Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Relationships Matter: Bronzelens Film Festival developing the next generation of filmmakers.

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Relationships Matter: Bronzelens Film Festival developing the next generation of filmmakers. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. I am Rashan McDonald, the host
• 0:08
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  Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hi, I'm Rashan MacDonald. I host
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• 0:44
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• 0:47
  Speaker 1: other people's success stories and start living your own. My
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: guest is a visionary. She's the founder of the Bronze
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Lands Film Festival, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Over the last
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: fifteen years, Bronze Lands has promoted the work of independent
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: filmmakers of color from Atlanta, the Southeast region, the nation,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: and the world. This film festival vised networking opportunities that
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: would develop the next generation of filmmakers. Now let's hear
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: the founder. Please welcome to the Money Making Conversation Masterclass,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Kathleen Bertrand how you doing, my friend, I'm.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Wonderful so delighted to talk to you anytime.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Well, first of all, what is my brief story and
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: the intro I mentioned what the Bronze Lens Film Festival represent.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: What is the mission of the Bronze Lens Film Festival
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: based in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: We have always wanted to be this platform for connecting
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: filmmakers of color. We wanted that to happen in this
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: place called Atlanta, Georgia because at the time that we started,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Georgia was really rising on the scene as a major
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: production site in competition with New York and Hollywood. And
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: now it just depends on which month of the year
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: one of them. One of those three is either number
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: one or number two, either Georgia, New York or California
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: in film and television production. Our reason for being starting
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: this platform is to make sure that people that looks
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: like me were included in whatever the process might be.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Is this new to Atlanta? If it is, how do
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: I get in? How can I become a part of it?
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: As if I'm a creator, how do I get my
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: work shown, or maybe I don't know that I want
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: to be a creator, but I have a great story.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: What are the tools that I need to tell my
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: story or to tell the stories that I have been
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: thinking about. So with all of those things, Bronze Lens
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: wanted to be that pivot point for people to say, Hey,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: me too, I can do this kind of work, or
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: I'm interested in this kind of work and why not Atlanta.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: The event starts August twenty first and runs through August
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: twenty fifth. Can the everyday layman attend these these greetings?
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Absolutely? We have prices and attractions and interest for everyone.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: The film prices are the general cost of a film
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: fifteen dollars, but if you come and you want to
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: see a group of short films, you may see five
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: or six films at one time, one after the other,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: for that same fifteen dollars. So the website breaks it
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: down with the different blocks that we have. But the
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: average person would really enjoy finding out the various stories
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: that we have have to tell, and you find yourself
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: in these stories. In addition to that, every year we
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: have programming that is open at no charge, and this
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: happens on Sunday, the twenty fifth, because we have our
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Cinema and Social Justice Sunday screenings. We always pick at
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: least two films that really reflect our journey or our
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: struggle when it comes to social justice, and nothing really
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: tells those stories better than seeing them on film, seeing
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: them on a big screen, and so we do that
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: every year since we've started. We make Cinema and Social
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Justice Sunday open to the public.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Then you have the Cinema and Social Justice Sunday, which,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: like you said, all those will be screened at to
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Tara Atlanta Theater. But it's part of your DNA. Why
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: is it so important for Bronze Land Bronze Lenz Film
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Festival to feature these type of independent and sometimes commercial productions.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Yes, Bronze Lens Film Festival has from its beginning recognized
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: the fact that we are Atlanta born and intricate, and
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: all woven into the Atlanta DNA is the story of
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: civil rights and the civil rights movement. Atlanta has often
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: been called the cradle of civil rights, and so how
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: better to stamp our identity and how better to make
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: something unique that is particular to Atlanta than a day
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  Speaker 2: that honors those films that uplift, that talk about that
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  Speaker 2: educate around the area of social justice and human rights.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: We had to me it was like a no brainer.
