5Q's w/Bob Celli "Brooklyn in July" Director
#1 Can you describe your movie and why somebody should see it?
What’s it like to be constantly judged by the color of your skin? Take a walk in Frank Walker’s shoes for a day in 1945. Experience the past to change the present and the future.
#2: What do you want the Borrego Springs Film Festival audience to know about your film that isn’t obvious from its title?
My inspiration for this film was the song, Brooklyn In July, by Joe Crookston, a New York based Folk Artist. The song is based on true events. In the past few years incidents of racial bias have begun to get the media attention that is long overdue. It has always been my belief that people are taught how to be hateful. It is this learned behavior that I hope to portray with this film. Now more than ever, I feel it is important that we as artists continue to make films that dig into the issues many would like to ignore. I feel it is imperative to relate the histories, stories, and legacies that continue to influence current events.
#3: What is your movie making background? Tell us about yourself.
I am a NYC based actor / writer-director / filmmaker. I am also a founding partner in DelanoCelli Productions. I have performed in numerous plays in NYC and I can be see in co-starring roles on Blacklist, Gotham, and the Onion News Network. When I'm not acting in other people's work, I create my own. Laura Delano and I began working together by producing and associate producing a number of Off-Off Broadway plays as well as Off Broadway. I wrote and directed my first film in 1999 on 35mm, before the digital explosion. I believe in treating people the way you want to be treated. I believe in showing up on time, which in this business means early. I believe the only person you are in competition with is yourself. I believe in helping each other to succeed. I am a lover of spirited conversation, good friends, good food, and good wine. Being Italian, that means invite six, cook for twelve…ok, twenty.
#4: What was the biggest lesson learned in getting your film made?
Go into production with plans A thru Z and never, ever shoot a period piece with a temperamental 1939 Packard in a heat wave.
#5: What does the future hold for your film and you?
We have been been getting interest in having the film shown in schools. This February 2020, we have been invited to screen and discuss the film at North Carolina A&T State University for Black History Month and the film will soon be released on Amazon Prime. I currently have two shorts that I am writing and I am refining my first feature film script which I plan to enter into screenplay completions in early 2020. I hope to direct it.
