What was your earliest memory of film and the moment you decided to pick up a camera and make your own?

I’ve been thinking a lot about stuff we would do as kids but contextualise it as other when we grow up, like homies have been designing since shorties but they weren't labeling it that because maybe they didn't have the language but, that’s all they been doing since kids.

I say all that to say, my earliest memory of film is watching bootleg Chinese movies in Albany projects with my great grandmother. I wouldn’t have regarded that at first, I could have said going to Film Forum for the very first time in 2018 and watching I AM CUBA or spending 3 hours at Cafe Reggio watching Y Tu Mama Tambien in between bread, olive oil and burrata. But nah, it started with my great grandmother, I call her Savah.

What was your first film you directed and what was the narrative of it?

It was about about ice cream, I get ice cream every Sunday at Morgenstern's Finest Ice Cream on Houston St #ad.

Talk us through your creative process. Where are you finding inspiration while you work, how are you engaging with your subjects and the environment you are in?

I'm a really sensitive person to my surroundings and being in the world every day feels quite productive to me. Sometimes, if I'm out with my camera - my lens is my eye and the world unfolds right on stage. Life is enough, don’t need to say action.

How do you define your directorial style, and has it changed over time?

I think it’s too soon to say I have a style but I try to approach every project with these two questions in mind, “What’s our mise en place?” and “What’s our mise en scene?” What’s my setting and how do I breathe life into it? That’s when I have people in frame, at least - without them it’s easier haha. 

What role does music or sound design play in shaping your films?

I’ve learned quickly that you cannot do everything alone. Sure, there’s texture to whatever you gonna make but I think working with other people that have a heightened sensibility in their fields can help elevate your game. 

You can focus on what you know and let them craft what they specialise in. Giving people room is important. You brought them on to collaborate for a reason - I think it’s important to consider that before trying to impose. Trust your collaborator. That’s collaboration, trust.  

And I think when highly sensitive people are crafting different areas of the same project I think the end results only reflect the input. I work with a composer, his name is Paco Andreo. We’ve worked on two films together and he composed every musical aspect to my debut feature film, Jimmy. In the past, we worked like this - I sent him the finished picture/locked edit and he composed music as in response to the visual. Happy to call him a friend and a genius.

I also work with a creative audio lab, ‘Invitation to Openness’, run by my friend and cousin-brother Bako Seville. He’s my ear.  Working with friends can be hard but when it works the results have proven to be excellent.

Any last words for a young director?

Don’t matter how you do it, just do you.

What have you been up to these days?

They say if you give it away before it happens you won’t get it back, I'm not superstitious but yea - I been tryna sleep longer and chew my food.

Any good travels?

Yea, I’ve been able to celebrate and present with my film, Jimmy. I've been able to travel to Goteborg, Sweden, London and Paris. It's really cool, it used to feel surreal when we first shared at Telluride Film Festival, but Diamond said I earned it and that’s peace.

How about any delicious meals you have enjoyed?

My last delicious meal is something I won't name because it’ll tempt me. Ava has me on a traditional Chinese medicine diet and I can’t eat what I desire right now. I feel better when I think better when I'm eating better. My mother says it's starving the parasite, so right now I’m protecting my eyes from women, clothes, and food.

What song have you heard recently that has stuck with you?

Embouchere by African American sound recordings get me in that Omar (trench coat) from The Wire, Franklin Saint from Snowfall, Jamie from Topboy it get me in that mode.

I also like the the chords on spottieottiedopaliscious that are first introduced near the end of 0:15-0:16 its really short but I like a quiet beauty, a string of the heart. 

I also will play one song on repeat the whole day and maybe restart the song when that chord is at the right time in the day, I’m sure everybody does the same. 

What inspired the story or idea behind this film you did for Noah?

The idea came with following these two and lensing them as they explored these uncharted areas. It sounds ominous but it’s not, it’s more romantic than anything. 

How do you usually start a project? Does it begin with character, a visual, a line of dialogue?

It’s not formulaic, ideas are generative and I think you can pull from all those things for a starting point. You can get a good idea from someone’s bad idea, I try not to get in my head about being the most original and putting my focus on just starting. 

What themes are you most drawn to, and why do they keep showing up in your work?

Physicality and quiet beauty. I think running with the camera is important for me. Having it handheld is important to me. I have the stamina for it and for its mistakes. When I have someone in front of my camera, it’s neat because we begin to counteract the other, they push and I pull until we’re dancing and now the camera chameleonically interrupts the 4th wall. .