Celebrity Photographer & Côte d’ Azur WebFest Founder Clinton H. Wallace

He is definitely featured in amazing magazines and few things. They're amazing. Do they even make magazines anymore? Just kidding. He Entertainment people, magazine, InTouch, Weekly, Cosmopolitan, US Weekly Vanity Fair, New York Post Daily Mail. Who? Weekly Australia, Teen Vogue, Teen People like the list keeps going. So he's one of the official media photographers for like amazing charities and he's shot. Oh, this is going to be a star set of show people. I mean, we're talking puffs. We're talking. Yeah. Puff Daddy. The rock. Hugh Jackman, Christina Aguilera, Snoop Dog, Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton. My favorite. I love her 11, 11. What's up Nicole, Ritchie, Kim Kardashians DiCaprio.
He doesn't, you don't even need to say his first name, but Leonardo. We love him. 1111. We have the same birthday. Demi Moore. We have the same birthday, Ridley Scott, many, many more. Oh my God. JJ Abrams, Lana Del Rey love her. And then Clinton, not only as an international amazing person and photographer, Clinton has produced or executive produced over 50 films and he had a big break. His documentary went on to winning so many awards all around the world. And He was so in the film festival circuit. And we can talk about that, which led him to creating his own film festival. We're gonna introduce the winners of this year's film festival.
And we're going to honor Clinton. I'm so excited to have him here. Clinton. Thank you for joining me. How are you?
Yeah. I'm so honored to be here. Thank you for this like great intro, Mike humbled.
Me too. I'm just like, whoa. Wow. I'm like, you're my friend. I'm like, wait, I was so literally mindful. And I'm like, how am I going to do this? It was just like,
We've known each other a long time. We have a
Great story. Let's maybe we could share about one of our Hollywood stories of how we met. That would be fun. Right.
I remember I came to your music video debut party with the one you did with pink. That was like, yeah, you had a premiere party for that. After that I came to a bunch of you from your parties when you were on like YPD blue or CSI or something. Oh
Yeah. The CSI one New York and uncle daughter cannon and Beverly Hills.
Yes. Yes. I just kept, he just kept invited with all this stuff and I'm like, I have to show up. I have to show up and everything was like always like amazing one after the other. Everything was amazing.
Thank you. Thank you. And that's what I love to do. I'm just like, come, come, just come, just come. And I just, I just, I love people, you know, I'm a, I'm a people person.
I remember the AFI event. You invited me to where, when I heard som the port of call bad Lieutenant. No, this was, this was at the TLC was a big premiere. I think Nicholas cage, like all these people in the service. It was great.
Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you. You've always like really didn't get to me.
Yeah, of course. My pleasure. I mean, you're so sincere and beautiful. Like when anyone sees you in person, your energy is just, it's like a blue ocean. It's just, it's so flow. You just flow. You have this energy about you. It's very light and pure. And so speaking of your roots, where do you stand from? Where are you from Clinton Wallace.
So long story by mom. My dad, they're all from the Caribbean, my mom from a middle Eastern and German descent and my dad from Scottish and Jamaican descent. And I grew up in New Jersey for some reason, everyone ends up in New Jersey and I'm no exception. After that. I went to school in New York, at New York university and I studied communication studying to be a journalist like working in media. So I did their media studies program. And if you're at NYU, somehow you're going to end up into filmmaking or something to do with Film. I had a job working at the Tesco at the arts.
They had a little Aspen I had when I went to school there, I had like a work study program where you could like, it was part of financial aid, but they never gave you the money. So you could get jobs that differing locations around this school. So I saw an ad to work at Tisch school of the arts in a casting department where you cast help cast a student films. And that's kind of how I got into working on student films and short films and stuff. Even though I was in the communications program studying to be a journalist. Wow,
This is all amazing. What a beautiful journey, how cool, what a grand opportunity.
