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

Julian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

Truthfully, our business Lucid Village Productions was birthed by accident.Throughout the curation of our first film, When I Wake, the production process revealed to the writer of the film, Brianna Mottey, and I that we have the necessary tools, skills, and dedication to launch a business. The desire to do so stemmed from the passion to continue growing within a creative space and creating a haven to incubate our ideas. Within the entertainment space, it usually takes years of “proving yourself” as someone’s assistant in order to get access to the resources or connections you desire to achieve your goals. Our logic behind launching our own company in our early 20s was to give ourselves the roles we wanted now so we could grow within them rather than spending years climbing a ladder. We have given ourselves more autonomy and leverage within the industry by assuming these roles, resulting in doors we never imagined opening.

The first conversation between Brianna and I about launching our business took place after our Chicago premiere of When I Wake in October of 2022 and went something like “Maybe we should start a production company”. As crazy as it sounded at the time, we moved forward with full confidence. The next conversation was establishing what that would look like and most importantly: our why. We determined that few stories were being portrayed in mass media today that promote healing, especially with black talent and creatives at the forefront. Thus, our purpose as a company was established. Given we both had personal attachment to our companies’ purpose, the passion and love for our company grew organically the more we worked.

The next step in our launch was the process of establishing our brand identity. After bringing on our 3rd business partner Brooklyn Raye-Conley, our brainstorming sessions began. After about a month of bouncing ideas, we landed on the name Lucid Village; as we’re creating our own reality so “living lucid” and it takes a village within production. This name also represents the larger picture we saw for our company. We didn’t want to just be a production company but a creative collective, a haven for artists of all mediums to unite under with the common goal and mission of reshaping the way we view the world.

The final step in our process was growing our village and beginning to build our portfolio so we could land clientele work. Both of these happened organically. Through connecting and collaborating with various artists, projects arose and as they did. More people began to see and support the vision of Lucid Village. As of today, we stand at a team of 9 individuals. I’m excited to see how we’ll progress as we continue to expand.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Julian Thedford, I’m a film Director and Producer from the South Side of Chicago and I’ve been fascinated with filmmaking since I was a child. From directing home videos to exploring iMovie in elementary school, one of my first forays into the industry came from one of my early mentors, Anika Mcclure-Ray, who brought me on set as a PA when I was 13; this sparked a love for me and led me to shoot projects around my high school before I went onto study film at Howard University. It was also during this time that I discovered my purpose and voice as a filmmaker and storyteller. I now serve as co founder and Head of production at Lucid Village Productions.

Our overarching goal at Lucid VIllage Productions is to craft narratives that heal and reshape the way viewers look at the world. We are diligent in the messages we embed in our work to ensure everything is thought-provoking and results in some form of internal reflection. We implement this ideology in everything we do from narrative work to commercial work. Being Black Owned and entirely Gen-Z ran, our company is by and for the next generation. As a business owner, I’m adamantly proud of the collective work everyone on our team has put in and continues to put in to make something that was a mere idea less than 2 years ago.

My role as Head of Production allows me to frequently assume the role of Director/DP on set. In doing this I’m able to impart my own creative vision on each project we do. This is indicadent of what sets a Lucid Village production apart. All of our creative decision making from all departments is rooted in a deep understanding and love for art.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

In 1976, the surrealist Chicago Group said “Surrealist thought and action are intended not only to discredit and destroy the forces of repression, but also to emancipate desire and supply it with new poetic weapons”. As an artist who aligns deeply with surrealist ideals, this quote resonates heavily with my artistic prowess and mission. I feel art, specifically media and film, has the capability of altering the way one views the world. So many of our modern-day perceptions of things are rooted in what we are conditioned to believe from the media we consume on a daily basis. To be an artist whose main discipline is in media, I feel a burning responsibility to redefine how we consume media and reshape century-long biases. This outlook fuels me, pushing my passion to create and thus is my purpose as both an artist and human.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

To me, being an artist is choosing to define your own reality. We live in a world full of social constructs that define our habits and beliefs, so a lot of our decisions are rooted in what we’ve been conditioned to think is acceptable. To be an artist is to refute all this, and live on your own terms in a world stripped of boundaries and limitations. In many ways, this was the mentality that led to the birth of Lucid Village. So to me, being an artist is about choosing yourself, which is the first step in obtaining freedom and fulfillment.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lucidvillageproductions.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jt_shot_that/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-thedford-b63a37192/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LucidVillageProductions

Image Credits

Madison Triplett