ABOUT US
THE ORIGIN STORY
Back in 2009, I started writing about the world - namely, what's happening, why it's important, and what we could maybe do about it. It's an informal lesson I picked up from my parents, and honestly, it's what motivated me to bring this to you.
We aren't about profits. We aren't about fame. We're about progress - creating significant changes in our culture to produce a more inclusive, thoughtful, and informed society.
- Paul A. Notice II, Founder & Executive Producer
Board of Directors:
Paul A. Notice II | President
Elliot Guilbe | Vice President
Glenn Quentin | Treasurer
01.29.22 “A look back on the last two years…”
So, we here at The Notice Blog have been hard at work over the last two years, and wanted to share with you the projects we were able to manifest with your support.
This spans everything from investigative journalism, experimental films, boundary-pushing music videos, and our current feature film effort: the Afrofuturist, Anti-Capitalist, Womanist Horror script, Willow.
Thank you all for supporting us in our mission to champion and develop narratives from marginalized communities. If you are excited by our work, please make a tax-deductible contribution to support our nonprofit here.
And without further ado, let’s take a look at the past two years 2020 - 2021:
Willow (Full Production)
Willow is set in an alternate reality where people feed on the weak to survive - Black and Brown communities are targeted the most. Until the tables turn... at a price. Willow follows a community activist’s fight to pay that price at whatever cost. The script hones in on ideas of inequality, racism, capitalism, surveillance, policing, and gender, where the world of the film explores the possible future consequences of our present reality.
A Good Haunting (Full Production)
I had the privilege to direct in collaboration with Holland Andrews and Katrina Reid on this film. We wanted to produce an exciting experimental film that addresses mental health, healing, and the supernatural.
05.07.21 Test Shoot (Full Production)
Celebrating and Centering Black Spaces, memory, joy, flexing, the fluidity and deconstruction of gender and so much more “Test Shoot” takes on a life of its own. As NIC playfully explores different forms of physical Black expression, they give new light and appreciation to the fruit of Black spaces.
Release (Co-Production: Co-Directing, Editing, Director of Photography, Gaffing, PA)
Awards:
Winner of Best Experimental Film at the 2020 Fargo Moorhead LGBTQ Festival
Official Selection of the Queer 2 Queer Festival.
Official Selection of the 2021 NYC Downtown Short Film Festival
Honorable Mention at the London Seasonal Short Film Festival
Official Selection of the 2021 Bitesize Film Festival
The 2021 Gold Award for Experimental Film at the Hollywood Gold Awards
The 2021 Special Jury Award at the Uruvatti International Film Festival
Here’s a film that I’m REALLY proud of: “Release.” I co-directed, edited and DP’d (director of photography) on it. And I was smart enough to ask for help from Katrina Reid (1st AD/ Production Manager), Dominik Czaczyk (Gaffer/2nd Camera) & Sultan Ali (Grip/2nd AC). After nearly two months of pre-production, we managed to turn two days of shooting into a masterpiece.
Snakes Dance Too (Full Production)
An experimental dance film
A meditation on shadows and light
An interplay of repetition and flipped perspectives
A call and response between black creatives
Dance, projections, & Esperanza Spalding’s entrancing music, all come together in multimedia, multi-sensory experience. It’s a tribute, a conversation across disciplines, and a celebration of creativity during the 2020 Quarantine era. This film was originally created as the projected backdrop to Katrina Reid’s improvised live performance, presented by Dance in Bushwick.
Mirrors (Co-Production: Co-Directing, Co-Producing, Editing, Director of Photography, Gaffing, Audio, Grips, PAs)
When 17-year-old Alma Jean finds her mother dead, she must pack up her life and move in with her mother's ex-lover, a woman she doesn't know. Her new guardian, Bird Wilson, is the town pariah and unused to sharing her home. Will mourning the death of a shared loved one bring Alma Jean and Bird together or push them further apart?
“Mirrors” was commissioned as part of a playwriting residency by Freedom Train Productions (Andre Lancaster, Artistic Director; Aurin Squire, Director of New Play Development) in 2010. Mirrors received a staged reading as part of Freedom Train Productions’ FIRE! New Play Festival on July 23, 2010. The reading was directed by Mekeva McNeil.
Como Eres (Full Production)
Como Eres is a short film highlighting the tradition of Bomba, a dance style & music developed in Puerto Rico. Its strongest influences coming from West African culture via TransAtlantic Slavery. The word Bomba describes the rum barrels, enslaved Africans repurposed into drums.
Traditionally, “Bailadores” (male dancers) perform their “Piquetes” with their body and the “Bailadoras” (female dancers) perform with the body and/or skirt with the petticoat. However, Milteri of bomba dance company wanted to do something different. She wanted to challenge gender constructs behind this.
Keep At It (Full Production)
Celebrating and Centering Black Spaces, memory, joy, flexing, the fluidity and deconstruction of gender and so much more "Keep at It" takes on a life of its own. As NIC playfully explores different forms of physical Black expression, they give new light and appreciation to the fruit of Black spaces. A handball court in Brooklyn becomes the backdrop of a sharp Trap music video. Here, the Projects receive homage, not disdain. Each moment, swells into layered and subtle messages meant to keep us guessing until then.
This video was featured in part of NIC Kay's #blackpeopledancingontheinternet residency at the New Museum in June 2021.
Ok Trombone - Giffen Good (Full Production)
Imagine something that becomes more valuable, the more you sell it. That’s a Giffen Good.