Lucky to be in New York during the nineties, like the nineties going into the, like when like everything was happening in the village, like some of the most talented people,
It's a story or two that comes to your mind or to your heart that you want to share. I got
To work with Hillary Clinton when she was a first lady, The Lost school gave her an award and I was like her Photographer while she was on campus. So that was like really good. And the pictures got published. We had a newspaper snapper on our front page and then a couple other big media outlets use the picture. So instantly I got like media access for all this stuff. So how I got into the social media photography. So thanks to Hillary Clinton called the Washington's core news. And it was one of the fifth biggest student newspapers, that country that was like their Photographer while on campus at NYU. So when Hillary Clinton came to the campus, they needed a photographer.
So I got picked, I want to say that slight of hand and twist of faith or divine intervention, but I got picked and the rest was history.
It led you on your journey.
It led me on a journey. It was like a total, like a Metaphysical Experience.
Wow. I mean, your family must've been so proud of you. How was it for you during that time?
It was very euphoric, like, oh, I shared that with everyone, family, friends, everyone was a part of it. You know, I, I had a huge student body that was very supportive of me during those days. So it was good.
I would love to see some of those photos from your early Can't wait to see them. And then we were talking earlier about NFTs and stuff. So that would be really cool for you to, yeah,
I'm really, I'm really fascinated by what you were telling me about the whole NFT technology and how you can like make the photos unique and assign them like codes to like individual people, you know,
And you have unreleased photos of certain people. So I think, yeah. So I really feel I'm all about being super exclusive and super rare and it would be so rare. And so exclusive some of the content that you have.
Yeah. When I first moved to LA in the early two thousands, I was the Dalai Lamas Photographer for two dates. So I still have all those pictures. Wow. That was part of the world Festival of sacred music. They added here. And my friend was with the Los Angeles friends of Tibet and she got me to be the photographer for two days. It was really awesome. This was like, I want to say 2004 between it was either 2003 or 2004. It was called the world festival of sacred music and has all Innes came here for two days and gave lectures and all kinds of stuff all over the city.
So I got to do it in the Hollywood bowl and then Pasadena, like all these voices, it was awesome.
Oh yeah. Sounds like it. And I mean, I don't, I mean, paying it forward to the NFT. I,
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, because these are pictures that was used. I was with a photo agency at that time called globe photos. So they were like syndicate and all the pictures like everywhere and they just recently closed. So they, I literally got access to all my archives back. So I'm just looking at everything like total, like fascination. I will not like publish books and all kinds of stuff. So it was really, really inspiring when you were telling me about it and our fan of, so thank you.
I'm having a bad connection. I keep hearing something on my end, but I hope it's not going to be an issue. Yeah. But I mean, there, there are so many things we can talk about
First. I just want to say thank you for coming on board. This year's cut deserve Web Fest as a jury member. We were like so honored to have you to have your talent, your expertise, your notoriety. Thank you. It really helped us this year.
Pleasure. My pleasure. And thank you. It was such an honor. I mean, one of the best things out of this pandemic was connecting with you and you honoring me asking me to be the newest board member. And I'm just like, yes, it was so cool. And just, just the feeling of it and just sitting in it and just the position and the space you held for me as a human, as a female, as a person in the industry. Thank you. Thank you so much. And it feels, it feels really good. I'm really, I'm thrilled to make plans and create with you. And so
Today we announced the winners. We just announced all of our winners and we sent out a press release and everything I'd like to read it off. So we gave her TV icon award to Lydia Cornell. She was on too close for comfort, and she's a really amazing actress. She's really, you know, set the bar for TV actresses for the best comedy. We gave that to Sheila to charm web series, how to be a successful actress. And it was directed by Sergio Spino and the best actress award went to Danielle di Donato from Brazil. And she also won the best producer award and for a documentary, we gave that to free climb and a French director Banora Gord.
So got that for best director and best cinematography and for the best dramatic way web series, we gave that to 300 year old class of 2020 Director park in hand from South Korea. And for best action, short film, the Assassin's apprentice director, Russ Emmanuel, best documentary, me Director, Sherri Pedago. Then we have GL Winberg Chronicles Director mal Massey, best director, best screenplay in best editing. So congrats their best docu-series tiny garden directors can achieve young and Victor men Goonyella from Singapore best ensemble cast detention adventure director, jokey sec from Canada, best web series of Accordo toast.
