Rodney Ellis—photographer and filmmaker—spent part of his mid-twenties teaching at the same high school he attended, feeling the weight of shame because he knew he “could be doing more.” 

He couldn’t pinpoint what he was chasing until a mysterious man in black shades at a festival told him he’d lived in 50 places and learned that misery follows you everywhere. The happiest he’d ever been was in Memphis. That conversation landed while Rodney was shooting “Hold On, Be Strong,” his first major exhibit interrogating what he was even running after. The answer came through surrender—the same theme that would define his film “God’s Son,” where a character dies on his own sword because he couldn’t let go. When Rodney gave his lead actor simple directions about what he was going through, Leonard nailed every scene because he was in the exact same space. A guy at the exhibition cried watching it, boo-hooing through the ending, confirming Rodney was doing it right.

We talk about working in histology labs and learning from people who don’t do “the shit he does,” starting Plenny Studios with zero technical training, shooting only on film and getting comfortable with whatever comes out, his current fixation on chase scenes inspired by the movie “Juice,” how every director has their signature shot, his search to find his own signature shot, and his dream of shooting a full Tarantino-style horror film then retiring to make cool chairs.

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