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  Speaker 2: We have to do this. This is what Atlanta is
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: about because we do have people that walk among us legends,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: so to speak, the late Congressman John Lewis, Martin Luther
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: King Junior, of course, the late Joseph Lowery, c T. Vivian,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: and still among us Andrew Young and Zernona Clayton. In fact,
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: last year, Bronze Lens began the Andrew J. Young Cinema
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  Speaker 2: and Social Justice Award, and that is going to one
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: of those films. I can't say, but we wanted to
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: do something that honored Andrew Young. Did you know that
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: he was a filmmaker, a documentarian. Yes, he has won
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Emmys for films that he has created, and so what
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: better way to honor Andy than to have an award
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: that really recognizes his skill and talent as a documentarian
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: but also recognizes the vast work that he has done
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: in this area of human rights. And so that's what
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: that Sunday means to us and why it's a significant
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: part of our programming. Sunday Evening when we're at the
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Ray Charles Performing Arts Center at Morehouse College. We'll get
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  Speaker 2: a chance to award all of the top filmmakers in
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  Speaker 2: the various categories of films that we have. So not
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: only will someone receive that Andrew J. Young Award, but
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: we will also honor the best Short Documentary, the Best Documentary,
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  Speaker 2: the short film, the feature film, the web series, the
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: dance video, the music video, Best Actor, Best Actress. All
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  Speaker 2: of those are awards that will come that night at
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Right. You know, it's really important that when you hear
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: something like this, because everybody has a bright idea. Kathleen, Okay, everybody,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: I want to do this. I have dream. How did
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: you take this idea and made in a reality? The
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Bronze Lands Film Festival and we've come back, We're going
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: to really get into detail a lot of the celebrity
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: names who are associated with a lot of the projects
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: that are being produced and presented. But how did this
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: idea come to you and then how did you eventually execute.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
• 8:29
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• 8:41
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• 8:56
  Speaker 2: The idea came to me from the CEO at the
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Atlanta Convention in Visitors Bureau, where I was vice president,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: maybe I was senior vice president at that time. I
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: had a long career with the Convention in Visitors Bureau,
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: and my area was diversity marketing, making sure that people
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: outside of Atlanta knew all of the greatness that this
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: city had and why this city could handle their meeting
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: or their conference or anything like their tour or anything
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: like that. So diversity marketing was my area. The new
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: person in charge was a gentleman by the name of
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: William Pate. He had just started in the role, and
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: he had a meeting and encouraged me to come to
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: a meeting in his office and he asked me why
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: didn't Atlanta have something like a Sun Dance for the
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: African American community. He says, When I go out to
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: I noticed that everybody's talking about Sun Dancer. Everybody's talking
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: about what they're doing or where they're going and you
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: see people on the streets, and he says, why doesn't
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Atlanta have something like that? Because his fallback was, you know,
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: after all, we have Tyler Perry Studios here and it
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: just seems like, you know, this community should have more.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: So I took his words. His words were, why don't
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: you see what you can do with that? That was
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: my direction that morning, and so I spent that was
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: two thousand and eight, And so I spent the early
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: part of two thousand and nine doing research, really looking
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: into what were film festivals in other places for people
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: of color, specifically what did they do, who came, why
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: did they come? And then I began to talk to
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  Speaker 2: the community here because there were some small film festivals
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: but nothing really that it didn't press, didn't get airtime,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: no advertising, just if you knew you knew kind of events.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: And I wanted to do something bigger. So I started
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: talking to those people. And then I called on a
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: friend that I had known that you had a chance
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: to meet from my days at Spelman College, Cheryl Gripper,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: who at that time was with the eleven o'live television
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: as vice president of Community Affairs. And Cheryl then and
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: she was also had a master's in film, and she
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: called on a good friend of hers who worked with her,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: and that friend was Dedre McDonald who is our current
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: and was then artistic director. And Dedre is an Emmy
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Award winning producer. But not only that, she was an
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  Speaker 2: instructor in the area of film production at Clark Atlanta University.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: And so, with those ladies giving input expanding the vision,
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  Speaker 2: Bronze Lens began and had our first presentation in two
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: thousand and nine. Now this is where friends of friends
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: are important. Remember I'm at the Convention and Visitors Bureau,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: and the Convention and Visitors Bureau had a board of directors.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: One of the persons on the board of directors was
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: with Turner Network, and she took a liking to me,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: as people would say, and gave me the opportunity to
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: make a presentation about Bronze Lens to the Turner family.