The Series director, Sam coil from Canada, new media, best animated series, the Lux motion Director material Handfield from Canada. And we have a digital series dominoes, two directors, Zoe pale shat relay. So for that, the best actor went to Mr. Schneider. Then we have best writing also and comedy couples therapy Director, Katie Chonacas, does anybody know her? So we got that for best improv. And then our media excellence award went to Harrison held that was presented by classic images Magazine.
He's had a two decade career interview in some of the entertainment industry stops celebrities. So, and last but not least, we just want to say thank you to Lydia Cornell for being such an amazing inspiration. And she received their TV icon award. Thank you
So much to our founder, Clinton, H Wallace, who created cut this door, Web Fest. Yay. Congratulations to all the filmmakers and everyone a part of the creations. Woo.
Yeah. We were like happy for that. We had so many amazing projects. We know it's been like a tough year. 2020 was really tough for everyone, but it was really awesome to see that people were still being creative. They were writing stuff. They were filming that were doing their pond. They were doing like, you know, they didn't stop
Couples therapy, improv series was created because of the lockdown. It's a lockdown, a web series.
What really inspired
You in a nutshell when the pandemic, whenever even when the whole world shut down in March actors access or not actors access actors connection had pre at three. So if you're on the west coast, it'd be free at 12, but it was, you know, free at three, that was the coin of it. And it was LA New York, Atlanta, and anyone who was an artist. And it was every single day. And I just immediately, I just, what I wanted to do with my attention and my energy, I immediately took it all and just, I showed up and there were casting directors, producers, just everyone in the industry, just talking, connecting normal things that you wouldn't see from, you know, the biggest casting directors in the industry and producers and everything.
I just let it feed my soul. I just let it feed my energy. And then I wanted to create something, but I didn't, you know, half the union was unemployed because of the pandemic and yeah, and I didn't want to deal with administration and waiting for papers to be signed and do all that stuff. So I knew
And all this stuff, you know, sag insurance.
Yeah. I didn't want any hesitations. I just wanted to be able to create and do it lawfully without any interruptions. And so I like, oh, I took standup. I love improv. I did improv. So I'm like, I'll just do an improv series. So I don't, it doesn't matter if it's union or not. I can just do improv as me and have fun and create and just let out some real things about what, you know, people in the world could possibly be going through because you know, being locked down. So that's how, that's how it was created. And it was all, it was all done on zoom and sure.
I loved it. I love that. That's what the WebFest is about stuff like this. I was so impressed. I was like, I have to have this. And you know, you know, so when you told me, I directed, when I asked you to be a remit that you remember, and you told me yet that project, I was like, I want to see this project. And I, and when you, when I saw it, I was like, I want this and I want it, you know?
Yeah. Thank you so much. It was such an honor. And I actually had season one, two and three shot. And then I reached out to my manager and then I reached out to about five people. And you were one of the five out of like everyone that I knew, I thought of, you know, five people who would be trusted sources for me to specifically, okay, it's done with zoom. It's done on the web. It's an improv comedy. And I want to trusted sources of, you know, two people who were directors for film festivals that I know you have your own Festival.
And a couple of other filmmakers who submit to film festivals and in the film festival circuit. So I gathered all that information. And by reaching, because I reached out to you as a trusted source to ask you questions, to vet a couple of things that I didn't know, and just to get, get your gems in your insights, then you gave me the invitation to be a board member. And I was just like, oh,
I mean, well earned in rotation. I mean, the creativity, the fast thinking that you expressed, I mean, you didn't like sit around twiddling your thumbs during this pandemic. You, you, you, you created this piece of, it was actually poetic for me. It was like looking at it, like she used zoom and created this visual, like poetry.
Thank you. You're so sweet.
Yeah.
Poetry. I love that
Because it was real. It was like, this is what people were experiencing. That's what relationships were going through. It was like, and you were able to like capture that with, during the whole zoom when zoom just shot to prominence and you were able to, yeah, that's what I'm saying during the crazier actually it's like you had a lasso and you caught that wild pony and tangled it. Yeah,
For sure. For sure. Yeah. Totally.
During the crazy, you just grabbed the piece of it and created something out of it. Yeah.
