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 that wasn't made for them.

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 movies is too "unconventional" and too "eccentric." My philosophy was most strongly tested while living in Los Angeles, where filmmakers are supposed to ask for permission to make their movies, and abide by a certain system for how movies are made. I chose to move back to Atlanta with this experience and make my first feature film, independently, titled RANCOR. I needed to return to my virtue for storytelling where the "who" was more important than the "what." 

What makes a filmmaker's story so strong is their willingness to share reality in its entirety. I am to challenge and inspire this world by being a filmmaker who tells the stories of the unheard, the punks, and the world builders that this life provides. So yes, my perspective is "eccentric." Maybe that's what our frequency requires.

See you in the Next Wave.  

-Nathan