You know
how it started the documentary that being the set and
then ending with that, Like, tell me about this documentary
because it's it's truly special.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, tell us how the wires crossed so perfectly in
your head that you told that story unlike anything we
had seen you.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
Yeah, I mean I can start from that scene because
like that scene is so symbolic for like just the
whole process. I think that just you know, this idea
of home, right, especially being someone who experienced Hurricane Katrina,
and you know my family experienced it and it changed
my whole trajectory. It uprooted me at thirteen years well,

(14:56):
twelve years old, right, So you know I think that
that's first of all, that scene was the hardest scene
to crack.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
We didn't crack that scene until.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
I want to say, a week before our final delivery
of the film, and it was getting to a point
where my producers and my mentor are because like GK
was a producer on this was saying, let's just scratch it, you.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Know, like, let's just end it a different way. It's
not working. So you know, that scene is so important because.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
When you think about safe spaces, and when you think
about homes, and when you think about you know, most.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
People who need to tell their story, especially when it
comes to trauma.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
It's one thing to get in the headspace to do that,
but it's also a thing to get into the physical space.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
But what happens when your physical space isn't there anymore?
What happens when your family is in there?

Speaker 3 (15:52):
What happens when you know the scenery like the baby pictures,
and you know, something as simple as simple as a
couch you know, has been flooded or like just does
not exist. So you know, I had spent what seven
years interviewing like all of my peers and my friends.
You know, I started this project in college and I had.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Spent like seven years doing that.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
And when you started it was it it was for
yourself personally.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
It was for myself personally.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
I was in college and I was majoring in film,
and I was on the verge of failing because I
wasn't doing any of the class projects.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
I was just working on this, and I.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
Was I'm not working on any of that, like I
want to work on this, and you know, my professor
just really wasn't having it until I went and pitched
it publicly with the New Orleans Film Society and I
won the pitch competition.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
And that's when he was like, hold on, He was like,
you just keep doing what you're doing.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
We go figure it out right right, right, that's pretty
cool though, yeah, flexible, yes.

Speaker 3 (17:02):
And and you know it started there, and you know,
after and I spent seven years interviewing everybody you know,
collecting all of this footage and you know, all of
this information. And then when I really sat down with
the footage to like really make the documentary, I was like, oh, snap,
Like I've asked everybody you know, and like I've set

(17:23):
up safe spaces and asked everybody you know to give
me their stories, but no one.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
Ever asked me at right. So that's when like this
like that's when it really like you know, kind of
began like like my journey of trying to figure out
what my story was because I always thought that I.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Was not you know, really impacted like my peers because
of the fact that I evacuated. But then after like
you know, just being able to name different traumas and
learning that trauma is trauma, right, and nothing is normal
about being uprooted at twelve and losing your family. Right,
That's when I was like, okay, well need I need
to tell my stories? So I was like, okay, well
what does that look like for me? My cousin are gone,

(18:01):
you know, the houses that I grew up in, you know,
growing up, those things are going. So I was like,
we should build you know, my grandmother's home. And HBO
was like, that is a brilliant idea.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
How much is it going to cost? How much is
that going to cost? Yeah? Right, right?

Speaker 3 (18:23):
But they were lovely partners and they understood. They were
a bit taken, you know, a backbite because it was like, okay,
but it was a it was a great idea, and
you know, I keep saying this man's name, but che
K was like, you know somebody who was kind of
like in my ear, like in my corner, like, you know.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
As we did this.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
And we built a set and everything just kind of
came to life from there.

Speaker 5 (18:47):
It's it's so beautiful to hear the backstory of that,
because it's.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
You know, talking of trauma.

Speaker 5 (18:53):
I think a lot of people it's they just move
on with it and they don't actually have time to
deal with it. I think it's a very important thing,
especially in that documentary, where it's okay to talk about trauma,
because for so long we've been just stifled to just
don't say anything, just keep moving, and it's not healthy. Yes,
and we need to make people feel comfortable because there

(19:15):
are so many different levels of trauma and to put
this in a documentary where I mean, when we moved here,
it was twenty fifteen, and I remember when Katrina I
was living in Miami and that was a very active year.

Speaker 4 (19:30):
It was like every week.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Yeah, I just.

Speaker 4 (19:33):
Felt like it was a lot.

Speaker 5 (19:34):
And I remember seeing the images on the news and
I'm like, wow, this is crazy. And when we moved here,
I asked every single one of my staff like tell
me about Katrina, Like where were you? And it's just
the stories that you hear that people are telling you.

Speaker 4 (19:51):
It's just it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
You know.

Speaker 5 (19:54):
There's one guy, never forget this guy, Charles Hookfinn living
with his grandmother and he said the water came all
the way up and they were on the roof for
two days. And he said that the helicopter came and
took her and she went away, and then he went
away and he's like, we didn't have cell phones back there.
He's like, I thought she died.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
So he she was in the dome and he went
to Houston, and you don't know until you come back.
And it's that's a lot to deal with, you know,
And it's it's.

Speaker 5 (20:25):
This is because I think it's a very tricky thing
when you have that much trauma and you see after
so many years, how do you see neons pre Katrina
and now are we.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
What?

Speaker 4 (20:38):
What do you what do you think? What's your takeaway?

