Nathan DuCongé

The pursuit of becoming a storyteller began with a lust for the “what if.” Naturally, that drew my eye towards fantasy and science fiction so I would draw, write, and build characters and worlds from different dimensions so I could escape the climate of reality. This has drawn a theme throughout all of my work: characters facing the unknown, surviving as drifters in a world of belief.

There is no precedent for a Black American filmmaker with a taste for the weird and the fantastical; at least on a “mainstream” scale because those who tried were banned. I am constantly reminded that the way I love to make my movies is "unconventional" and "too eccentric." My philosophy was most strongly tested while living in Los Angeles, where independent filmmakers are supposed to ask for permission to make their movies, and abide by a certain system for how movies are made. I chose move back to Atlanta  with this experience and make my first feature film, RANCOR. I needed to return to my virtue for storytelling where the "who" was more important than the "what." 

What makes the independent Black man or woman’s story so strong is their willingness to share their vulnerabilities to reality. I am to challenge and inspire this world by being a movie director and writer of my own nature, telling stories with a knack for the absurdities, surrealism, and strangeness that life provides. So yes, my perspective is "eccentric." Maybe that's what our world requires.

See you in the Next Wave.  

-Nathan