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  Speaker 2: So at that time that included Turner Network, Television, Turner Classics,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: the Cartoon Network, the Super Channel, TBS, all of that.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: All of those people were actually in the room when
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: we see at CNN. Of course, when we made our
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: first presentation and they gave us their feedback, they thought
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: it was a good idea for Atlanta, and then the
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: feedback after the meeting was that they didn't like the name.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: The name that we presented was the Bronze Jubilee Film Festival,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: and that was really based on an event that Cheryl
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: had produced in some years previous that was an awards
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: show honoring great people in the community. But the people
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: at Turner just didn't like that name for this event.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: And so my contact there at Turner said, well, I
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: know a naming company. I had never heard of a
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: naming company before. We shine okay, like people get paid
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: to name things, Yes, they do, and she knew a
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: naming company. So she said, let me have them talk
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: to you. Let's see if we can come up with
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: just a better name. And so I sat down with
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: the naming company. Cheryl sat down with them as well,
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: and we just gave that broad vision of what we
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: thought Bronze Lens, well, what we thought the film festival
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: could look like, and about it was Bronze Jubilee, also
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: known as looking for another name. So they came back
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: about four about four six weeks later, and the name
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: was Bronze Lens. They actually had about six names on
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: a page but I can tell you when I saw
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Bronze Lens, I don't remember seeing anything else on the
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: page because just nothing struck me like that. The coloration
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: of it, so to speak, gave us a broad reach
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: to bronze people, people of color, across the diet, around
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: the world, and then the lens just talked about everything
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: we did, both in front of and behind the lens.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: That was exactly who we were. So that's where the
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: name came from in that process. And our first festival
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: was twenty ten. We had twenty three films. Will Packer
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: came by, Rob Hardy made us a video that we
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: put on our website. We got a welcome message from
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: the Mayor of Atlanta, Cassim Reid, and that's how we
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: launched Bron's Lens under the guys of the Atlanta Convention
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: and Visitors Bureau. It really was the incubator for what
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: we were doing. But the festival has always been a
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: separate five oh one C three organization with its own
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: bank accounts, et cetera, et cetera. The film that you
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: brought to Bron's Lens was the Steve Harvey film.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Well, you know that's from Bronze Jubilee. Now it's Bronze
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Lynz Film Festival. Now some of the celebrity names associated
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: with some of the production as producers Jamie Fox, Jamie Lee, Curtis, Yes,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Morris Chestnut, civil rights attorney Ben Krump, each producer of
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: a film called How to Sue the Klan That is
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: so typical of attorney being Crump, very good friend of mine. Now,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: how do these films get selected and how they will submitted?
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Because you know you want the big names associated with
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: that's what brings the media that week, gets people excited
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: about seeing the projects. When you see and hear about
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: the Jamie Fox film A Ben Krump, a Jamie Lee Curtis,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Debora Riley Draper, Morris Chestnut. But how do they get submitted?
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: Well, we have a submissions process that opens each year
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: in October. We broadcast that both through our social media
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: as well as with a newsletter that we send out
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: to filmmakers both current and previous, in anybody else that's
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: interested in what we do. And there is a film
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: portal that most film festivals use call film Freeway, and
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: so that is how a filmmaker would submit their film
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: to Bronze Lens. We put our link in our communication
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: and a filmmaker would submit their film through the portal
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: and they start in October and we receive films all
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: the way up through April. Over the course of this
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: six month period, those films are being judged and screened
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: so that we know what has a chance of being
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: in the film festival. You know, as you screen through
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: and in the process of viewing the films, that's when
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: you get the backstory of who's part of the crew,
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: and so many of the names. In fact, all of
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: the names, with the exception of just a couple that
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: you mentioned, were a surprise to us as we went
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: through the films and you go through the entire crew
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: and you go, oh my god. You know, you're just
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: looking at a name. It's just like, well, Mars Chestnut, right,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: and he had come to Bronze Lens years ago when
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: they did the Malcolm Malcolm Little movie Best Man Holiday
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: brought that to Bron'ze Lens as a closing film, and
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: so to see that he's producer on a film, or
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: to see the name of Jamie Lee Curtis, or to
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: see the name of Ben Crump, and Ben Crump is
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: actually associated with two films that we have. And what
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: that says, though, what that says is there are people
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: that are out there that don't mind putting their time,
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: energy or dollars behind these credible stories that need to
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: be told. That's really what it's said.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: The other the two movies you're saying like How to
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Suit the Klan and the other one is The Water Boys.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: That's where civil rights attorney being Crumpet is tied to.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: So let's let's let people know some important days here,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: like April twenty first, I'm excuse me, August twenty first
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: through the twenty fifth. That's where you'll be doing the
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: selections and the daily screenings and all panels in the workshops.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: That's the twenty first, and that's going to be the
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: twer Atlanta Theater, correct Historic correct tarer Okay, And then
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: on Saturday twenty fourth, Bronze Lynn's inaugural Filmmakers Ball. Tell
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: me about that.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: Yes, we used to have the Women Superstars event on
