 October 5th is World Teacher’s Day and this month I want to tell you a bit about Robert Parris (Bob) Moses and Donald Burroughs – both recently left the physical realm – but their spirit remains in so many people, communities and all TruJuLo stands for. Bob Moses was a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, a renowned civil rights activist, mentored by Ella Baker, and a leader in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Mississippi. In the 70s he and his family moved to Cambridge, MA – which was when my brother Winston and I became part of the fortunate cohort of children to receive our math education via the early days of his Algebra Project. I’m proud to say that his son Omo and I are developing an animated children’s TV show for Pearl Street Films, based on MathTalk, incorporating his commitment to nurturing all children with math literacy skills.  Donald Burroughs was my high school English teacher. He was a proud, unapologetic Black queer man who sang, modeled, performed, educated, produced and was a fierce advocate for educational equity. After retiring from teaching he became a consultant for the National SEED Project. Facebook has been filled for several days with his former students sharing how and what he taught us – from helping us actually enjoy Shakespeare, to exposing us to James Baldwin and works like Manchild in the Promised Land. I had the immense honor of having Donald host two post-show Q&As of One Drop of Love in Cambridge. He is an integral part of who I – and so many others – are as storytellers committed to positive change.WHAT ARE WE UP TO?  |
 OCTOBER MOURNING IS FUNDED ON KICKSTARTER! Family – this one happened so quickly, I didn’t even have the chance to knock on your social media doors to ask you to donate. BUT we are still raising funds for this powerful film, so we can provide our crew with all the safety measures they need, and to treat everyone comfortably and with the gratitude they deserve in helping to make this film. PLEASE make a contribution here: http://kck.st/3nQmJRR And here’s a letter from the writer & director of October Mourning, Frederick Thornton: Dear Friends, October Mourning is my internal struggle to find understanding after the untimely death of my father on Halloween Day 2008. It is an inventory of myself and how his life and death evolved me. The film is ultimately an exhaustive pursuit of understanding who he was— his inner workings– his hopes, his dreams, his aspirations, but most importantly— his fears. When Henry confronts his father on how he was never there for him or his sister emotionally, that is a moment I wish I had with my own dad before he passed. I wish I could have asked him why he was so scared to hold me as a baby, and why he was so standoffish from us emotionally as we grew older. This film is my investigation into these questions…(CONT’D HERE: https://trujulo.com/october-mourning/)  We have completed a beautiful sizzle reel (a short video highlighting what the docuseries is about) and are about to start pitching the project! Pitching means we’ll set up meetings with networks, studios and other companies to try and get support to get the series made. Keep an eye out on the trujulo.com website for updates on this project.  Last month I got to facilitate a panel for Yea Impact‘s Hollywood Climate Summit. I’m committed to understanding the connections between climate change and racial justice and to pushing the entertainment industry to taking action. If you’d like to learn more, check out the Take Action page for the Summit’s website.HOW TO BE CONFIDENT AS A BLACK, BROWN, INDIGENOUS, AND/OR ASIAN FILMMAKER I’m uploading weekly videos to Youtube to encourage Black, Brown, Indigenous and Asian filmmakers to enter into and remain in the entertainment industry.How to Become a Producer How to Tell Your Story & Produce Like a Pro How to Brand Yourself as a Filmmaker p1 How to Brand Yourself as a Filmmaker p2 The goal is to become monetized on Youtube so I can support the incredible filmmakers and projects that come my way. To be monetized TruJuLo needs 1,000 subscribers to the channel and 4,000 watch hours. If you watch Youtube videos, I’d so appreciate your helping us getting there! You can subscribe HERE or by clicking below – and it always helps to like the videos, comment and watch them through to the end. On behalf of all of the talented filmmakers I work with – THANK YOU! ONWARDS with our stories of truth, justice and LOVE, – Fanshen & TruJuLo  Click Here for Booking a Consulting or Speaking Engagement Copyright © 2021 TruJuLo Productions, All rights reserved. |
