Listen to Queens-native filmmaker Josiah Johnson who earned his MFA in filmmaking at City College of New York while I was there getting my MFA in creative writing. We both took Professor Marc Palmieri’s class on screenwriting. He identifies as Black. He said that his dad said that when he was growing up, if someone called someone Black, then those were fighting words. Josiah began shooting his first film the day before New York City shutdown and instituted the stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of Covid-19. He learned how to edit video and sound out of necessity during the pandemic.