Speaker 3 (20:40):
Well, I think it's important to understand that there was
trauma before Katrina.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
You know, Katrina just kind of.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
Exposed, you know, what was already there, right and uh
and and and added to it, you know, so we're
dealing with complex trauma here. I think that I always
kind of go back to something that my dad said,
because you know, like a lot of people that thought
that when I was calling for accountability, that I was
talking about the parents and that I was talking about

(21:08):
the guardians. I was not, you know, I was talking
about a system and you know, so even you know,
after my dad saw the film for the first time,
I remember he came to me and he was like,
he was like, man, you know, you know, I just
feel so bad, you know, because like, you're right, we
didn't ask y'all like you know, I'm sorry or whatever.
And you know, we kept talking and we always tease

(21:29):
my dad because when when I'm working on well, when
I'm interviewing him on the grill, you know, in the film,
and I asked him, Dad, tell me about No.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
No.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
I asked him, Dad, like, you know, no, no, I
tell him, yo, tell me about Katrina. And He's like,
good question, good question. And I'm like, how is that
a good question? Like but he was like, no, that's
really a good question because no one ever asked me.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
And I was like, whoa.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
Like he was like, you know, I didn't ask you
all about Hurricane Katrina because no one ever asked me about.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
Hurricane Betsy, you know, so and I just thought that
that was deep. You know.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
I think that you know, in order for you know,
us to be okay, our parents have to be okay, right,
our grandparents have to be Okay, So I think that, yes,
you know, from a from a place of like be
a city as a whole and tourism and business like
you know, New Orleans is doing amazing. New Orleans is
doing great, but I think that there's still so much

(22:23):
healing work that has to be done now great, not
with just the children, but the adults as well.

Speaker 5 (22:27):
Yeah, it's I think it's something that needs to be addressed.
And it's I think that nuance is very similar to
the Caribbean because you see a lot of trava trauma.
You see a lot of people that are struggling and
they can't talk about it, and it's they don't have
any safe spaces. So I think this is a very
very important thing to make people feel.

Speaker 4 (22:48):
Comfortable about it.

Speaker 5 (22:48):
Yeah, and and and be honest, you know, because I
think it's a lot of people that are shamed, yes,
and they don't want to talk about it because.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
They're embarrassed by what they went through.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
Yeah, and just realize that it's normal. I mean, you know,
I think that I think that ever since Katrina babies,
It's like now I just word vomit like when it
comes to how I'm feeling, like I'm let.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
Me just get this out, you know what I'm saying, Like,
like even if I'm talking to myself, I'm.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
Like, let me just get it out of me, because
you know, that really scared me when I you know,
sat down with it, Like you have to realize that I, like,
I really thought that.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
I was not traumatized from Katrina. You know.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
I was really looking at Katrina babies as oh, like,
let me go and help everybody else. I'm the super
like and the whole time I'm just as traumatized, right,
And that's.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
A scary feeling.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
Do you recognize that I recognized it once I had
already shot everything, and when I was watching the footage
and when I was looking at you know, home movie
and doing research and watching archives, I was like, wait,
you know, and I remember one specific clip. I was
watching this clip of my grandmother dancing with my cousins
who no longer live here, right, and I was like, wait,

(23:58):
I really had a big family.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
I just broke down and started crying. And that's when
I was like whoa. Because my producers had been telling me, Buck,
you need to be in this store, you need to
be in the store. I was like, no, I'm good whatever.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
And then when that happened, I immediately called them. I
was like, yo, I think that I found my trauma.
And that's a scary feeling because I was thirty years old,
you know. So that means that something that I experienced
at thirteen I didn't recognize until thirty. So what happens
in between that time, right, you.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Know, and for everybody else exactly going through various intensity
of the same situation exactly.

Speaker 5 (24:35):
So you talk about a very close to family, and
your grandmother is a big part of that. So tell
me about because she sounds like she was very powerful,
the rock.

Speaker 4 (24:48):
Yes, yes, So tell me about life with her.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
Yeah, I mean, you know, so, so my grandmother first
of all, you know, like you know, she's with God.
Now we lost the uh January was that second? You know,
she's with God, like you know, left us at ninety two,
you know, peacefully.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
You know, we were with her.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
So it was a beautiful transition, painful, hard, but beautiful.
But you know, she was a rock, you know, the
irack of Eye family from Greensburg, you know, and came,
you know, came to New Orleans with.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
Her husband and had had ten children.

Speaker 5 (25:31):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
Yeah, so I have a big family. You know, you know,
had well really really eleven children. One of them was
a still bird, I believe, and uh.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
You know had eight boys and eight boys and.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
Two girls, no no, sorry, three girls. I lost one
of my aunties in ninety four, so oh yeah. And
you know she raised them all up the same, you know,
guy fearing, respectful, family oriented.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
You know, they all stuck together.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
And that was that that's just like the that's like
the that's what my family stands on. So so like
we're all like growing up, I didn't have really many
outside friends, Like you know, I was close with my cousins,
and you.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Know, I spent like a lot of time at my
grandmother's house.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
And she was also someone who like you know, cooked
a lot, you know, gumbo, even something as simple as
an egg sand which and you know, uh and and
you know.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
Sneaking as coffee.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
But one of the ones that one of the scenes
that affected me a lot was the one where you're
talking about the weekend where the storm is coming and
it was either Saturday, maybe even Sunday morning, but you
and the cousins were out there playing yes and then
you came in to eat, and then you watched TV
or play games till folks came to pick you up.