I mean, what else am I going to do? That's all that I know,
But it shows fast thinking. It shows innovative ideas and able to take them and make it manifest into a physical reality. And then to package it, to produce it, direct it, to put it together into a story. And that's what I look for. And that's what I look for the brains behind these projects. That's what I want.
Looking at your brains. You having the foresight, the depth, the wisdom, and the knowledge to know these things, to seek out these things and
The whole concept of this film Fest. Well in the web series and digital short form content, I launched it before the pandemic. So I launched it in 2019 at Cannes. It was the first like web series Festival or anything like during Cannes. I mean, there's many Webfest are all over the world. Like every country has one, but there wasn't one at 10 and I'm sure there'll be more coming now because of the pandemic. And what happened with all these virtual events, there's going to be more like it. But like I said, I was happy to be one of the, at the forefront of launch it during 10.
Congratulations. Wow. That's spectacular.
I mean, if you have something to like introduce to the world, like a technology or a concept in the entertainment world, there's like literally two places that I look at where you want to like introduce this and that my first one is south by Southwest. If you want to like, introduce a concept of technology or anything and can A pandemic actually help it because everything went virtual. People could like sit at home and share. So that's what I'm saying. Like your, your project, your web series was like the desert Webfest was the perfect home for your web series.
So yeah. I'm just so happy that you called me that day. Know,
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. You're brilliant. What a genius. Oh my God. I'm just like, oh my God, like you started this before the pandemic, you were just like on the curb and like into, into digital and
People, it was like, what are you doing? There's so many Web Fest. There's, it's just another one. But I was like, you know what? There's not one at Cannes. You know what I mean? I was like, that's going to be, the place can introduce it because of the atmosphere, all the producers, all the decision-makers there. Yeah. So I was able to meet a lot of people. I met my web master there. I, you know, met some investors that believe in it. I met some publicists that helped me launch it, worked out,
Love it, love it. I'm excited for us to be there together and that's going to be great.
And then my friend has a web series. Actually. She was a winner in 2019 for her web series. Who are you wearing? A director, Jane linker. And now she's planning to do it in Paris Fashion Week. So we're really excited about that. And you and I we've been talking about a Paris Fashion Week, so this could actually be a great concept for you to be a part of.
Oh yeah. I would love to. I think it sounds great. And I hope, you know, with the world circumstances, it won't be an issue. I was already looking up tickets to go. I'm like, I'm ready. Like, it'll be great pair. I haven't been to Paris in a while. Paris Fashion Week. Ah. It's like, I don't know why I haven't been going every single season, but Well, before then I wasn't going, even though like I could have gone, but I'm going to miss up for some lost time, but I guess everything happens how it's supposed to be happening. Yeah. I've been going to New York fashion week since I was a teenager. And I mean,
I remember those Bryan Park days. Good old days.
Yeah. Oh wait, wait. Speaking of good old days and stories. Well, congratulations on everything and thank you for sharing and honoring all the people. It's really great. Oh, I want to hear some, maybe, I don't know, maybe a Bryan part. Who are you shooting or what's a fun show. You went to some cool Bryant parties.
Well, my, my was a rocking Republic. Did you ever go to day rock and Republic shows? Yeah, my friend Michael Ball was their founder and he always had the best celebrities. The best trendy is people. You know, Brian Park always had like tons and tons and tons of shows. And my most memorable was the rock and Republic because I was so proud of him because he began as a LA brand, you know? And no one ever really took like elegant brands, like really seriously. Remember during the Smashbox days, of course. I
Mean, it was always a joke,
But rock and Republic was the one that like, you know, do you remember rock and Republic?
Of course. Yeah. I mean, I wasn't in the show in LA, but I definitely went to a couple of the shows. Very cool vibes, like rock and roll. Like yeah. He said like young, hot trendy. That's cool. That's cool. Yeah. I like how like Dior comes to LA, you know, I love, I like St. Laurel and all of them coming to LA and those are really special and unique on the beach. Those shows. Yeah. Brian bars,
But I mean, when it moves. Yeah. I mean, I kind of wish it would have stayed in Bryan Park. You know what I mean? I just loved Brian Park.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, the only thing that is consistent is change. Right.
