SPEAKER_02 0:00

You know, a space where there's no egos. It's just people wanting to come together and create. You know, I I know a lot of people that wanted to be professional filmmakers, had that big dream of moving out to LA and doing it all. And some of them even did, and then they moved home and they got a day job. And they're like, actually, I like comfort and I like I like having reliability in my my job, but they miss filmmaking. And it's like, well, just like community theater for that person that dreamed of being the next Audrey Hepburn or whatever, you know, they can they can join this group and still get a taste of it, still feel their love for filmmaking, and still have like the rest of their their life be how how they want it. So kind of hit live best of both worlds, and I want to give that to people.

Bridget Finn 0:50

Welcome everyone. I'm Fridja Finn, the marketing director at Rockford Public Library. And today I'm sitting down with someone I'm so excited to introduce to our community. He's a writer, director, storyteller, and he's officially RPL's newest artist in residence. Neil Bloom, welcome.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Thank you for having me.

Bridget Finn 1:12

It's my pleasure to have you. So, Neil, let's start at the beginning. You grew up as a theater kid. Tell me what that was like and how it shaped who you are.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Yeah, um, when I was in, I think like third or fourth grade, I had it was uh it was actually our school librarian taught a theater camp at the Pecatonica Playhouse in Pecatonica, Illinois. And that wasn't far drive from Durand where I grew up. So my mom took me out to that. And then I ended up kind of being a tradition of being in their Christmas show every year up until I was in about high school. So actually, my mom ended up doing the Christmas show with me every year, too. So that was a nice bonding moment. But yeah, I just grew up at the Peck Theater House and then high school plays and then um what was it, Bon Bonza media with um Todd and Michelle Bonzi. Um I did some plays with them like West Side Story and uh did I also got into tech with them, and uh that kind of got me in love with not just being performative, but everything else that goes into um pushing those performances upward.

Bridget Finn 2:15

Excellent. And somewhere along that journey, camera entered the picture and had a big impact on you.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Aaron Powell Yeah, I like to joke that we didn't have cable TV out at my house in Durant. And in like 2000, 2001, my parents got a video camera, and I was like, well, if I don't really have good TV, I'll just make the Star Wars things I want to watch with my friends. And we would mostly just like Matrix and Star Wars ripoffs, but a lot of random heist films and stuff like that. Aaron Powell So how old were you when you were making these independently like 11, 12, probably all the way up until I was about 14, 15, and then I got a Stills camera, um, a Sony Alpha 300 for the nerds out there, and just uh like a good photo camera, and and uh just started taking pictures of my friends and a lot of high school sports. And that was actually my first paying job. Was I was 16 and I was driving to like three or four sporting events at night out in the rural areas in that like Durand, Dakota, Pecatonica area, taking photos of basketball, volleyball games, and stuff like that.

Bridget Finn 3:16

So who was your client for that?

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Random small-town newspapers like like The Village Volunteer in Durand and the Pecatonica Gazette, and then uh occasionally a publication that I can't remember out of Freeport. But and uh it was back before email was really easy to send large files, so I they then would put everything on a flash drive and didn't have to drive to all these offices and drop it off for like five dollars. And I thought that was the coolest thing in the world.

Bridget Finn 3:44

Aaron Powell That's amazing. That's amazing. Um okay, and then you founded Future Films here in Rockford. And for people who don't know, what kind of work does Future Films do?

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Aaron Powell Yeah. Um well I mean I kind of built my business off of filming weddings and other bigger events and uh a lot of non-for-profit stuff and have grown strongly in the commercial space, and uh and now I'm really trying to flex my narrative muscles in the last couple of years.

Bridget Finn 4:10

Awesome. Um and how does the commercial side of your work feed or maybe sometimes compete with your passion for fiction filmmaking?

SPEAKER_02 4:20

Well, it definitely keeps my my creativity sharp. Um it it it keeps you know um sorry, let me rephrase that.

Bridget Finn 4:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

The the narrative stuff helps keep my creativity sharp for my for my narrative or for my commercial work. And then the commercial work, you know, the narrative films cost money and they don't really make a ton of money in in in the ways I'm doing it in the independent world. So, you know, they gotta you gotta keep the lights on somehow. And uh I'm grateful for every client I have that lets me be creative and helps, you know, keep my lights on so I can keep doing the narrative stuff.

