Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Solaiman and Hudson King.
Hi Justin and Hudson, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Justin: I’ve been creative my whole life I feel, from arts in Elementary to wanting to become a game designer in middle school to music in high school, I feel as if I’ve drifted from one creative pursuit to another throughout my childhood, with each never quite fitting me right each time. I think part of my desire for expression came from feeling other-ed or isolated in school; being usually one of the few Asian-American students in a majority White and Black school, I always felt in-between which led me to a yearning to be considered “normal”. I played shows with a band I started and composed music up until college, but it still didn’t feel right to me. I entered college with a deep indecision as many adolescents do, and it put me in a pretty dark place, where I almost failed out of school. Luckily I kept my grades up, and it wasn’t until the end of college that I decided I wanted to influence both the visual and audial, and that the perfect medium to do that would be film.
Not wanting to return to schooling, I decided I would self-teach myself screenwriting and directing, and it was around then that I reconnected with my childhood friend Hudson, who was going to film school at the time, and plotted to make a short film together. I also reclaimed my background around this time, embracing my Bangla heritage and my American one as one person, as well as my identity as gender non-conforming. Throughout the coming years, we created short films, which became my personal film school, and I felt most comfortable learning by doing, making mistakes, and biting off more than I could chew, forcing myself to get to the level required to make the films I wrote and we produced together happen.
Three short films later, culminating in the completion of our most recent, The Coronating, we feel ready for our next big challenge- making our debut feature film under our production company The Distorting Mirror. We’re currently talking with producers and collaborators to take the necessary steps in order to do that. And pushing forward a new model which involves production members being given the opportunity to be involved in profit sharing, so the thing they work hard and put passion into can reward them down the line.
Hudson: Since I was a kid, I would always find myself getting immersed in fictional worlds. Movies, TV shows, video games, etc. I would recreate scenes from movies with friends while playing outside. By the time high school rolled around, I would make silly skit videos with friends. It wasn’t until teachers started complimenting these videos on apparently showing an understanding of certain fundamentals of film-making that I realized I could maybe be involved in creating the same type of worlds and vibes I fell in love with as a kid. After high school, I went to the Art Institute of Atlanta for film and met some very creative people who to this day have helped on all my projects.
During 2015, while attending film school, Justin (whom I’d known since 7th grade and kept in touch with for birthdays and things like that) reached out about making something together. Since then, we’ve made three short films together: Horse Head, Ringloom, and The Coronating. Each one, I think better than the last in terms of stretching our legs creatively and emotionally as well as slowly finding our collective voice piece by piece.
Emotional connectivity will always mean a great deal to me and any films I work on. Many directors use film as a means of therapy, and I’m no exception. I find out more about myself with each film and try to convey that as best I can through atmosphere and feeling.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Hudson: Every creative outlet is going to present itself with a trial or two. Be that professionally or personally. Especially something as vulnerable as film. I think to make a substantive film you have to listen to what you’re going through emotionally at the time. Be that loneliness, happiness, grief, etc. You have to be self-aware in that moment and for many people that’s unsustainable or deeply uncomfortable. I’ve lost many people along the way, and I owe it to them to funnel my perspective of them and their worldviews into a medium that can hopefully connect with others. If you’re not honest with yourself or what you’ve been through, then people will notice in your art. That dishonesty will speak volumes.
Justin: No. I don’t think any creative journey can be smooth if it’s coming from a genuine need to express. We’ve had more setbacks and rejections than I can probably count. The film industry really is about getting that one “yes” in a sea of “no”s and getting used or not allowing rejection to affect you too much is an important skill to learn in this industry. Not to say you should invalidate that feeling, you absolutely will feel low, and the imposter syndrome will come, but you have to pick yourself up and refocus and just try to do better next time. It’s also important to realize that no one has all the answers in the film world, and there’s tons of examples of series/movies getting rejected for YEARS only to finally find its place and become someone’s most treasured media (see Squid Game or Stranger Things for example).
Probably the film we struggled the most on was our second short Ringloom; our first film was very small, basically Hudson and I and a couple of friends shooting at a house over the weekend, but Ringloom was a multi-location, sci-fi drama with effects shots, and our crew was 20+. It was a huge jump, and we had to just keep our heads above water for most of it. We also were missing key production and many other factors caused issues and drama that mostly came down to our inexperience. It wasn’t all doom and gloom; however, we finished the film and to this day, we’re very proud of it and learned so much.
As a writer, it’s also tough because it’s a whole different world to directing and an art you can literally spend your entire life mastering. It comes with its own brand of rejection and banging your head against a wall, the ability to take feedback as well as the discipline to write every day. It’s very hard, but if it was easy, everyone would do it. Regardless of our struggles, I feel privileged to be able to express in this way not every gets the opportunity, so you have to grasp it and make sure you come out of every project and experience with no regrets.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Justin: I am a screenwriter, director, and producer. The films we’ve produced and the scripts I’ve written are what I’m most proud of, especially our most recent effort, The Coronating, which is our take on a dark fantasy drama. I tend to explore philosophical themes and try to engage with the audience in a sort of dialectic, as well as using symbolism to make what is a simple conversation layered and a sort of puzzle box to decipher for those willing to engage in our work, I hope its really rewarding. However, in our future work, our stories will go deeper on the emotions we want to convey in our art stemming from our personal connection to our stories, the characters and worlds we build, as well as keep our penchant for surreal and our desire to push the medium in interesting directions using film techniques such as blocking, lighting, visual effects, and maybe even some things audiences have never experienced within the medium of film.
We fiercely believe that audiences are searching for new, original stories and new worlds to sink into, and while its a bit trite, it’s nonetheless true that above all, we want to make anyone who watches our work feel.
Hudson: I’m a filmmaker with an interest in directing, producing, and writing but love being involved creatively in any corner I can contribute to, like music or editing. Being able to be expressive creatively is all I care about, and it has happened to manifest itself most purely through directing films so far. Not to sound cliché with listing the most recent thing you’ve worked on, but I am very proud of The Coronating and how it all came together. Especially knowing the rough-ish post-production phase it went through. Everyone involved just really gave it their all throughout the whole process, and I think it shows. It’s an honest film and, at risk of boasting, an effectively immersive one, I’d say. We’ve improved as a team so much with each film that it makes me very excited for the future and what dreamscapes we can tap into together.
We recently organized our first ever public screening of our latest short film THE CORONATING in August. Over 120 people attended the screening and the money from ticket and poster sales when to the Entertainment Community Fund in support of Film and TV workers as they strike against the AMPTP in this existential moment for our industry, and we raised and donated $1600 as a result of the event, which we’re very proud to be able to show our film, our creative voices to the local ATL community, while also supporting an important cause that certainly means a lot to me and our film family.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Justin/Hudson: We were very lucky that we finished shooting our second short, Ringloom, literally days before the pandemic locked everything down in 2020. The entire crisis definitely I think was a moment of reflection for everyone, with both a new responsibility towards our friends, family, and community, but also a loss of time to have experiences with others. In regards to film-making, it forced us to become comfortable with remote post-production, with our composer based in Italy, our sound designer in London, and our editor in LA, we quickly adapted to doing pretty much the entire process over Zoom calls, emails and other feedback mechanisms, which we still use a lot of those skills today in our film-making.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thedistortingmirror.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedistortingmirror/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDistortingMirror
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tdmirror
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thedistortingmirror1905
- Other: https://linktr.ee/thedistortingmirror
Image Credits
Photoshoot by: Christian Zajicek Film Stills: The Coronating by The Distorting Mirror BTS photos by: John Walters