Speaker 3 (26:54):
Yes, and didn't even think about this is the last time,
you know. But I was fortunate enough, you know because
again because my grandmother was so close to us, I
evacuated with my grandmother, you know, so like that was
a beautiful experience. And just thinking about it, you know,
it's it's like everybody was not you know, I'm just hearing, hearing,

(27:15):
hearing the story, you know, of the brother who was
separated from his grandmother. So, you know, my grandmother is
a huge part of my life and like, you know,
all a part of like just my whole makeup and
everything that I do, you know, even like my preservation,
like and you know, because like she always preserved our
family photos and everything like that.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
So that's kind of been my mission.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
But yeah, yeah, like she's definitely solid, and you know,
I give her all the praise.

Speaker 4 (27:42):
That's a beautiful thing.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
And through this seven years of or.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
Or through the period of time where you were collecting
footage for the project, not.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
Knowing it was going to turn into a deal with HBO.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
Right, did you how did you see that coming together?
How did you learn to start putting pieces together for
a film. Were you entirely self taught or you obviously
have a really neat artistic vision with the mixture of
still photography, film and animation throughout the show, How did

(28:21):
you How were you able to nail down that much
narrow down that much footage?

Speaker 1 (28:27):
So I shot a lot because I didn't know what
I was doing.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
I just shot, you know, and I didn't really have
like the you know, finance or like finance as.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
A budget, so like, really.

Speaker 3 (28:42):
Shoot how I wanted at first. So I was going
through multiple cameras, multiple crews, and.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
Like, I just shot a lot.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
But someone who was in my ear the whole time
was she K, Because you know, she K was like, Yo,
this is the one. This is the project that's going
to change your life. Part of the reason that it
took me so long was, yes, this is a heavy
story and it's so complex. But I think that I
also procrastinated a lot because you got to realize, I
started this project at.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
What twenty two, So.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
I'm a young man growing up in my twenties, so
like I literally grew up with this project, you know.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
So he was.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Always in my ear, and you know, he was living
in New York, but his mom lives uptown, New Orleans,
so he would come back every you know, holiday season
and always asks me, yo, how is Katrina Babies going.
I'm like, oh, you know, it's going on all the
look and he was like, yo, finish that film. Finish
that film. So you know, che k, Well let's go back.

(29:37):
I was teaching high school, you know, as a way
to pay my rent, but also well, as I thought,
it was just you.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Know, to pay my rent.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
But then I realized, oh, I actually have a passion here,
and I'm here because God sent me here because of
this project. Because like, once I started teaching high school,
I realized, oh, these are the Katrina Babies.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
So like I was able to learn so much from them,
and you know, some of them are in the film.
And where was this teaching.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
I was teaching at Elga's Technology Academy, and I was
teaching that at the car My High School where I graduated.
And what wound up happening was after four four and
a half years, I wound up I resigned as a
teacher because my film career was getting too demanding. But

(30:23):
I also wanted to finish Katrina Babies. And I was
like you know, I can't be in a classroom for
you know, like most teachers are there for eight hours.
But the students loved me so much that I had
to start after school program, so I would be at
school like twelve twelve to fourteen hours a day, you know,
and then sometimes on weekends, you know, because like like
you know, I had a waiting list for my class,

(30:45):
you know, because like they were just so into this content,
you know, and because like I taught media.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
So I wound up resign and broke my heart.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
But I was like, I'm gonna go and do something bigger.
I'm going to finish Katrina Babies. So you know, I
started doing that, and then what happens. COVID the pandemic happens.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
And I'm like, oh, man, like this is bad timing.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
I don't have an income, you know, I don't I don't,
you know, workstop because we couldn't be on set, couldn't interview.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
And that's when she K called.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
And ch K is in a he's he's in a
directing duo called Coody and cheek K, and he was
finishing up a project called Genius, which is a three
movie about Kanye West and.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Yes, yes, that's his movie.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
So and he's from New Orleans, so you know, in
the world.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
So he was like, Yo, we're in a co production
with Time Studios of Time Magazine. I just mentioned your
project to them. Uh, they are intrigued. I need you
to get me a sample real and a deck asap.
I was like, man, I'm not ready yet. And he
was like man, man, bro like, what are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Like how long?

Speaker 3 (31:57):
Like and he didn't say it like this, he used
a few you know, nice world, you know how long motivation? Yeah,
how long does it take to finish this documentary? Like
get something down, I'll call you back in a few days.
So I just kind of like just like, you know,
I figured it out, and you know, I made a
sample real and because I didn't have.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
Anybody to narrate it, I narrated it.

