Award Winning Filmmaker Traveling To Ethiopia To Share Skills With Underprivileged Youth

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Natural Langdon is an award-winning filmmaker and owner of OpenMindz Productions. His passion for arts and education has taken him from producing films about urban drama and social injustice in Brownsville to teaching youth about film production in Brooklyn and Africa. He has traveled extensively though Africa, Europe, South American, and Asia.

For his next project, Natural Landon is traveling to Ethiopia in August for two weeks to share his filmmaking skills with underprivileged youth to encourage them to tell their own authentic Ethiopian stories.

We recently had a chat with the filmmaker and avid traveler.[/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”orange” border_width=”3″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Black Excellence: What drew you into filmmaking?

Natural Langdon: I have always had a love for the Arts and Business. Filmmaking was a great way to be exposed to all forms of the arts from writing, to visual arts. I have always been attracted to telling a good story. Filmmaking also takes a community of people from collaborating with creatives, to the technical crew, to people with numerous skill sets. There is always the possibility of employing people. From the business perspective, movies are one of the biggest exports America sells to the world.

Black Excellence: You have traveled extensively through Africa and other continents. Have traveling and filmmaking gone hand in hand for you?

Natural Langdon: Traveling and filmmaking definitely go hand in hand for me because I love to document my travels and share it with people who may not get the opportunity to visit, and it’s a great opportunity to share culture. I also want to have a travel show. I noticed there was no one on network TV that looks like me or has my perspective in the travel show space, so there is definitely a need for diversity. 

Black Excellence: Where is your favorite place in Africa and why?

Natural Langdon: I had such a unique experience in every country I have visited and have been shown so much love it would be difficult to answer that question, but if I really had to choose it would be Morocco only because that’s the first country I visited in Africa.

Black Excellence: Why did you choose Ethiopia as your next destination?

Natural Langdon: Ethiopia chose me. I try to go with the vibe or my spirit when deciding where to go next. Ethiopia has great history and was one of the only places not colonized by Europeans. I wanted to experience the Culture of the Indigenous tribes, and to work with young people on using the camera to tell their authentic stories. I also wanted to work with young people who are homeless living on the streets and show them how to use the camera as a tool to make money taking photos and video as a business. I want to work with like minded Artists and collaborate on a music video and interview people in different communities so we can get a true perspective of Ethiopia now.

Natural Landon has a GoFundMe campaign where he is raising funds for his Ethiopian travel. Support the campaign and learn more about the mission here. 

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]