Bridget Finn 4:54

Very cool. Um You're not just making films, you're building something bigger here. Tell us about Forest City Cinema Community. Where did that idea come from?

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Yeah, um well it it it kind of came from just being a theater kid. Uh every th play I was in as a kid, you know, you'd rehearse for a few months and you'd you'd kind of get you'd start to meet all the tech people and and the other cast members, and it kind of felt like really community-driven. I mean, everyone there was there because they love being in plays and acting and and being a part of that. And I see a space, especially in the near future with AI and everything, that there's a there's gonna be a really good space for movies made in communities by the community members and showing off that that space, that city. You know, I think people in Rockford would really enjoy seeing specific locations show up in films and maybe um people that they know from around the city pop up in films as a small cameo or a leading actress. I mean, uh I have a film that that you're in that if anyone's familiar with the Rockford Public Library, I'm sure they've seen Bridget around, and now my film, Icarus Complex, has Bridget as a main uh role in that film, and she blows it out of the water.

Bridget Finn 6:11

So much fun to do, and I loved every moment, and I was blown away by the size of the community. Um, actors certainly, but everyone from hair and makeup to um creativity content creators, but also, you know, camera people and cinematographers in their own right, sound engineers and lighting experts and gaffers. I think I get a gaffer credit for adjusting a bulb in one scene. And really just seeing how professional the experience was and you know how large the team of professionals were. And we all shot on a weekend, and then everyone can use it to build their own reels.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Yeah, exactly. And and those are all people that, you know, like what you as a as uh an outgoing community member, you're gonna see those people out and about, someone, you know, like the the actual gaffer, you're gonna see them and you're gonna be able to joke with them, hey, you and me, we're both gaffers now, and like that's exciting for me. And it's all you know, a space where there's no egos, it's just people wanting to come together and create, you know, I I know a lot of people that wanted to be professional filmmakers, had that big dream of moving out to LA and doing it all, and some of them even did, and then they moved home and they got a day job, and they're like, actually, I like comfort and I like I like having reliability in my my job, but they miss filmmaking, and it's like, well, just like community theater for that person that dreamed of being the next Audrey Hepburn or whatever, you know, they can they can join this group and still get a taste of it, still feel their love for filmmaking, and still have like the rest of their their life be how how they want it. So kind of hit live best of both worlds, and I want to give that to people.

Bridget Finn 7:51

I love that. I also recognize that Rockford's cost of living is really favorable, and I think that lends to its being a landing spot for really, really talented artists. I think that artists come here and can afford to live here and pursue their passions, and I feel like our pool of filmmakers is probably deeper than some of the larger cities that are more expensive to live in.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

We we have I I am so, so lucky that I I have the people that want to come out and and get stand next to me and work on these films. I mean, Matt Berg, Tani Medina, Alyssa DuSavage, Jason Pumavungza, Tom Doherty, you know, all of these great people, like they just believe in me and they're constantly texting me and just amping me up, or just like like my my friend Kristen, she listens to me yap all the time. She she wrote um uh dichotomy DNA, a film that that'll be screening on May 30th. Um she wrote that for me, and like she just constantly takes my phone calls to listen to me talk about these ideas I have and help me help me write. So I mean, it's it's insane the the amount of creativity we have out in this city.

Bridget Finn 9:04

One of the coolest things, and it's something that you touch on and you have in this interview already, is that um you are all about ego-free sets and putting the project first. Where does that philosophy come from?

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Um I had a really awesome professor at Rock Valley College. Uh his name was Brian Shelton, and he he had a certain flavor of him uh that was always interesting. But one of my favorite lessons I ever got from him was that he had a sign up in the control room when we were learned news broadcasting and it said, you know, no egos here. And I just always appreciated that because I feel like you know egos create bullies, and there's no room on a film set for a bully. And you gotta be direct with people, you got you know, there's no passive aggression, you just gotta tell people what it is, what we're doing, and you know, rising tides raise all ships. So let's just move forward together. I I I I will say this until I'm blue in the face. You know, you can go fast alone or you can go far together. And with an ego, you'll you'll eventually be alone. And I don't, you know, there's no room for that here.