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: that Saturday part of the festival, and we appealed that
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: off to a different time of the year so that
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: we can celebrate all of these amazing women and just
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: do that. And so I wanted, yes, that's right, that's right.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: So I wanted to do something on that Saturday, and
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: I started thinking about a ball. Now this is me,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: of course I have these young team members, and so
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: it got skewed into a sneaker ball, which is great
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: because people get excited about that. But the primary thing
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: was this is year fifteen, and we wanted to do
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: something in celebration of ourselves that yes, we made it,
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: but we also wanted to celebrate our amazing filmmakers, both
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: those from this year and those from previous years. And
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: so we have extended an invitation to all the filmmakers
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: from whom we had contact information to come out and
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: join us in this celebration. It's the Sneaker Ball at
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: City Hall, and we are excited that the Mayor's Office
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: of Film, Entertainment and Nightlife is hosting us to be
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: at City Hall on the evening of August twenty fourth.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: When you start talking, when you start talking about the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: secrets to success, you know, being able to pull this off.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: You mentioned in early relationships being tied to the visitors bureau,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: sitting down and somebody recommends goes to a naming company.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: What is the secrets of your success? Of being the
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: sustain itself for fifteen years and also to come with
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: significant participants as producers Jamie Fox, Ben Crump, Jamie Lee Curtis,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Marris Chestnut. What's the secrets?
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: Well, I can't take credit for the Jamie Lee, Curtis, etc.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: S of those names, because, as I said to you,
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: those names as part of the crew were a surprise
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: to us. But the fact that the filmmakers thought enough
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: of us to submit their film to us says everything.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: And so I'll give you a couple of things. Number One,
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Bronze Lens is an Academy Award qualifying film festival for
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: the short film. We've been awarded that since twenty sixteen.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: That means that the kind of film that submits as
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: a short film a short narrative, the film that wins
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: in that category gets to submit their film to the
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Academy Awards for consideration for next year's awards. It's huge,
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: It really is huge, and so that's one reason that
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: filmmakers look at us. Another reason that filmmakers look at us,
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: and I would say this is part of our key
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: to success is we treat everyone well so well. The
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: hospitality component of Bronze Lens is something that comes from
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: me naturally, from my years thirty two years in hospitality industry.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: But knowing how to treat people and make them feel
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: welcome and when they get here, having a quality an
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: excellent experience for them. That's what Bron's Lens is known for.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: And if you go back and read the experiences or
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: the reviews that the filmmakers write, they always mentioned how
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: well they were treated. I have a quick story I'd
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: love to tell if I could. There was a young
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: man that came to Bronze Lens from California a student film.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: He brought a student film. He was looking for the
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: room where his film was going to be screened, and
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: he passed the registration desk. One of the gentlemen at
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: the registration desk came out from behind the desk and said, son,
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: I'll show you where the room is, but here, let
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: me help you. The young man was having trouble putting
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: his tie on. He wanted to have a tie and
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: jacket before he walked in the room to say I'm
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: the filmmaker. And so one of our gentlemen came around
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: and made sure that that young man looked presentable to
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: go to the next screen go to his screening, and
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: I came along right at that time, and I walked
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: him to his screening, and he was just so overwhelmed
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: with the kindness because that's not what he expected. And
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: after it was over, the fact that everyone came up
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: to him and talked to him about how great his
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: film was and that people recognized him throughout the weekend,
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: that was important to him. But we tried to treat
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: each of our filmmakers the very same way. We have
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: a huge group of volunteers. Last week we did an
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: orientation for over one hundred people that want to volunteer
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: for Bronze Lens this year because they've heard about what
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: a great experience it was. And so many of our
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: volunteers go on to make connections because some of them
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: are filmmakers or budding filmmakers themselves, and so that becomes
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: a great experience. So having a great volunteer team is
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: part of success. And then I would say the final
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: piece is always all always relationships, relationships knowing people, knowing
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: people that know people. But it's just not a connection.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: I never really used that word, because if we're doing
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: business together, I want you to know me. I want
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: you to know about my integrity, about the integrity of
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: my organization. I want you to know about my Atlantic
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: history and the things that we've done, so that you
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: know who you're doing business with. And so that's why
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: people that have done work with us don't mind referring
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: us on to other people that could possibly collaborate with us,
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: because they know we have that kind of reputation of
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: really sitting down and trying to build those relationships.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Awesome. Now, the last day, which is Sunday, August twenty fifth,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: we've already talked about Sneak of Ball. We talked about
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: twenty first to the twenty fifth. You can see the
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: screens at the Tara Atlanta Theater, but on the campus
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: of more House campus at the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: You're going to have the Cinema and Social Justice Sunday.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: You said from Jump that's always been a major role
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: that Bronze Land has played. This is not an inauur role,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: this is something this is part of your DNA. Why
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: is it so important?
