{"id":142269,"date":"2025-08-13T11:39:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T11:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/142269\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T11:39:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T11:39:18","slug":"dallas-filmmaker-julian-sol-jordan-mines-gen-z-malaise-for-his-feature-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/142269\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas filmmaker Julian Sol Jordan mines Gen Z malaise for his feature debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 23 years old, Julian Sol Jordan has already directed, edited and starred in a feature-length film and dropped a record under the moniker Sunrise Academy<\/a>, but this multitalented Dallasite should add public relations executive to his growing resume. <\/p>\n

The enterprising graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts<\/a> doesn\u2019t hesitate to hit up the inbox of anyone in the industry, from directors like David Lowery<\/a> and Sean Baker<\/a>, to film festival organizers and to media outlets like IndieWire. All in service of Real Life, an 80-minute meditative slice of Generation Z life in which nothing much happens, yet everything is said. <\/p>\n

For any members of older generations struggling to understand where these kids are coming from, Real Life (viewable on Vimeo<\/a>) serves as a CliffsNotes of sorts. Jordan and his friends skateboard, go to warehouse parties and explore the State Fair<\/a>, all to a dreamy soundtrack by Wolfgang Hunter. Amid the good times come worries about debt and questions about how to be an adult in a world that makes it more complex than ever. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it doesn\u2019t have a plot, and a lot of people, especially older people, are really annoyed by it, but people my age really connected to it,\u201d Jordan says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in your 20s, there is no plot, and you\u2019re trying to find it. I just wanted to make a movie about what it feels like to be my age right now.\u201d <\/p>\n

News Roundups<\/p>\n

Catch up on the day’s news you need to know.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A graduate of Dallas’ Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Julian Sol Jordan self-financed his $4,500 feature film, “Real Life.”<\/p>\n

Housewarming Pictures<\/p>\n

Having grown up in front of a camera and graduated in front of a screen, Jordan captures his environs in a remarkably confident way, not unlike a Holden Caulfield for a new generation. Slamdance and the Dallas International Film Festival turned down Real Life. Lowery (a former neighbor) paid for a screening last May at the Texas Theatre as a college graduation gift, and the film sold out. <\/p>\n

Despite being raised by a filmmaker-actor father and a musician mother who sings in the Polyphonic Spree<\/a>, Jordan is no nepo baby \u2014 he financed the $4,500 feature himself. Between his job at Buff City Soap and the money he earns with his music, he is ready to self-finance his next project, a coming-of-age story about late 20-somethings. But he\u2019ll always have a spot in his heart for his first feature.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t make something as deeply personal as this, but it had to be made,\u201d he says of Real Life. \u201cIt\u2019s gonna sound so cringe, but it was a visceral and spiritual experience in my head. I want people to watch it and think it was really interesting and real.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Taylor Sheridan launches new film studio in Fort Worth<\/a><\/p>\n

The 450,000-square-foot campus will be used to shoot shows such as \u201cLandman\u201d and \u201cYellowstone\u201d spinoffs \u201cThe Madison\u201d and \u201cRio Palo.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/a>Denzel Washington on Jerry Jones: \u2018He ain\u2019t thinking about us, he\u2019s thinking about his pockets\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The famous actor and Cowboys fan didn\u2019t mince words when sharing his feelings on the team\u2019s owner.<\/p>\n

Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.<\/p>\n

This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access\u2019 journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 23 years old, Julian Sol Jordan has already directed, edited and starred in a feature-length film and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":142270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,7711,1596,53,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-142269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arts-access","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-tx","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115021268323850265","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}