Bridget Finn 10:16

I think it's interesting, but I I I have to believe it's a unique perspective. I think in filmmaking in Tinseltown, it is fairly ego-driven.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Well, you know, everyone wants to be an auteur, and I I I want to for City Cinema community, I I wanted it separate from my business, I wanted it separate from my name because someday I I might not be involved in it. And I would love the idea of it still being here when I'm not. And I'm not saying in death, I'm just saying like career-wise or whatever. I think it's gonna, I want to, I would be so proud if maybe 20 years from now I move move away for whatever reason or I just can't be involved in it anymore, and then 10 years after that, it's still here. Like that would be so, so cool.

Bridget Finn 11:01

That would be amazing, an amazing legacy. Let's talk about Rockford Public Library. How did this artist in residence relationship come about?

SPEAKER_02 11:10

You know, someone asked me that today, and I was like, uh when I was 19, I uh said yes to a lot of volunteer work filming uh a fundraising event, and then that's how we met. And uh and uh that there it is, like you know, you plant the seeds young and and work hard at them, and you just keep saying yes to things, and and I you just keep doing what you're doing, and if you work hard, good things will happen to you. And I don't really know exactly how it all came about. It was just kind of proposed to me one day. I didn't know that it was even a thing, and then as soon as we started talking about it, I was like, yes, absolutely yes. Whatever this is, I'm in for it because it it perfectly aligns with what I'm trying to build.

Bridget Finn 11:51

I love your answer, and I'd like to give the Rockford Public Library response, if I may. I did work with you years and years ago on some um fundraising videos that we were challenged to do and loved that experience and knew you as an idea guy. And um, when I began to hire uh videographers for different TV spots or videos we needed, I thought of you um right away because of your good ideas. So what I found when I approached you was that you were so community-minded that you were willing to um, you know, shoot really high-quality pieces within our budget, which is incredibly strained. So um I think it took, you know, not only having such a talented filmmaker work with us, but someone who cared about our ability to message well. And we got that with you and and a few other um video providers. But um I laugh that my first TV spot I shot for the library since I became the marketing director was done by you. Um it was a summer reading challenge television spot, and it will be retired this year and replaced with a 2026 Summer Reading Challenge television spot, which you have done for us this year. So for that form of the Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

And it's crazy. I've just always had a passion for libraries because before my family moved out to Durand, when I was just a a little little kid, I think I might have been six when we moved to Durand, but we first lived in Rockton, Illinois, and I would ride a little pedal fire truck to the library with my mom. Well, she wasn't in it, I was in it, and she would walk next to me.

Bridget Finn 13:39

And uh adjacent to your mom.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Yeah, and uh and we'd fill it up with books and ride home, and the the librarian's name was Cookie, and I just thought it was the coolest place. I remember the same book that I would check out almost every time, and it was The Night with the Golden Boots, and it made them jump really high, and I thought it was the coolest book ever. And it was just a wonderful place. I remember going to story times there, and it was a place where you know, my my creativity really it, you know, they watered that seed like crazy as a little kid. And then, like I said earlier, my um elementary school uh librarian was who got me into community theater, and she just saw a ton of creativity in me, and she poured even more water on it, and it was libraries that kind of built everything. And then now that I'm really thinking about it, when I met my wife, we met at Rock Valley College on the MassCom program, and I had a huge crush on her, and I wanted to work with her on a project because nothing makes somebody like you, like being locked in an editing room with them shoulder to shoulder. And we shot a PSA project for our advanced video class for the Rockton Public Library together. And I'm just like now making that connection, and my mind is blown that uh you know, libraries is also what I remember we were taking a break filming, and she sat down on a couch next to me, put her arm around me, and she goes, We're doing a good job. I was like, This girl's so awesome.

Bridget Finn 15:01

That's so great. Library holds a sacred spot for you.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

It's it it's very near and dear to my heart. And when there's things like that that are good for the community and good, you know, for me, I like to make sure I can help lift them up how I can.