Speaker 3 (32:18):
And that's when I was like, oh, this is the voice, absolutely,
and everybody went crazy. It was like Buck, you gotta
be in it, you gotta be in there. So Time
came on immediately, and you know, and my producer Rji Rosenberg,
you know, she came on immediately, and just her experience
and expertise and her relationship at HBO was just something

(32:38):
that really held everything down because from that partnership with
Time Studios. We went on a pitch circuit and we
set up like about ten to twelve pitches, but we
only made it to pitch two because by the second pitch,
HBO wanted it in the room, and you know, they
were like, yo, we have a lot of Katrina stories,
but we don't have this we wanted. And like on

(32:59):
a call, I'm like, like I'm still pitching, right, and
like she can't test me against some nice words. Is
like yo, bro, shut up, Like bro, bro, they want it,
don't overpitch it, right, And then everything from there is
kind of like just like a blur because like it.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
Was all over the phone, all over the phone. Because
of the pandemic.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
I didn't have any in meeting editing sessions with my editor,
one of my editors I didn't like, you know, I
met her seven months after she had started, and I
had no in person editing happened because of the pandemic.
But yeah, so and that's how it happened. And honestly,
I didn't believe the deal until like maybe seven eight

(33:40):
months in Like I didn't believe it. You know, because
I was like, well, HBO probably makes a million films
that they never put out.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Right, never release forty years.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
So how has your life changed since.

Speaker 1 (33:55):
Drastically? Yeah, drastically you get another phone number. So I'm
about to get the dumb phone. I'm really excited about
their phone. It's phone.

Speaker 3 (34:06):
Yes, it's it's no, no, no, it's it's actually it's
not flip.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
It's actually really cool looking.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
But the only thing that you can do on it
is talk on the phone, text, email, and music that's it.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
Okay, or and a calendar. No social media.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
You can't do anything on this. So I'm about to
get that phone. But no, I don't have a new
phone number. Like it's funny, I still have the same
phone number, I think since like I was like nineteen wow.
So but yeah, like drastically my my life has changed,
like you know, in a in a major way, in
a great way. I definitely had some growing pains, you know,
I definitely had to, you know, figure some things out

(34:41):
because you know, I'm a people person. Then like I'm
someone who walks on the ground, you know, like like
like I walk with the people, and sometimes that can
get tricky, you know, when you have a super successful
project on HBO, and you know, you're on these different
platforms that works, it can get tricky.

Speaker 1 (34:59):
So I've learning that, you know.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
But for the most part, my life has changed, like
in a major way because like I'm able to bring
impact and you know, change and just you know, I'm
a I'm a film Like I'm really a filmmaker now,
so I'm able to tell these stories and you know,
just like do what I love?

Speaker 1 (35:16):
How was the how was your stomach?

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Were you nervous at another film festival either one Tribeca?

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Yeah, I was really nervous. It's funny. It's funny because.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
When we were in the truck on the way to
my premiere at Tribeca, my girlfriend asked me and my sister,
they were like, Yo, are you nervous. I was like,
I've been working on this for eight years, you know,
I've been working I've been working on, you know, on
this for eight years. I'm so used to all this,
Like I'm not nervous at all. As soon as I
got on stage, I broke down crying.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
You can not talk. I thought that was so funny.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
I was like, I was no, but like it was
like a it wasn't like a you know, like a
like a cute cry. It was like a damn, this
is finished, and like you know, just looking in the
crowd and it was filled and seeing like because you know, HBO,
you know, threw all of my family to New York,
so like you know, like well my family and the cast,
so like you know, they're all dressed up, you know,

(36:22):
like on the red carpet, and I just like, you know,
my emotions definitely got the best of me. Is so
I kind of didn't double I didn't double down on that,
on that toughness in the car.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
As you're coming up to that premiere, the time of
your life leading up to the premiere, how much nervousness
was there? Were you You obviously were happy with the
product because you're putting it out, but are you sitting
there are there dreams that happened at night, like.

Speaker 1 (36:50):
Like nightmares, dreams that nightmares? You know, man, you know.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
This this this project is heavy. So like you know,
there's some people who can't watch this film. You know,
there's some people who can only watch it once. Like
you know, I always like love films, but then I
also like, you know, kind of feel a way about
these films that that I can only watch once. I
have one of those films you know that people can
only watch once. So I've seen this film over a

(37:20):
thousand times at every stage. So during that process, you know,
it wasn't fun. Like, you know, I was having nightmares.
My chest was like, you know, pumping like crazy, like
I was. I was, you know, I realized that, you know,
I wasn't breeding correctly, you know, for like months, you know,
and it was it was tough. But every now and

(37:41):
then I would look up and I would like, you know,
just like look to the future and be like, Okay,
it's all gonna be worth it. It's all gonna be
worth it. And you know, Tribeca and HBO and Time,
like you know, getting the cover of Time magazine and
it was all worth it. But like for the most
part during the process, my head was down.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
I love the work.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
I wouldn't want to do it again, though, Like, this
was a tough project. And you know, this was a
project that we had been editing for like maybe six
or seven months. We submitted it to Sundance. We didn't
get into Sundance, and we realized that there were major
problems in the edit, and we started the whole film

(38:21):
over after six or seven months, hired hired a new
editor and started over. Wow, so now I have to
share my whole life with this new person.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
So it was just like a crazy process.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
And it's so personal, you know, like this is my friends.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
This ends up becoming a commercial vehicle and a piece
of art at the same time. But most importantly, it
ends up speaking to your uh you know, healing and
soothing of what you have been through and then that
you spent this much time documenting.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
Well.

