As officials remove two COVID-19 checkpoints that have kept the Florida Keys shut down for more than two months, Miami-based TV producer and humanitarian Chris Sloan has released a short film visually chronicling Key West’s isolation. The eight-minute mini-doc, Key West: 66 Days of Paradise, Interrupted, gives viewers a rare and haunting insider’s look at the world-famous tourist hotspot as they’ve never seen it before… a surreal quiet pausing Key West’s bustling nightlife, prolific local music/art scene and the quirky allure that has made this tropical paradise home to such literary greats as Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams and Judy Blume.
With access reserved strictly for locals and essential workers, Sloan shot this footage at the height of Key West’s quarantine in mid-May while he was there hosting a food drive on behalf of his nonprofit, Caleb and Calder Sloan’s Awesome Foundation. He used a DJI Osmo with 1080p motion stabilization and hyperlapse to capture striking scenes of such quintessential Key West destinations as the Southernmost Point Buoy (only 90 miles to Cuba), Sloppy Joe’s, Mallory Square, Garrison Bight, Duval Street, the Ernest Hemingway Home, Pier House Resort and Higgs and Smathers beaches, all minus the throngs of visitors.
There's a strange, tranquil beauty in the near-overnight disappearance of tourism and yet one fraught with foreboding as the city’s chief economy vanished with it. The area’s employment rate went from Florida’s lowest to the state’s second highest in just a matter of months. However, the unprecedented Florida Keys lockdown resulted in a much smaller number of COVID-19 cases and deaths than most counties,
Yet, even though Sloan’s mini-doc chronicles measures for which the long-term impact was unknown at the time of filming, it also shares a message of upbeat optimism as the Florida Keys lockdowns have lifted (effective June 1).
“Life returns, and Key West will rise again to be the quirky and charming melting pot that makes it truly one of my favorite places in the world,” said Sloan.
CreditsProduction Chris Sloan, director/producer/photographer. Postproduction & Sound Design Jesus Martinez, editor, sound designer, colorist, graphics; Bob Cobb, graphics. Music Song: “Livin’ on Key West Time” by Howard Livingston and Mile Marker 24 Band. Other Music Artlist.io Website Development Andy Fernandez Special Thanks Jack Smith and Kim Works of Pirate Radio Key West, and the citizens of Key West
Director Gia Coppola Teams With Mejuri For “A New York Minute”; 1st Episode Takes Us To The Grocery Store
Mejuri, known for turning fine jewelry into an everyday luxury, has partnered with director Gia Coppola (The Last Show Girl, Palo Alto) and The Directors Bureau in Los Angeles, for the first time reimagining the brand’s story as episodic content. In a series of microfilms, co-created by Coppola and premiering following New York Fashion Week, Mejuri eschewed a typical celebrity campaign and cast us as voyeurs to a group of aspiring young women--real people, not actors--at the crossroads of their adult lives against the backdrop of New York City.
Titled “A New York Minute,” the series features five real-life friends, who include one perfectly imperfect heroine named Emma. The women celebrate ordinary moments and interactions which reveal, sometimes retrospectively, the extraordinary within the mundane. Adjacent to the brand’s own community, the 30-something year old cast includes Laura Love (Emma), Rebecca Ressler, Natalie Vall-Freed and Rozzi Crane. Mejuri’s jewelry makes an appearance as the best supporting actor.
“When I met with Gia and The Directors Bureau team, there was instant creative and personal chemistry and a natural alignment on the desire to push and blur the lines between marketing, storytelling, and the construct of what a ‘campaign’ could be,” said Jacob Jordan, chief brand officer, Mejuri. “Gia was able to push that idea into something that truly feels new and artful, with a realism and relatability that almost feels jarring. Gia was such a perfect collaborator and partner, someone I had complete trust in to be a catalyst for Mejuri’s values of celebrating women as their truest selves. I can’t wait for us to continue to tell the next chapters of this story.”
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