Bridget Finn 15:15

Very cool. And so I love that you love library, but when we started to discuss, and your conversations were not with me directly, but when when we you started to examine the library as the home for your residency, did you think it an odd fit at all? A public library for a filmmaker?

SPEAKER_02 15:33

I I was I was a little yeah, I I had no idea that this opportunity would even be a thing. I I I didn't quite it didn't quite click with me, and then they um Anthony uh shaped it in a we uphold creativity, we uphold, you know, this is arts, this is foundation, this is education for our city, and that's what the library is here for. And I was like, this makes total sense with every bit of upbringing with libraries for me. So I was shocked, blown away, and excited all at the same time.

Bridget Finn 16:06

What does having RPL as a home base actually mean for you and the work you're trying to achieve with this residency, the community?

SPEAKER_02 16:17

I I think having a name like RPL attached to what I'm doing shows people that there's a lot of belief behind what I'm doing. You know, there's there's some weight to what I'm trying to do. I'm not I'm not just somebody with a dream that wants to sit there and talk about it. I'm someone that's actually gonna do it. And if the library didn't believe in me, they wouldn't, they wouldn't give me this opportunity. And it and it and it means so much to me that that they see what I see and that they they know that I'm just I'm going to do it, you know. Um the the past few years I've I've really started to think about the people that like to talk about the movie they want to make someday, and then they're like, well, I talked about it, and that fulfilled me enough. And I'm like, no, I now that I'm thinking about this film, it needs to get done, or I'm gonna go crazy. And um, having the library behind me on that, I think will help other people get behind me on that.

Bridget Finn 17:10

I love that. Um, so let's talk about the residency. You will be afforded a place to work um at the Nordlof Center, um, a place to screen your films, um, and then you will also be offering some classes and workshops in both fundamental and more advanced filmmaking.

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yep, yeah. So yeah, I'm gonna have um an office up on the second floor right down the hall from the lovely Mary Pat. For anyone that's ever worked uh with the Nordlof, she's just the best. And then we're gonna use the rehearsal space as needed for rehearsing some films or practicing some things. And then um twice a year we're gonna do showcases of the films that we've made. So whatever we made between the previous showcase, maybe even highlight a few of the better ones, and then um to the next showcase, and then twice a year we're gonna show just one film, which everyone's getting like a lot of good reception, what everyone has like a good behind-the-scenes video. So we'll play just those two things, and then we'll have like cast and crew there to answer questions for people that really like to get into the nitty-gritty of that. And then a few times a year we're gonna teach classes from basic and intermediate filmmaking techniques. And that's kind of you know also a good way to just, if anyone wants to be involved with the Forest City cinema community but doesn't know anything about filmmaking, you know, come to his class and we'll teach you how to do script notes or we'll teach you how to carry a C stand or hang a light or any of those things where you know you can have one of those positions on set where you're still a huge part of the day, but without the responsibility of being, you know, the camera operator or cinematographer, gaffer, director, you know, all of those bigger roles that might seem intimidating at first.

Bridget Finn 18:59

Aaron Powell I really love that, that aspect of education so that people can become involved in the community. And I wanted to ask you the question: if you were an enthusiast, if you do have experience making film, how would you become a part of the community? How should people um reach out?

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Yeah, right now we have um we have a Facebook group and there's a survey on there for cast and crew. And you just fill out the survey so we can kind of get an idea of what you like to do as far as filmmaking goes, or what kind of roles you want to take, you know, what you're comfortable with um like as far as gear or what kind of scenes you want to do. Like, are you okay yelling and screaming? Are you okay kissing somebody? Can you cry? Or do you just want to be like a really happy barista that hands somebody a coffee and smile on camera, and there you go, like that'd fill your cup. Like that's we want we want anyone, you know. That's the beauty of it, is like there's a place for everyone, everyone's comfort level with what they can do. You know, we'll we'll find a home for you. And and then, you know, we'll be posting about the classes soon, so you can you can just come to those and meet everybody.

Bridget Finn 20:01

Aaron Powell And outside of building the Forest City cinema community, what do you hope to gain with the classes? Just again, basics?