Speaker 5 (39:00):
I think also with that if you are deal with
something so traumatic that some people just block it out
and they move on, and then when you have to revisit,
the're like, oh, that happened, and then the emotions start
flooding in.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:13):
And when you have to revisit it for a project
as a director as a subject, you have to really
go there.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
You can't have asset, like you have to go there.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
So, you know, and that was just something that you know,
like thank god, you know, it was my first film.
And I hear horror stories from young directors who get
totally screwed and you know, and like have like horror stories,
you know, as their first experience is I had a
beautiful experience with big machines.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
You know.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
Yes, there was some hiccups in like there were some
things that you know, I definitely had to address them
that I'm still processing. But like for the most part,
when it comes to creative and story, I was able
to tell my story how I wanted to tell my stories.
And I credit that to my producers. I credited to,
you know, just my team. I credited to HBO because
HBO stayed stayed out the way like HBO checked in,

(40:06):
you know, like sometimes like it was like hello, but
like they were.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
Not overbearing, you know. So that was like one of
the up parts about what a blessing? That is an
introduction to yes, the industry.

Speaker 5 (40:20):
Yes, so now you have your newest venture, Yes, which
tell us.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
About that which one Hometown Heroes?

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Oh no, okay, so there's a lot of it. So
there's a lot of confusion.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
Behind Home Home Heroes. Okay, let's clear.

Speaker 3 (40:40):
Hometown Heroes is a commercial campaign for Black History Month
for Amazon.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
It's not a film, right, I keep searching for it.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
But but what I am shooting inside of that campaign
is my next project, gotcha?

Speaker 1 (40:57):
Okay, So right now, I'm working on a project. It's
called Kinfolk. I'm not sure I should even be talking
about it, but I love y'all. Yeah, yeah, no, no.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
No no, So like we at home. So I'm working
on a project called Kinfolk working title.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
And it's this idea that.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
Basically, I want to preserve the cultures that matter like
the most to me. So I'm doing it through black gatherings,
and we are doing it by way of this one place.
I won't give that away yet, okay, but we are
doing it by way of this one place in New
Orleans where all the cultures gather. So we've been hyper
focused on like this place, and then we've been following

(41:37):
the people that come to this place in their everyday lives.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
And it's really this idea that you know, you know,
I saw this article and.

Speaker 3 (41:46):
On a NOLA dot com that by twenty fifty, New
Orleans is going to be underwater. And just like with hurricanes,
you know, our fires, they always ask you, hey, you know,
what are some things that you would take if like
a fire or a hurricane come. So, you know, I
kind of proposed the question to myself, if New Orleans
is going to be underwater by twenty fifty.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
What do I want to take? What do I want
to preserve?

Speaker 3 (42:10):
And you know, I keyed in on all of these
different you know cultures and like these different gatherings that
you know, I have been a part of the ones
that I love and ones that have been serving as
acts of resistance, you know, for Black New Orleans. And
it's been a beautiful journey. I've been here for like
almost a year, film minute, meeting beautiful people and telling
beautiful stories.

Speaker 1 (42:31):
So that's the project that I'm working on right now.
And for others, I can't get into the old No, no,
we're just excited to come. Yeah, like that's my passion project.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
But the other ones are in partnerships and I'm in
crazy NDAs.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
Yeah no, no, no, we understand.

Speaker 5 (42:45):
But absolutely, you know, going back to the whole documenting
and preserving, that's something that your grandmother that instilled me.

Speaker 3 (42:51):
Yes, you know, like growing up, my grandmother did not
play about her pictures. You know, you were gonna yes,
like you know, there can be a picture that was
like slanted to the left and someone would come in
and slant it to the right, and then you.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Would get a call in and then I know.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
You were touching my pictures like whatever, or like, you know,
God forbid somebody tried to steal a photo, she would
know immediately, you know. But my grandmother had crazy photos
like photo books, you know that, you know, I like
I now that I think about it, I know that
some of my cousins was into it, but I was

(43:29):
just like I would always go and look at the
family photos. And I guess that was like just something early, like,
you know, early on, because I grew up playing sports, you.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Know, football and basketball, So I always just.

Speaker 3 (43:43):
Wonder, yo, like how the hell did I get into filmmaking?
Were are any early signs? But that was one of
the early signs. Like I was always into like, you know,
like her family photos and like documentation. Like I would
literally go to the house and just like like every
time and like look at the same.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
Photos, you know, all and she was just really.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
Into like preserving and obviously just like protecting you know,
our family, you know, you know, documentation. I've slept and
then like Katrina was so heartbreaking because she lost.

Speaker 5 (44:12):
So much, you know, because I think when you stay
in the documentary that you thought we're just gonna leave,
evacuate and come back and it's you just don't know
what to expect because you know, back then we didn't
have the technology and alerts on the phone and all
these things. It's like you can either evacuate or don't.
And I think it's it's like what do you say, what.

Speaker 4 (44:34):
Do you take?

Speaker 1 (44:35):
What do you take?

Speaker 3 (44:36):
And most people were not thinking about taking photos simply
because hurricanes were something that was just a part of culture. Like,
you know, of course we're going to have hurricane season.
Ain't nothing gonna happen, right, And that's not ignorance. We
just never thought that we had to fear a hurricane
because there was so many false alarms a year after
year after year, Like you know.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
We always would get annoyed because we would go to
the grocery store with so much money and or we.

Speaker 3 (45:02):
Would evacuate and then nothing happens, right, you know, And
like you know, like Katrina was just like one of
those times where it just kind of got it got us.