But now you have to like adapt adapted. I,
But going back to Paris Fashion Week, I'm very excited because you've been there. I've been there and then separately, but being there together, I think we're going to have a really fun time.
I think it would just be in there as a creator, like shooting a web series, like all over the city, like Metro going on the back to moosh and like, you know, Shaden on the left bank. Just like being there, creating something will be like a totally different vibe in the specialty during Fashion.
Everyone has to listen to Paris Fashion Week. So maybe I'll play it at the end of the episode. I haven't, I haven't played it on the podcast yet. So you lived in Paris for about five years, right?
Yes. Yes. I lived on by panache. There was a street called Ruth sister from small, like tiny street, 15, 10. Those were like the nineties when it was still wasn't even the Euro. It was still the Frank that you can imagine. And there was no like, actually this, the city was pretty innovative because we had a little machine called the Minitel and that was like an internet where you could like connect with people and like find stuff. This was like nineties, like 94, 93, 94. So yeah, I was pretty much ahead of its time and I really liked it then, because it was such a like students City.
Cause you know, when you're a student there, like I was a student and you're like always broke, you know what I mean? So they had like the, you know, places where you could go or you could eat for like really cheap that all these like museums that were really like free E everybody hung out at the Luxembourg gardens and like all these, like, it was really care for you. Then I missed that. You were asking about the bond, the club that was like really awesome. That was like one of the toughest places to get in. Unless you were like friends with like celebrities and supermodels and stuff.
You know,
It's where I met one of my really good friends. Her name's Sally Mack. She's from the Congo, the girl up in Paris. But, and she's a singer she's in Bali right now actually. But you have to meet her. She's amazing. We met there and we just became such great friends ever since. And we've traveled places together. So I'm just fantasizing. So I really hope we're able to go the season. It'll be great. When you go back to Paris, one place you're really looking forward to seeing and experiencing
Actually to be honest, I've never been to Claude Monet's garden in Giverny. So that's going to be the first place you go. Oh, I never, all the time I've been loving and stuff. I've never, I've been oversight in Fontainebleau and you know, been to the Brittany coast and I never been to you ever any, You know, when you have like a, something that to you and it always eats at yeah. That's one place.
Okay. Okay. I feel, yeah, I haven't been there so I hope we can go together. That would be epic beyond. Very cool. Very cool. And then when did you start your photography company?
I started that in Spain in 1993. That's why it has the it's called Photomundo. I started, I was going to university of Granada in Spain and I started taking pictures of tourists at the alarm. Bruh Umbra is like very famous and tourists. They come from all over the world and they have these beautiful Moorish gardens. So I would take pictures of the tourists and stuff. And they're like, what's the name of your company? I was like Photomundo and that's how it got the name.
I just feel like you're a genius. I mean, everything you do, you just do in that like quality 1%, like you just make great choices. You're a person who just makes great choices and has a bunch of lucky stores around you because
I just like, I would die when I got out of high school, I became like a nomad. So I would travel all these places. Cause I wanted to like unlearn everything that I've learned in high school. So I was like, how was he? And I did, I, I have to go out into the real world before I go back into this four year institution of college because I knew I was going to be, I knew I was going to go to school in like New York. And I was like, I have to know people globally to survive in New York. And it was like the smartest decision ever made because New York is like everyone from every, every country.
And how young were you when you made that
Choice? I want to say like 18 or 19.
Yeah. Oh gosh. I love that.
I mean, I read a lot of there's a writer called Joseph Campbell and he wrote a book called the power of math and the heroes, the hero with a thousand faces. I said that those books were kind of like what inspired me to make those decisions.
I read those books. I've heard of many times the heroes.
Yes. Yes. He writes all those books. So I was lucky. I had a high school teacher named Mr. Beaver that introduced me to his work.
Well, I have a lot of teens who listened to this show, so I'm gonna, I'm going to get those, my niece and nephew. I need them to read that book. I mean,
Oh, they're like brilliant books. Cause they inspired like George Lucas to make star wars. And all of his work were inspired by the sky. How did you know that? I had a teacher named Mr. Beaver that was really big into like ancient Rome. And I was like really big into Roman history, you know, all the tribes and Caesar going into Gaul and subduing the tribes. So we would just sit for hours and talk about like their Roman empire. And I became friends with this teacher. So he started introducing me to like books and authors and that's, that's how it began.