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Yeah, just just some basics, you know, like how to how to like I said, do script notes, how to be an assistant director, even, you know, what what does that what what are all of the roles on a set? Because there are so many, you know, there is literally one person that just takes the memory cards from the camera, puts them into a computer, dumps the footage, and it seems like the smallest of jobs, but really if that person messes it up, everyone else's work is gone. And you know, so it's super important, and and just knowing what all those super important little jobs are, you know, will help people find a place, whether they want to work with Four City Cinema. Sorry, excuse me. Whether they want to work with Forest City Cinema or not, or just do their own thing, like that's fine.

Bridget Finn 20:50

Yeah, very cool. Very cool. All right, let's talk about May 30th. We've got the showcase. Five of your short films screening at the J.R. Sullivan Theater at RPL's Nordlaft Center. Set the scene for us. What's the evening gonna feel like?

SPEAKER_02 21:08

Um it's gonna be a celebration of exactly what I'm trying to build, which is commun community filmmaking. So, you know, we're gonna play all five films. I'm gonna introduce them, and then afterwards I'll kind of give a little bit of insight about them and and you know, probably some accolades to some to everyone that helped out on it that's there. And uh just a a strong celebration of what it means when passion and community come together to to create something bigger than themselves.

Bridget Finn 21:37

Okay, let's go through the films. Tell me a little bit about each one. We're gonna start with the headliner, Dichotomy DNA.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Yeah, um, dichotomy DNA is um about a mother and daughter coming to an affront over it an uncovered family secret and and what that means for their what was once a very strong relationship. Um That's all I can really say about it at the time. But uh that was filmed with um Natalie Morgan and Emily Yerenval, two of people who Emily I've worked with for almost 10 years now on some commercial stuff and a few creative small projects, and Natalie, who I just started working with with within the last year. So it's really cool seeing, you know, my seasoned veteran working with my my rookie in a sense. And uh, but neither of them, you know, it it just feels like we've been working together for a long time with both of them.

Bridget Finn 22:30

So very cool. Very cool. Dear Brittany, this one feels very personal.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

This one is is very, very personal. Um, it's about how um taking a breath and and just seeing the world around you is just as important as keeping your head on the grindstone and you know, taking some time to sharpen your axe is just as important as swinging it at a at a tree. And um it's about the North Woods, uh Northwoods, Wisconsin, technically Saint Germain, uh, where that's where you know me and my family would go when we needed to sharpen our axe and take a minute to just take a breath. And uh can I talk about your dad? Yes, yes, okay.

Bridget Finn 23:08

You can.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

Um so yeah, and Dear Brittany's extra special to me because like when we met Bridget, um I was working on those videos, and your dad did some voiceovers on them, and I met him when I was very young. And he, you know, not that I didn't have I had so many great father figures in my life, not just my dad, but his friends. And then your dad walked in and just showed me a whole other flavor of being that uh very stoic and very proud and very forward in helping people. And uh I just remember meeting him and then hearing his voice, and I was like, I have to work with this man someday. I need to put him in a movie. And then a million years later, um, I wrote this film, and I I knew that there was gonna be a voiceover in it, and I was like, this guy has to do it, and it meant a lot to me that I got to come out and and capture his voice one more time before um before we lost him. Before we lost him, because he was uh an amazing person.

Bridget Finn 24:09

Yeah. Um beautiful. It was it was something he was very honored to participate in, and um I'm excited to see the film on the big screen. Um moving on to Caffeine and Love, sounds like a lighter touch. Was that intentional?