Speaker 5 (45:12):
And that's the thing, because I remember that again that
year was very active, so it was just it just
became numb. You know, We're just like, oh, just another one,
we'll be fine with. You know, It's me wind and rain,
and you know, growing up in the Caribbean, we.

Speaker 4 (45:26):
Don't we can evacuate.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
I know, you were stuck.

Speaker 5 (45:29):
So there's a hurricane, airports are closed and you either
go to a hospital or you go to like a
church or school, and or you stay in your house
and you just pray that nothing happens.

Speaker 4 (45:39):
But it's it's a gamble.

Speaker 5 (45:42):
And it's pretty stressful when you lose, you know, and
that's a that's a big thing.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
Yeah, and that was a year that we lost. You know,
it's funny because we're not funny. But I always hear,
like I've met a few people from the Caribbean who
always it's like, you know, come to the screenings and
like and you know, and.

Speaker 1 (46:02):
Y'all are just straightforward.

Speaker 3 (46:03):
Yeah, And like I remember one person was like, ah,
you know, yes, like yes, like this story is you know,
definitely painful.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
But you know, in the Caribbean, we don't even have options.
Like she was like, you know, yeah, thank you so much.
Like but but.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
But you know, it's a good point, you know. You know,
but you know, again, trauma is trauma, you know, and
I think that the goal is to fix it on
all of you know, But yeah, it's that was just
like a time that we lost and you know what's
interesting is and you know it was a very active year,
but it's like.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
We had seen it.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
Before because like if you can remember the hurricane had
you know, turned around.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
Or something like, it intensified very very very quickly. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (46:54):
Yeah, and you never know if it might just go
left or right exactly, and that that one little Chaine
screw it up.

Speaker 4 (47:01):
Because you just don't know what to expect.

Speaker 5 (47:04):
And it's, uh, it's something we have to deal with,
and it's climate change is not making any easier right now,
and it's uh, it's terrifying. Yes, it's terrifying. If you
had to film somebody a document two people, somebody that
is no longer with us and somebody that you like,
I this is this is my list.

Speaker 3 (47:26):
These are two people, someone who is no longer with
us and someone past or present.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Yeah that's good.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
Uh hm hmm.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
Let me see. Oh James Baldwin, Okay, for sure, Okay,
James Baldwin.

Speaker 3 (47:45):
I want to do something like just my style with
him though, like intimate, you know, intimate, like you know,
allowed access behind the scenes.

Speaker 4 (47:58):
And that's a good one.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
And I would say hmm. This that's really good.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
Louis Armstrong but at home in his backyard when he
was doing those tapes.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
People don't talk about those tapes. You know.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
It always frustrates me because like Louis Armstrong always gets
you know, like the the brand of like he was
like a you know, he was like a you know,
just like a super like famous dude who was like
a like like an uncle Tom. And I'm like this
guy really wasn't, you know, like like he grew up

(48:43):
pretty rough in New Orleans, you know, like pretty pretty rough,
and you know, Louis Armstrong would make these tapes and
just talk like a lot of stuff about his experiences
and like so I would have liked to maybe like
just be with him during those moments in the back
y'all with his friends drinking cigarettes and stuff like that.

(49:04):
Like I think that that would make for like a
really really good document.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
When an idea for a film comes up, what do
you do with it?

Speaker 1 (49:15):
How long is the list I would imagine I have?
I have.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
Like so like my it's just like look ideas, like
look cookbook.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
It's like that's only.

Speaker 3 (49:35):
One right, Like ideas again, Like I just have like
so many But what I try to do now is
when the idea comes, especially because I'm getting better at knowing,
like the ones that are like really you know, you know,
the ones that I should really prioritize, I put those
like I physically write those down on like poster boards,

(49:59):
and from there, I just like prioritize them by Okay,
is this a Is this a project that's long form
and long term or project that's short form.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
And you know or like you know, short term, right,
And based on that is how I you know, go
after it.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
But like it always starts with writing it down. I'm
a very visual person, so I like, even if it's
just words, I have to write it down. Like I'm
old school. I can't just put things like you know,
like in the text. I have to write it down.

Speaker 5 (50:33):
Do you have any ideas that you thought were going
to be so amazing and then you went back to
those notes and be.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
Like what the hell was I thinking?

Speaker 1 (50:41):
Actually?

Speaker 3 (50:42):
Always, you know, like there's always just like those ideas.
But so there's always those ideas that were just like
you know, sometimes it's based on hype. Sometimes it's based
on something that's going on like in the world, or
like you know, something that's you know, just deemed from it,
like you know, from excitement. One of the most beautiful
things that I heard this editor to tell me one
time is that everything doesn't need to be documentaries. Some

(51:04):
things could just be like, you know, a write up,
you know, So there are some projects that are just like, yeah,
that's a beautiful story.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
But everything doesn't have to be a doctor. But yeah, like, especially.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
Because I'm someone I'm very highly motivated just by like
the most simple things. So I get motivated quick, and
like I just always have ideas, like idea of the
idea of the idea. So it's definitely a text trying
to go through those and pep, which ones are you
know there right ones?

Speaker 1 (51:32):
But yes, I have a ton of ones that just
are not timely right right?

Speaker 2 (51:39):
Sure, if you could only watch one genre of film
for the rest of your life, what's it going to be?

