We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joshua Baldwin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joshua below.

Joshua, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’ve worked on a lot of personal projects in the past. As an independent filmmaker I’m always coming up with creative ideas for stories. Out of the project’s I’ve directed so far, my most recent short “Impulse” is probably my most personal. It’s an upcoming drama about the way someone’s poor self-esteem and self-hatred can affect the people around us. As someone who’s dealt with self-esteem issues all my life, creating Impulse was very theraputic, and I hope that people who watch it walk away thinking about how their words have an effect on others.

Joshua, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Joshua Baldwin. I am an independent filmmaker and alumnus from CSU Long Beach. I’ve been interested in filmmaking since my TV class in middle school, and I am currently pursuing a career as a director/producer in the film industry. My focus is on narrative films, for me, narrative filmmaking is the best outlet for storytelling. To be completely immersed in an actor’s performance while letting the cinematography, editing, and sound pull you into another world, there’s nothing quite like it on planet earth.

Some of my biggest artistic inspirations come from Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, Hayao Miyazaki, and Akira Kurosawa. I’m also a fan of anime and manga, some of my favorites include JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure, Samurai Champloo, and One Piece. The variety of media I consume helps me broaden my scope of what is possible with storytelling, helping to give my narrative films more emotional depth.

One of my friends pointed out that all of my work centers around people with some sort of impairment. The first independent film I made while studying at CSU Long Beach, “Where All Inhalers Go”, centers around an asthmatic student who is killed by his roommate in a cultish ritual. Another one of my films, “Do It For Junior,” explores the dilema of a burglar when he discovers his victim is deaf, and my most recent film “Impulse” follows a young man whos extremely negative self image pushes him further and further into isolation.

I think a lot of it stems from my experience growing up on the autism spectrum and with asthma. I’ve always compared myself to other people because of my shortcomings, and that part of my upbringing has sewn itself into my storytelling. In reality, it’s these imperfections that make us human, and exploring perceived “imperfections” can result in great stories.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, it’s got to be the first table read with my actors. This is the make or break of a film’s pre-production. Especially as a writer/director, it’s always so rewarding seeing my story be brought to life. It’s also an important time to work with your actors, answer character-building questions, and give input for how you want to tell the story. In my process, this is when I lock my script, meaning other departments can finally work off something concrete.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

It’s simple for me, really, and it’s that generative AI should not be in the front seat during the creative process. There are many reasons why generative AI is bad for creatives, but i’ll focus on one, and that it takes the soul out of art. I can’t examine an AI generated video and gather any idea of who the person behind it is. To me it screams “I’d rather do it quick than trying and risk looking dumb.” I think the more we push back against AI in films, the better our creative ecosystem will become.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://josh-b-films.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josh.b.films/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-baldwin-2023b6303/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@josh-b-films

Image Credits

MJ Calingasan
Jacob Chavez
Riptide Film Festival