SPEAKER_02 24:26

Yeah, yeah. Um Caffeine in Love, uh, that was a film where I definitely wanted, you know, um, like Dear Brittany was just a handful of us. We went up to northern Wisconsin, so it was a very limited crew because of housing. Um housing was donated by some family friends of ours up there, so we only had like three rooms for all of us to sleep between. Um my parents actually came up too because my dad was the uh the boat tech on the film, and I think there was a talk of them sleeping in a van. And so then, but caffeine and love was the opposite end of that coin where I wanted to really emphasize what I wanted Forest City Cinema to be, which is a learning space. So we literally had a seasoned veteran in Matt Berg running camera all day, and then Antoine um he was working right next to Matt all day learning from him. And then we had a really experienced gaffer with Jason uh working the lights all day, but then we had Sean, who was right next to him learning about lighting. And so we just had a lot of really seasoned veterans and and really um experts in their field working directly next to some people that had no idea what they were, you know, that needed some some teaching. Yeah. And it was exact it was perfect. So it was just a one-day shoot. Um we filmed at Rockford Roasting Co., uh, which was super fun. And then we also used City State Studios and and just kind of went for it. And that's actually where I met Natalie. The scene, the whole movie is about just two people falling in love, and I had this one actress, and I've been, you know, we were rehearsing, we were running lines for weeks and weeks and weeks, and then the day before the shoot, I get no text from her. I say, really looking forward to the shoot tomorrow. Can't wait to be there. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. We're like three hours from the shoot, and I call uh or I'm looking at the call sheet for all of the extras, and I'm like, so maybe there's somebody on here that's free the rest of the day because I think we've lost our main actress, and I have like 30 people coming to this shoot for just crew. Like, wow. And uh um, so I see Natalie's name on there, I call her, and I was like, hey, uh, I think my main actress is gone. Like, what are you doing in an hour? And she's like, I'll be there. She shows up, and not only is it like um a hard scene to do, she has to kiss a stranger. And I just asked this person to like, hey, you have to kiss a person on camera, we've never met, and she was just like all in on it. And honestly, I call it one of like the happiest accidents ever because like working with her has been just phenomenal.

Bridget Finn 27:04

She's an amazing actor in the film I am in of yours. I play her mother, and I loved it. She's um uh has amazing energy and is such a bright light, and um is very much seeking a and building a professional career. So really, really lucky to have her as part of the community, I think.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Bridget Finn 27:25

Um, okay. Next film in the showcase is Last Call. Um, it's a dive bar late night, something unexpected. What drew you to that story?

SPEAKER_02 27:35

Um, this is the one film in the whole out of all the five that I didn't um produce or write or have any idea, you know, I didn't I didn't even plant a seed to the story. Because like dichotomy DNA, that was kind of my idea, and then my good friend Kristen took the story from there and and made it, you know, put her polish on it and made it even better. But last call, well, um Kyle Bice has been a uh behind-the-scenes photographer on Icarus Complex and Caffeine and Love. I worked with him for years in the commercial space, phenomenal guy. And he wants to get into cinematography, and he reached out and said, My friend Danny, who was in Last Call, wrote this film. We need a director. I want a DP. I'm gonna produce it. Will you come out? And I pretty much just kind of kept the train on the tracks that day. Everyone on that film was so just phenomenal. Both actors were just so in their, just right, right in line with each other. I mean, they were hitting their lines, bing, bang, boom. Matt Berg came out and ran sound on that, and it was just it was a perfect day of like I get to just just direct. You know, I didn't I didn't have the story like so I wasn't so married to the story that I was gonna get tied down on things, and I just got to be flexible and make sure that everyone just did their jobs and you know, kind of tweaks and performances here and there, but um, it was just a different experience, and I I love that film for it.

Bridget Finn 28:56

Cool. I can't wait to see that. Um, and then the final film is Icarus Complex. So how how does it feel to fly so close to the sun? That's a heavy question. What's at the heart of this film?

SPEAKER_02 29:09

Um yeah, it's just a little bit about imposter syndrome and a little bit about when you actually get your dream, is it everything you thought it would be? And um how to how to deal with that and and the pressures of the world spinning around you when you just needed to to take a breath, kind of in kind of in tune with Dear Brittany a little bit. Um this film was really special to me. I I knew when I was when I finished the script and we uh were about to film, I remember saying, this is the film we're gonna look back on someday when we're still doing this. Like I look forward to looking back on this film someday, because this it really felt like the start of everything. I mean, Caffeine and Love was like a nice primer for what I was trying to build. And then I looked around the room at Icarus Complex and saw all these people there that I've, you know, helped work with and some people I'd never met before. And that was even fun for me, where it's like, we've never met, and now you're here. You know, I held open auditions for it and everything, and it was just like it felt like a real film, and it was great.

Bridget Finn 30:07

It was great for me, too.

SPEAKER_02 30:09

Yeah. That was that was so fun. Uh when you came into audition and you walked out, and I just I was like, yep, that's that's definitely the bomb of a pop star.