Speaker 1 (51:45):
Honestly, romantic comedies. So it's only one. I was kidding,
But there's only one.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
And and like you mean, all the other ones just
don't exist, right, That's all you get or what your
go to sitting You're not going out on Friday night
gonna watch film, watch film, you know, and you know,
I I just hate to be boring, but like I'm
gonna say documentaries because of the fact that, you know,
if every other genre is gone, you know, at least

(52:14):
you get a little bit of everything in docks. You
get drama, you get comedy, you get romance, you get
you get you know, sci fi, you get you know,
romantic comedy. You know, you get everything. So well, you know, yes,
like you know, it'll suck to lose the actors again.
We just lost some, like you know, due to the strike.
Now we gotta lose them because of this question. But

(52:35):
you're right, right, right, right, yeah, but but but but yeah,
Like I would say documentaries, you know, because like I'm
just like a student. I'm such a student, and I
think that docs, you know, are just so, you know,
sophisticated and clever, and I think that they are right
next to books sometimes. You know, obviously books are number one,

(52:56):
but I think that docs are like a great place
to get information.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
And is that your go to on a night there's
nothing going on, I'll flip on HBO and watch the
documentary or do you read a book.

Speaker 3 (53:07):
It used to be when I was working on Katrina Babies,
but now especially because like you know, some of the
projects I'm working on a heavy I just try not
to watch heavy stuff. Like you know, I might watch
a comedy, I might watch a sitcom. And as I
say that, right now, I am literally watching you know,
Succession and I'm watching The Bear simultaneously.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
Every day.

Speaker 3 (53:31):
I just said, yeah, very intense. You get the blood pressure.
So I've been watching those have.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
A nightmares, literally have a nightmares, but.

Speaker 3 (53:42):
Just in like regular time. And you know, I like,
I definitely love a good comedy.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
And do you how much of being a filmmaker of documentaries?

Speaker 2 (53:53):
How much do you end up appreciating the acting talent
in a that kind of film.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
First of all, let me say being a filmmaker has
completely ruined how I watch movies.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
I had to find a new way to watch movies.

Speaker 3 (54:07):
I literally, I literally have to just turn my mind
off because if not, I'm going to.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
Be critiquing, critiquing everything.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
And you know, if I'm watching like a movie with somebody,
I'm going to be rewinding and like like.

Speaker 6 (54:17):
Look and it's like, bro, I don't care, like you know,
like you know so, but you are able to do that, yes, yes,
especially so you can still enjoy it, and I always
judge it.

Speaker 3 (54:35):
Judge a movie. I'm like, Okay, this is a good movie.
I didn't think about the filmmaking at all, and like
that's that's kind of like how just like you know, entertainment,
it's entertainment, and like when I don't think about it,
you know, as a filmmaker, and like when I'm just immersed,
and like that's the beauty of just creating like worlds.

Speaker 1 (54:52):
You know.

Speaker 3 (54:52):
I think that, you know, in film, one of the
biggest tasks is to create a world and like invite
the person to that world, and like the world can
be whatever you want it to be, you know, like
you can create a world about aliens that has like
the same values and conflicts and struggles as human life,
and you won't even care that as aliens, right you know,
I mean right, you know, yeah, So I mean it's happened.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
I mean Planet of.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
Days, you know, like like as long as it's you know,
follows these same values and like these sames, like like
you know, ways of doing things are if they create
their own world and like their own values, if they
teach them to you, you'll follow them, you know. So
I think that that's what beautiful cinema does. It brings
you into a world, and like I think that's how

(55:36):
I'm able to turn it off as a filmmaker.

Speaker 5 (55:39):
So, being from Neons, what are your three favorite things
that you just love about the city. It could be anything.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
It's easy, It's really the big easy. I mean it's easy.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
You know, obviously you know there are struggles, but I
think that top line is just an easy city. Especially me,
you know, move up north and like living in Jersey,
always in New York, you know, I realized that every
place ain't easy like that, you know, like being able
to just get places in twenty minutes, like oh yeah,
I never spend more than twenty minutes in the car exactly.

(56:13):
You know. I love that this is like a black
city and like the culture is.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
Just there every day. I always tell.

Speaker 3 (56:22):
People, you know, as a filmmaker, like I am literally
cheating because like I'm from New Orleans, like you know,
like I always hear many filmmakers say, oh yeah, like
film school and look, I went to film school too,
but it's like they're like film school and books like
that's where I got my and watching movies. I'm like
I got my inspiration just by stepping outside like like

(56:42):
you know, I like literally when I'm driving home, you know,
I see a kid, you know, standing in the projects
playing his trumpet.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
Literally like like yesterday. Yeah, that's a story, right, you know.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
Or you know, I see you know, my cousin, my cousin,
uh little brother on you know, on Canal Street preaching
like the gospel. They all call him, you know, umbrother Man.
Like that's a story, like you know, second lines like bars,
like you know, I mean, waiting in line at the
grocery store. That's a story, like really, like no, really,

(57:16):
It's like it's like everything is a story, you know.
So I just love, you know, just like how cultural it.

Speaker 1 (57:22):
Is, characters, lots of characters.

Speaker 3 (57:27):
Uber rides are weird here. I learned so much about
every Uber driver that I'm and I'm like, you know,
but yeah, like I just love the character like of
this city and I just love, you know, just you know,
just like how black and how cultural, how spiritual it is.

