“I just really loved doing it, and I haven’t looked back,” Jordan says.
Jordan, born and raised in Dallas, is the son of two artists. His mother, Jessica Marie Jordan, is a member of the Dallas band Polyphonic Spree, while his father, Josh David Jordan, is a film director and writer. Most notably, Josh David’s film This World Won’t Break, made in 2019, featured both Jessica Marie and Julian.
“Just because your parents are creative doesn’t mean that you’re going to be creative?” Jordan says. “I think they really gave me a good childhood and just nurtured all that creativity.”
Aside from working with his father early in his career, Jordan explored his love for filming while attending Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. For Jordan, it was the perfect place to explore his passions around like-minded students.
Jordan graduated from Booker T. in 2020 and went on to receive his bachelor’s degree in communications from Lamar University this past spring. While earning his degree, Jordan worked on a range of projects, including short films, music videos and music with his band, Sunrise Academy. Jordan says that diversifying his work allows him to stay creative and avoid burnout.
“Even if it’s my priority expression, filmmaking can sometimes make me feel a little stuck,” he says. “It’s so nice to be able to pivot and work on music for my band. It allows me to not put so much pressure on what I’m doing.”
Navigating that balance is what inspired the idea for Real Life, his self-made documentary that was released this summer. The film, Jordan says, illustrates the lack of direction and aimlessness he feels in his early 20s. Real Life features VHS footage from Jordan’s childhood alongside his documentary and narrative style filming now at 24 years old. Collecting and filming these pieces over years, Jordan says the nostalgia he felt reminiscing his own childhood aligns with the coming-of-age vibe of the film.
“I had moved back into my parents’ home in my early 20s, and I felt a little stuck and lost,” he says. “The film is this very raw, personal look at what I felt like when you’re in that weird, transitional stage.”
With Real Life being his first solo project, Jordan says every step in creating the film pushed him to his limit. Some of his friends acted in the film, but scriptwriting, filming and editing were entirely handled by Jordan. He carried his camera, boom pole and tripod across Dallas and spent months filming himself, a process he describes as very introspective.
“My dad said it best the first time he watched the film,” Jordan says. “He told me, ‘It doesn’t seem like the kind of movie you wanted to make more than it was something that you just had to get out.’ It was interesting to look back and think of it that way, as just something I needed to get out of my system.”
After finalizing his film, Jordan struggled to find an audience to share his work. At first, Jordan applied to the Slamdance Film Festival in Los Angeles, but he was only able to share a draft of the film due to a rushed timeline and ultimately was rejected. Jordan believed this would be one of his only rejections, given how competitive the festival was, but he soon realized how challenging it was to receive recognition even in Dallas.