Jim suggested we do something on Wall Street and Time square to centers of capitalism. All we needed was a Dancer who could embody the everyman trapped in this world of consumerism and superficial valuations. I suggested the uncanny Orlando Hunter, a stunning performer & choreographer I met a couple of years ago. And everyone agreed. But we had no idea just how much brilliance he would bring to set that day.
Immaculate Re-Conception of Kraig Lewis, and Defund NYPD (Full Production).
Both are part of a larger series called: The Gang Database Series: Stop and Frisk 2.0:
This documentary follows local activists partnering with the Legal Aid Society, Just Leadership USA (JLUSA), NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defenders, and more to ban the use of "gang databases" by the NYPD.
But this time, community members and activists alike are also bringing with them a philosophy and practice that fundamentally changes everything: Abolish the Police.
We’ll cover a litany of activists across the country, who are both fighting against over-policing, and providing healthy alternatives, under the philosophy of “Abolish the Police.
Other Notable Projects:
Tell Me a Story & I’ll Write you a Poem shooting, editing, producing
Sweet Water - panel discussion + screening shooting, editing, producing
The whole thing shooting, editing, producing
Pass Me That Vaporizer - directing, editing, producing
Georgia Mud - shooting, editing, producing
“Unbroken” Quarantine - cinematographer, choreography
Sub(urban) Archives - lighting
Black Thoughts - Co-Opting Capitalism Program -
State Garden Rumba - Pregones Theater series celebrating Nuyorican history and culture in the Bronx - cinematography, editing,
At the Wall - special video for Re-Entry Rocks virtual gala - editor
The Backstory - Official Selection into the Just Us Film Festival
The Apartment - Commissioned by Mecca McDonald - exploring themes of body positivity, Black love and healthy breakups. - producer & editor
Fiscal Sponsorship Program - Neu Lunch | Digital Drama Class - editor & Fiscal Sponsor
EcoMundo Fundraising Video - Workers Co-Op for domestic workers
The Notice Foundation Programs editor
Greenwashing Video for Pildora Sustainably-Sourced Clothing Brand based out of Mexico City - Editor producer
Finding (Norm)al - Editor
School for Legends Promo - Editor
Strange Fruit Video - Editor
Here by Kendra Foster, Grammy award-winning R&B artist
Eugenia Shea Butter commercials 1, 2, 3
OUR PROGRAMS
TNB Studios
Offering affordable video production to marginalized clients and marginalized narratives. This ongoing project seeks to expand access to high quality, award-winning video production and editing to BIPOC/Queer/Immigrant businesses and activist groups & narratives. As a result, we’re adding equity back into the film industry for underprivileged / distressed people, as well as helping eliminate prejudice and discrimination in the film industry.
The Notice Blog
Our primary focus is to provide a news media platform that not only focuses on investigative news reporting on issues concerning underrepresented communities but also sustains a space for journalists/activists/everyday people from underrepresented communities to tell the news from their perspective, as well as express their experiences and viewpoints through creative narratives. The goal is to help foster underserved communities’ participation in digital media, which will subsequently further gains in employment in the fields of journalism & digital media, as well as help further community involvement in social justice initiatives concerning their own respective communities.
Co-Op Capitalism Program
Launching self-sustainable business initiatives that primarily support liberation through various methods. Our first project initiative, Black Thoughts, was a therapeutic Mango Shea Butter that donated 10% of gross sales profit to the Movement For Black Lives, and the United Negro College Fund. In terms of charitable goals, this helps eliminate prejudice and discrimination; defending human and civil rights secured by law;
The Willow Project
The "Willow" project focuses on hiring BIPOC folx behind the camera, as well as in front of the camera.
And that’s not just through furthering representation of BIPOC in “White spaces,” but by continuing to encourage their employees in positions of power throughout the entire filmmaking process.
We’re also requiring that the production hire 90% BIPOC folx, hire locally, work safely (according to SAG-AFTRA safety guidelines), AND to host an ongoing series of panel discussions and workshops for BIPOC/Queer/Marginalized folx in media.
This project is meant to serve as a guide point, a Green New Deal for Hollywood’s problem with White Supremacy, Queerphobia, and Misogyny.
Our Mission includes employing Black Women and BIPOC folx behind the camera. Not only will Willow employ an entirely Black principal cast, made up of mostly Black women, but all of our Department Heads will be Black Women as well.
Fiscal Sponsorship
Offering funding opportunities for BIPOC/Queer/Immigrant journalists, artists, and activist groups/projects.
The Notice Blog Film Festival
(coming soon in 2022)
Spotlighting and rewarding ground-breaking work in Journalism, Art and Activism. This project seeks promote media that helps eliminate prejudice and discrimination, as well as the advancement of education about topics and issues pertinent to marginalized communities living in the US.
Artist Grant
(coming soon in 2022)
In 2022, we’re offering our very FIRST Artist Grant for $2,500 to a multidisciplinary artist to commission them for a project that channels our motto: “Always Question. Always Explore.”
Submit inquiries to: Paul A. Notice II at: paul@thenoticeblog.com
Personal Statement, Name, Address, Portfolio of Related Work, Resume, References, Project Description & Explanation of why Project relates to our charity's goals and values.
Applications Accepted Beginning: February 24th, 2022
Application Deadline: June 31, 2022
Notification of Winner: August 1, 2022
Project Debut: November 10th, 2022