(57:48):
You know, the A food obviously, you know the A flavor.

Speaker 4 (57:52):
So what's next for you?

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Let's let's be busy.

Speaker 3 (57:57):
Yeah, I'm staying busy, you know, I'm work on these
projects and simultaneously, you know, I'm building up my company
because my production company house of the Young Entertainment. I
want that to kind of serve as you know, just
like this this this, this hub, and this pipeline and

(58:17):
platform for stories, you know, and not just my stories,
but other filmmakers, you know, other young filmmakers. And I
want to be a full functioning, you know, production company.
So I've been working on that. You know, I've been like,
you know, taking meetings with you know, people, people, young
people who have ideas and you know, I want to

(58:38):
get into like EP and and everything. But in the meantime,
I'm also just you know, trying to like get out
this second film as well.

Speaker 5 (58:45):
Right, well, I think what I think is really beautiful
about you and be my because that you've focused on
the youth and you're passing on excuse me, all this
information to them.

Speaker 4 (58:55):
And you know, when you have people in.

Speaker 5 (58:57):
The community that are doing HBO films, like that's a
big deal.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
Yes, do you wear your sunglasses at night? Now? No? No, no,
I just do that.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
Well no, unless I'm in Paris, in Paris, in Paris
and London, I put them on sun less because everybody
has own glasses at night, like and like I'm just like, okay,
it's funny.

Speaker 5 (59:17):
We went in Italy last October. We were going from
Paris to I think Milana is something and everybody all
the Italians had when they were.

Speaker 4 (59:32):
Apt and the whole flight they had.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
I'm just like, guys are so cool. So I'm just
a nerdy America like so cool.

Speaker 3 (59:42):
But again, I try to stay ground level, but I
also have to realize who I am. Yeah, you know,
because like there's nothing wrong with growth, and there's nothing
wrong with you know, you know, getting like the foods
of your labor, like you know, to like change your
family and change change your situation. So it's been a
batt you know, like you know, survivor's guilt is real, right,

(01:00:04):
and you know, just like you know, just like surviving,
especially when you know everybody else may not be in
the same position.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
So it's a dance, you know. It's yeah, it's a
very special person.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
That's why I come home because the attitude, what you
feel yourself turning a little well, well New York, I.

Speaker 3 (01:00:25):
Mean I mean, I mean, you know, I live in
I live up not I'm always in La So it's
like it's good to just have that balance, like you.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
Know, this I live real, This is real flow. And
when I first got that place, I was like, God,
please keep me humble.

Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
Actually look at me, God actually like she can't pick
the place, like because like he lives in the same building.

Speaker 1 (01:00:49):
And and I was busy.

Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
So he had to go and do like the tour
of the place, and he was like, bro, you want
to flow on nineteen on a you know, flowing sixty four.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
I was like, bro, Like what do you think? He
was like, man, you want to get to do this once?
Get this. So coming back home and being ground level
then going back it's a nice yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
Yeah, yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:01:11):
I try to, you know, keep it humble, keep it humble,
stay grounded.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
Well, it has been.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
A treat, a pleasure, yes, and I.

Speaker 4 (01:01:21):
Want to keep this conversation.

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
No, no, no, it's going to forget about us. You know.

Speaker 4 (01:01:29):
He is coming tonight.

Speaker 5 (01:01:30):
We are super excited and I've been trying to get
to the restaurant and I finally finally get you in,
So please come hungry.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Yes, I'm not going to eat until they.

Speaker 4 (01:01:42):
Tell your parents don't eat. They can have a sip
of water.

Speaker 1 (01:01:45):
That sh okay.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
Absolutely, I am really excited. You know, it's the anniversary.
I think it's forty four years.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
Four years.

Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
Okay, what's their favorite thing?

Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
Just so I can't you know, they're they're traditional. My
mom is more picky than my dad. My dad eats anything.

Speaker 4 (01:02:06):
What about spice? They like spice, like spicy, so.

Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
They did, but like, so I like spicy. My mom
can't really have spicy because of health for the reasons.
It can have a little bite, but it can't be
too crazy. But I like spicy, okay for sure. Okay,
so so.

Speaker 5 (01:02:23):
Yeah, and what what is their like their favorite cocktail
or drink.

Speaker 3 (01:02:27):
Or my my dad loves whiskey, bourbon.

Speaker 1 (01:02:33):
Whiskey and bourbon is my dad.

Speaker 3 (01:02:35):
And my mom is like a very light Like she
likes margaritas, but she just started drinking about five years ago.
So she also just likes likes nice sweet cottails. So
like it doesn't have to be a margerite, it could
be something that's nice and like she'll drink it. Like
my dad always gets mad because you know, my dad
works at you know, Wine's Unlimited and more Wine cellar,

(01:02:59):
and like he'll bring home like these very nice bourbons.
And my mom is putting like eliminated, so like he's
always hiding it from her because she's eliminated and like
all this craziest Oh god, yeah, let let mommy live.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
So yeah, I'm excited though, I'm excited.

Speaker 5 (01:03:18):
Yes, we are super excited to have you, and thank
you for taking time.

Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
To chat with us.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
Absolutely, thank you, I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (01:03:25):
Pleasure big.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Big wait for

Speaker 6 (01:03:30):
Ya wait, wait for big way through the big plan
for everybody,