I love
It. I love
It. And this guy, Mr. Bieber, the, the way we became friends, it's like, he was in the hell's angels, the motorcycle gang. And he was in Israel's six day war and all kinds of stuff. So one day he brought two Israeli soldiers to our class to like talk to us. I was like, holy gosh, my, my teacher was like a command, my dislike, awesome guy. So we became friends. All the kids would like rush out of class when the bell rang and stay and like talk to him and we became friends.
Oh, that's so cool. Yeah. What a beautiful story. Thanks to
That's how I got into like these books and authors just because I take the time they get to know one of my teachers.
That's how sweet love that. Love that. Thank you for sharing. How cool. Yeah. I mean one teacher can be in.
Yes. That's the one just, and there's many. I mean, if you look, everyone just look like from the started like grade school to high school and not a lot of people really got to know their teachers. They just like the teachers just they're teaching this, this and that. And if you ever like took a moment, you would really discover some like really amazing humans. You know, some of them are botanists. Some of them are archeologists. Some of them are writers. Some of them are like chefs, these humans that are educating us for the next level.
Yeah, definitely. And which school was that? Where with you and Mr. Beaver was
Well, I went to Morristown high school in Morristown, New Jersey.
Morristown seems like a good community.
I'd say it's actually the town that won the revolutionary war. Like George Washington, like defeated like the British army and like got America to become like free. It all started in that town. Wow. There's all kinds of monuments. Or George Washington slapped her Marquis de Lafayette, but in visited all the like little camping grounds where all the soldiers slept and stuff. So it was a pretty cool, inspiring town. You're like walking in history
Who were the first settlers
There. I don't know the first European settlers. You mean or Indians or native Americans? The first settlers, there were a native Americans. Like I want to say though, the Lenny Lenny lap tribe, I'm sure I'm saying it wrong, wrong Delaney lap tribe. And it was maybe like 20 different tribes in that area until the Dutch game. And the whole area was called new Sweden. So the whole area going to like where I went to school all the way to New York and what's called news to meet him. And then they changed the name to new Amsterdam and then the English and the Dutch went to war in the English one.
So they got the whole area and they changed it. The name from new Amsterdam to New York and my area got changed to New Jersey. I'm sure that there's history experts out there that will like clean up what I've just said. So
Yeah. I love it. Thank you for sharing. It's so important. And I remember one time when I was in New York city, I was with someone I don't remember, but I was able to see it was, I think it was in gloss studios and I was able to see the original, original blueprints of Manhattan. And it was called new Amsterdam.
Yeah. It was a Dutch colony. Yeah. If you look up on Wikipedia, Anglo Dutch wars, so England and in the Netherlands, they fought like a series of wars. So in England and one, they took control of new Amsterdam and they named it after the duke of York. So that's how it got the name. New York and New Jersey was named after the island of Jersey. So I got the name, New Jersey, but if the Dutch had won that ward, the area would still be called new Amsterdam. That's why like Greenwich village and Harlem. And like all those plate, the entire city has Dutch architecture.
Yeah. I love Amsterdam. Oh, I love it so much actually after Paris Fashion Week, my girlfriend and I, we took a train to Amsterdam and had a friend there who lived right on the water and I was able to stay at my friend's place. He was actually in London on a job. So he wasn't even there, but his office was right across the street and we just went and got the key and it was, it was, everything was just so wireless and ease of Producer. I met him on a job that booked me on years ago and we just stayed in touch and remained friends and yeah, he's very, very sweet guy named Tony. I really, when I, oh, when I went to Amsterdam, you could ask my friend who I was with my friend, Mary, when I was in Amsterdam, after Paris Fashion Week, I wasn't going back.
