Filmmaker Statement

Sharing an interest does not mean sharing a background. At an underground music show, everyone may seem alike on the surface, but that illusion fades quickly. The two main characters in Honest Work grew up in Queens, NY, not far from each other, yet their backgrounds carve worlds apart. Growing up in the Bronx, I lived at the crossroads of extremes—just minutes away from both the ultra-affluent Fieldston and the notorious Marble Hill housing projects. I attended classes with kids from both worlds and everywhere in between, observing how personalities blended across social lines. New York, with its melting pot of cultures, offers a unique playground for identity. In this city, anyone can be anything, depending on their tastes, their friends, and the spaces they inhabit. That fluidity, that sense of possibility, shapes the world of Honest Work, where Marcel and David’s encounter is more than just a clash of backgrounds. It examines how someone can be seduced into a new identity—a g