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: Well, seem and Social Justice Sunday. Those screenings will take
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: place also at the Tara, and then we'll move to
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center for the Bronze Lens Awards,
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: But let me speak on Cinnemon Social Justice Sunday. This
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: is Atlanta. This is Atlanta, that place that was known
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: before film as the cradle of the civil rights movement,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: the home of doctor Martin, Luther King Junior, the home
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: of John Lewis, the home of Joseph Lowry, c T.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: Vivian Zernona Clayton, Coretta Scott Corretta, Scott King. We had
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: legends walking among us.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Can you tell them how the website and how we
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: can reach out to them for tickets and more information
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: on the event.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: Yes, Tickets and everything that you need to know about
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: the film festival are all at our website www dot
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: Bronze Lens dot com, b r O n Z E
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: l E n S dot com. We're on Facebook, Instagram,
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: TikTok x and just at Bronze Lens and you'll find
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: us on all of those platforms. And those platforms also
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: give you a lot of information about the various panels
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: that we'll have. There are eleven panels that we will
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: have panel discussions with all kinds of topics from creating
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: a film with your iPhone to getting your film green
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: lit and we have one hundred and forty films over
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: the course of those five days rushin and topics is
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: varied as women and history, relationships and men, mental health,
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: and comedy, and religion and spirituality. All of that information
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: is on that website for you to dig through and
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: find the things that are of interest to you. That's
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: Bronze Lens dot Com.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Awesome. I really appreciate you taking the time. We're gonna
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: get this out here. You know, I had to contact
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: you because I have history with this. I've sat on
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: panels for Kathleen. She know, come on, do you forgot
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: about that? Did you forgot that you do panels for?
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: You know?
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Then I interviewed you. I'd interviewed you my first You're
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: my first interviewing. Thank you so much.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Thank you, and I thank you for allowing you to
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: me to interview you, and also welcome you into fifteen
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: years and fifteen more years and when you get the
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: fifty we're gonna interview for the fiftieth anniversary of the
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Bronze Lyns Film Festival. We ain't gonna know where Kathleen, Okay,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: we might be talking a little bit slower at the
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: fifty year adversary, but we're gonna be talking, okay, even
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: though you didn't know at the time, but you found
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: out through research Jamie Fox being Crop, Jamie Lee Curtis,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Debora Riley Draper and my man Morris Chestnut.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir, yes, yes, you know what for us, You
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: had us come and do the we we didn't curate,
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: but you had us produce the film festival part of
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: the Steve Neighborhood Awards for two year.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Yes, oh, there is so many Absolutely, that was in
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. That was in twenty fifteen. Absolutely, two years. Absolutely, Yes, sir,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, so awesome.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: You're proud of us too, so we just don't forget
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: what our friends have done. Thank you, all right, thank you.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Masterclass
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: posted by me Rushaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: on the show today and thank you listening to audience now.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: If you want to listen to any episode I want
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: to be a guest on the show, visit Moneymaking Conversations
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: dot com. Our social media handle is money Making Conversation.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Join us next week and remember to always leave with
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: your gifts. Keep winning.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Mm hmmm.