I wasn't returning. And my girlfriend, she had to, like, I was so set on staying in Amsterdam, like all
It's a great city. It's so pedestrian friendly, you just get a bike and just ride all day. I wouldn't ride the whole countryside. When you go outside of Amsterdam, there's these like small areas. One of my favorites was bowling dam, a little fishing village. And I would ride my bike out the city. I go on the canals and stuff. It's a great city
Canal. It was, he, he, his front yard was a, it was a canal.
And I hope you get to go back again and discover some other cities like, Ooh, church, you know, or then hog day. It's really nice.
I have a, not a lot. I have a couple of friends there. We should definitely go to the Amsterdam. I really fell in love with it. And honestly, like I said, my girlfriend, she had a psychologically like wheel me back in to get me to go on a plane. Cause I was like, I'll just leave everything. I wasn't going back. She's like, just come back, organize everything and then come back. But I should have never agreed to that because I should've just stayed.
Well, it's a great Sandy. I, I kind of wish I could have seen it during the pandemic when it was empty, because it's always crowded, especially in the summer, like thousands and thousands of people like everywhere. So I kind of wanted to see what it looked like during the pandemic was probably so eerie. You know? Like Street's empty and you could like explore on your own, you know? Yeah.
I was feeling, I mean, it's nothing like Amsterdam or Paris, but I was feeling that way for New York as well, just on the TV, seeing New York city, I'm like, oh, those streets are empty. And then seeing, and I'm like, oh, okay, it's light. But it's not like it was, but yeah,
One year in New York was a huge snowstorm and the city became a ghost. There was like a seat and people are outside with their skis ski in the middle avenue. So I don't remember what year that was. It was a big snow storm. It crippled the city and people were actually out, like people came out and they were, they had skis and snowboards and like everything in the middle of the streets and like fifth avenue and like Broadway and like, you know, it was crazy. And it was, people were actually cause you know how people are in New York. They're just like moving. They're like gone like, Hey bite by bite.
But people are actually hanging out with each other and like doing stuff know?
Yeah. I remember one snow storm. It might've been the same one you're talking about where just everything was closed down everything. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't have to get into details right now, but I was actually in New Jersey and it was, everyone knew there was a huge snow storm coming. And I was like in this castle all by myself and like friends went off to India, like all the housekeepers, they went away to like Russia, like on their holiday. Cause it was going to be Christmas and new year's. I remember it was when Uber I think was still brand new. And my sister's boyfriend's like, I'm going to send you an Uber to pick you up because once this snow storm hits, like you might lose all the power.
You might be all by yourself. And no one was in, I was on 60 acres, isolated all by myself. And so then my sister's boyfriend sent an Uber to come get me. And I went to where they were in Manhattan, in lower Manhattan. And I was with them through the snow storm and you know, it was around Christmas time. So it was good to him.
There used to be some serious snow storms back in the day where you had to like really have all your stuff together and you were screwed. If you didn't, you know, water, food batteries, you know, it'd be like stuck in there for like days. That's kinda why I like California so much. It's like this, like the Mediterranean weather, you know,
I love, oh, hi. I love Palm Springs. Oh, Santa Barbara. Oh yeah. And then even, you know, south San Diego Manhattan beach, I really like, I love the water and Manhattan beach. So circling back around to where did the name come from? What was the inspiration for the name?
Well, it's an interesting story. So I've been going to Cannes, I dunno, like 2006, 2007. So we ended up renting the house of Stephen, Leah gore. He was a writer, he was a poet. He was a lawyer. So we ended up renting his house, some friends and, and it was like, this ship-to that got like converted into like apartments. So we got one of the best parts we got like his garden and his backyard area. We got with the trees and all this stuff. So we ended up coming back each year and then I found out he wasn't the guy that coined the word Cote D is there, which means trying to Riviera.
So I kind of started this as homage to him. Cause I felt like that was channel in his spirit. He was given me ideas and like all that stuff, you know? So I, when I was going to name the Web Fest, I said, I'm gonna name it to honor him. So that's how I got that name.
Beautiful. Oh, what a cool story. Thank you for letting me know that. That's so cool. And now I feel so honored because I feel like I'm a part of that. Cenergy energy and spirit too. And I love lawyers. I love being around lawyers and Marvin corn And he, Marvin Gordon, he has turned me on to so many different lawyers in California, like the best finest from around the world. And also he's a pilot and I'm a poet.
