XJW | Coming Out of the Jehovah’s Witness Religion (teaser and pitch) | www.xjwdoc.com
Q: Why did you become a filmmaker?
SH: I’m simply passionate about motion pictures and doing filmmaking. I’ve been working with cameras since I was 15 shooting stills, making skateboard & snowboard videos and short documentaries. I worked in broadcast TV and then went to college for photography. I’ve spent the last five years in Vietnam making music videos, short documentaries, extreme sports & promo videos and TV commercials as an all-around filmmaker, camera operator and editor. I’ve been directing more in the last few years.
Q: What are we going to see at the EFP? Has it screened elsewhere and what are your plans for it?
SH: You will see a 5 minute teaser for, XJW | Coming Out of the Jehovah’s Witness Religion. It’s an ongoing documentary series following interviewees of diverse backgrounds and cultures who’ve left the religion. Over 100,000 members leave the religion each year. This teaser was released at www.xjwdoc.com on March 1st 2018.
This week we are launching a crowd-fund campaign on Seed&Spark (SeedandSpark.com/fund/XJWdoc starting March 13th 7pm)
to fund more production. We have a killer soundtrack, subliminal message options, a credit blog and many more incentives on offer.
It’s taken two years of travel, interviews and editing to craft it into something unique that fits the original vision. We are telling compelling stories of strength and transformation of those who make the difficult decision to leave and pursue inspiring lives. With your contributions we hope to make it into something ongoing with wide public appeal.
We are in the middle of production. I’m filming with a ballet dancer this week for this XJW project. We plan to conduct at least 10 interviews and film with each person to capture their modern lives in the spring and summer of 2018. We hope to edit the first episode by the end of 2018. We are committed to release exclusive segments of the project as we create it and to deliver it to our audience via email. We’ve got a few videos in the queue. We’re releasing exclusively to those who sign up at www.xjwdoc.com. We may stream it on SeedandSpark.com if the campaign goes well.
Q: What else are you working on?
SH: I’ve got 15 other short docs, adventure sports shorts, narrative shorts and music videos that are out and hope to screen many of them at EFP over the next year. As an extension of, XJW | Coming Out, I’ve got some live multi-camera punk rock videos I’m working on for one of the interviewees I shot a couple weeks ago. I’ll release those soon for the band and pull from that content later for the doc. I’ll be doing some collaboration with Seventh Circle music venue’s film team to create high quality live music videos. The owner is a film school graduate who encourages film craft and all things DIY. He works with a 10 person volunteer film team to cover most live shows.
Q: Tell us one weird thing about you and/or your movies?
SH: I like to do rapid filmmaking and rush documentaries. For example last summer I booked a screening for a feature length documentary at a rooftop music venue in Vietnam, REC ROOM. It was called, Year One REC, about 1 year of shows and art at that very music venue. They booked it and that’s when I started to edit the doc and do interviews with the owners and fans. It was a 1 week personal challenge complete with a lot of all-nighters. Some people came out to support it as a community project with archival footage, a bit of editing, coffee, beers, Vietnamese subtitles and good feedback. I was still exporting the film when people were showing up to watch it. It screened that night and a week later at another music venue. It has some quirks to it that I plan to tighten up but overall came out well.
Q: Where can people go to find out more about you and your work?
SH: I have multiple YouTube and Vimeo channels but the simplest way to view my best work is on my personal page, scott-homan.strikingly.com – Scroll to the bottom where the videos are embedded.
Q: Is there anything you’d like to say about The Emerging Filmmakers Project?
SH: I was so impressed by how EFP regulars and participants are all so approachable and non-pretentious yet put on such a quality screening and Q&A. I’m excited to be screening my own work there.
XJW | Coming Out of the Jehovah’s Witness Religion (teaser and pitch) will screen at The Emerging Filmmakers Project on Thursday, March 15th at The Bug Theatre.