Bridget Finn 30:20

Um my character is kind of selfish. Um I nailed it. Uh I I also responded to the open call for auditions. It was nothing but was handed to me. So I'm very proud of having got them on my own.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Oh, yeah, yeah. I I remember saying, like, just because we're friends, like, I will tell you no if because I always want to put these movies first.

Bridget Finn 30:41

100%. And I think your exact quote is, I'm not rich enough to let my nepotism drive the bus or something along those lines. Um okay. So um what do you want the people who live here in Rockford to understand about what's happening creatively creatively in Rockford right now, especially with regard to Forest City cinema community?

SPEAKER_02 31:06

Well, I definitely think it's nothing new that Rockford is consistently just a faucet for creative people. I just think that a lot of creative people tend to move away or find other opportunities. And I I really want to be a magnet to those creative people when it comes to filmmaking. I really want, you know, people say in this town that there's nothing to do. Well, I want to give them something to do. I want to people say that movie theaters are dying, and I just think we're just kind of tired of things that kind of look like the thing we just saw. I want them to see something they they respect, something that they they already love, which is this city. You know, I want I want them to be proud of this city when they see it on a big screen. And uh whether it's just an establishing shot over the city or, you know, we've got some scripts we're working on that are very Rockford-driven, that are Rockford stories that, you know, I'm not against helping produce somebody make a documentary. Like these, none of these projects in the future, like they're not all gonna be directed by me. Like, I hope to build up other directors and and provide them with the resources they need to make and tell the stories they want to make. You know, that's that's the point of the Forest City Cinema community. I mean, I I I'm just one guy, I can't do everything. So I want to you know, let people be something bigger than themselves.

Bridget Finn 32:27

Right. Oh, it's amazing, you know. All right, so this is the last question. Um, it's a big one. Uh for someone who comes to the showcase on May 30th and walks out having felt something, what is it that you hope that feeling is?

SPEAKER_02 32:50

I mean, definitely pride in your community. Um and I I just hope that, you know, I'm just I'm just like at the end of the day, I'm still just a kid in my parents' yard making movies with a high eight video camera. So you know, no one was ever gonna give me permission to just start making movies. No one, you know, when I when I I looked at all the gear in my my my gear room after doing commercial work for pretty much 10 years straight and doing like very small, very, very small, like me and one other person creative films, and I was just like, 15-year-old me would be so mad at me right now if he saw all this. And I was just kind of waiting for someone to say, Neil, you need to you should go make your film. And so I hope I hope when they leave they go, well, that was enough permission for me to go do the creative thing that I've wanted to do, whether it's writing an album or taking up painting again, or just learning to paint, or just anything, any dream that they have. Just go, you know, do it. I don't know.

Bridget Finn 33:52

That's outstanding. I also want to let people know how they can participate in the showcase. Um, there are links on our social media and yours to an eventbrite page. Tickets are $10 each. And the showcase starts at what time, Neil? On May 30th?

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Um Doors open at 6, and the showcase will start at 7, probably 7.05. Um, I did just learn that it's graduation day that day, so please uh come early enough to find parking downtown. Um, but please don't let that dissuade you. It's, you know, there's plenty of parking around there. It you just might have to walk a couple blocks and enjoy the the many smiling people that are graduating that day.

Bridget Finn 34:32

I love it. I love that I love what you said about empowering, empowering people to return to their creative dreams. Um it's exactly what you're doing. It's amazing. It's amazing to watch your work. Um so grateful for everything you're giving to the community. Um, I think it's important to note that um future films, you know, is responsible for much of the gear and cameras used by the community. Um, that's incredibly generous of you. But I've known you long enough to know your generosity of spirit and your lack of ego and what you're trying to do by building this group. And I'm thrilled to have become a part of it already.

SPEAKER_02 35:17

There, yeah, you you are one of the many um cornerstones of this. Uh whatever, let me rephrase that. You are definitely one of the major building blocks from this, and so are community libraries, and so is so many, so much support from so many people in this city. Uh you know, I I grew up in a small town and moved to this town when I got married, and uh I I just I felt so much draw to just so many people in this town for for creative endeavors that um I've I've I know of I know I'm in the right place.