And you told me that you did a, like a NFT point, right?
Yeah. Yeah. In March I released my first NFT for the first love poem on the blockchain.
So how does that work? It's
A rare thing. I didn't do an auction up there. It's a first love poem. And it's the first love poem. That's coupled with artwork. That's created from the original Polaroid that was discontinued in 2001. And my friend Robert Sterman is the artist who took the photo, but it's, it looks like a painting. So it's very beautiful, like a painting. And so it's a love poem with the photo that looks like a painting of the original image we did together of the, on a Polaroid that was discontinued. So it's super rare. And then I even have like unlockable things where like whoever buys it will get an unlockable. And what happens is whoever buys it when they oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
So,
So back in the day, if Steven liger is alive today, he could have done some NFTs of his
Stuff. It's wild. I
Feel like I'm like a live during this like turning point in our creation, you know, with the blockchain and all this stuff. And what you can do with your artwork or photography or film or poetry is going to be inspiring for all filmmakers, all the writers, all poets and the, you know?
Yeah. And we're still early in the game. Like I was introduced to it in 2018, but it's still super early, even though like everyone in my community, everyone's talking about it. And I feel like I'm behind because everyone's so like into it. But the thing is, Gary V says, it's like more of the long game. And like you said, it's really exciting to be in, to be alive in, in the time changed. Like you were saying, you know, the Frank in France and then the dogma and in Greece,
The Lira. Yeah.
And think that would be obsolete, but it totally is obsolete. And so people can have the functionality of, oh, how can cache be obsolete? But it could actually,
I like, I mean, if you are on vacation in, in say like Corfu or Mykonos or somewhere, and you order a coffee and the lady, and you say, how many drachmas the lady would look at you, like, you're completely insane.
Seriously. It's like, yeah, exactly. With what you're saying. But lastly, it's like, it's a cool opportunity for artists because the old grids and structures of finding a collector, finding a dealer, finding someone to validate, oh, my work is an artist finding someone to represent me. It's like, we don't have to do that anymore. We can refer it.
And you don't really have to like go through what art is, went through back in the day, trying to get in that gallery, trying to do this, trying to find an agent, somebody that like, like he just said, they're now representing themselves. They're now the voice for themselves on a global scale.
Yeah. And then when it sells and resells like art does anything then instead of someone else getting the 10%, every time itself is someone let's say, you know, then you Clinton get that 10%, not someone else, which is really exciting. So that's where it could be really great for artists in the long run, you know, not only for financial, for justice, for the value of the creation of being human and art, but also for the psychological aspect and the confidence of not feeling like your self worth has to come from outside of you. Yeah. It can be from within,
I mean, one of the biggest thing for an artist is like when someone buys their work yeah. When somebody's like, I want to buy that. I want that. I want that. It's like, it just inspires them to create more, to feel like, whoa, my work is where, you know.
Yeah, definitely. That's the beautiful part of creating. Yeah. We have really been all over the place. I would love to have you back on in the near future. I mean, we could go on for,
I mean, this was so amazing. Just, you know, getting ready to talk to you and learn about you and your artistry and the thank you so much for being a part of this year as Webfest we really appreciate it.
Oh my pleasure. Thank you so much. I'm so honored. I really am. Thank you so much. I'm so excited.
Again. Congratulations to all of our winners. Congratulations to our TV icon award. Lydia Cornell, congratulations to Harrison held her journalism award. And thank you to Mr. Cosmo James for
Yes. Thank you. And thank you.
K D Kyriaki chonacas for being a part of this year.
My pleasure. What a beautiful closing. Yeah, definitely. Congratulations to all. And then people, when they want to submit, they can just go to film, freeway.com to submit their projects. And then I'll have your social media links below so people can contact you and follow you directly. Okay. Cool. My pleasure. We have been all over the place and we will definitely have Clinton back on in the near future and yeah, rock and roll. See you next week. Thanks so much. It was a pleasure while night at the circus Collette pass. This is how we do nice and sweet my life.
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thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you next time. Kyriaki, over and out.