A young black opera prodigy from the Bronx struggles with vicious inner & outer demons as he pursues his dream of opera glory and a better life.

Director and Screenplay: JT Doran
Producers: Steven Blum & Alain Martin
Assistant Directors/Screenwriters: Samuel Blum & Rich Martin
Editing: The Illmatic Ninjas
Cast
Gio: Alain Martin, Mom: Cindy Brown, Young Gio: Seth Walker, Jacqueline: Kim Spicer, Aurora: Brooke Elizabeth
Origin: USA
Year: 2024
Running Time: 3

DIRECTOR'S BIO
At the beginning of my life, I was a poor kid, from a rough neighborhood, with a sick single mother, and, on paper, destined for a hard life. But the turning point was unexpected, and I became a different person than I was supposed to be. As a child, movies captivated me with a once-in-a-lifetime emotion. Here, I escaped reality, yet I understood more about reality. Growing up, movies, theater, stories—they all felt like home. Between one movie and the next, my home, Queens, New York, instilled in me a profound curiosity, empathy, survival and fighting instincts, and a visceral awe for humanity and stories. Armed with a distinctive diversity of lived experiences and lessons learned, I managed to overcome lockdown (and avoid prison), accomplish something, get an education, make friends, collaborate with incredible artists and storytellers, and exist in this second act of mine, believing that nurture trumps nature and that we can be the people we want to be, not the people we are meant to be.