Meet Linus Ignatius

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Linus Ignatius. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Linus, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
When I was in my early 20s I contracted HIV. It was devastating. Health class had failed me and I didn’t know that people living with HIV today can live normal healthy lives simply by taking a pill every day. I struggled with drug addiction, housing insecurity, and mental health instability. And at the same time, I developed a sense of meaning and belonging. Suddenly, through no decision of my own, I was a part of a worldwide community of people struggling with those very same things, and fighting against stigma to get the best level of care for issues so often misunderstood by the public. From that sense of community I began to realize that anything that benefits me also benefits my community, and vice versa. That conviction has gotten me through many of the toughest times in my life, and helps give purpose to my life.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a queer, HIV-positive, Armenian-American filmmaker and a proud third culture kid. I tell stories about rebels fighting against the coercive control of their dominant culture, and characters on the lifelong journey from shame to celebration.

My latest project, “Marque and Hector” is an LGBTQ+ comedy series I created with my collaborator Joslyn DeFreece. We premiered the project last March at an event in collaboration with the media organization GLAAD, and the show is available now on Apple TV+ and streaming on Amazon Prime. My previous film “MASS” is also streaming on Amazon Prime, and a number of other platforms.

My next project is “What Will the Guests Say!?”, a short film told through the eyes of a 7-year-old with an overactive imagination. Ada is a tomboy with a strict, waspy grandmother: Mimi. Mimi demands that Ada put on a pretty dress and perform a ballet routine for guests at her elegant, stuffy Easter party. But when Ada decides to rebel, her imagination turns against her and Mimi is transformed into a horrifying beast, who chases her through the house. The film was the recipient of a NYSCA grant. We shoot Summer 2024, and we’re in the process of building our team.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
COMMUNITY: Being a member of a film collective (Filmshop) has helped me develop a support network of professionals who truly have my best interest in mind, and vice versa. Learning to collaborate generously has also been a game-changer, as I develop the dream team. Creating a film can be a whole lot of fun, but only if everyone is willing to put their egos aside.

CLARITY: Having a deeply felt sense of what I find inspiring and what kind of stories I’m interested in telling. This comes in the form of avidly consuming film and television, and paying close attention to what lights a fire in me. It also means learning how to trust my gut when it comes to writing and developing stories, and developing a dialogue between my heart and my brain.

BOLDNESS: Doing things that scare me. Making art can be incredibly vulnerable, as it opens you up to criticism, or worse, outright dismissal. But if I try to tell stories based on what I think other people want, my message gets watered down and I end up reaching nobody. To create things that have never been seen before takes a whole lot of nerve, and there’s a pleasure in breaking the rules when necessary.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I’m working on radically embracing the concept of rest. As someone with lifelong major depressive disorder, I cycle through phases of my life where I am more or less productive. The more angry I become with myself for not using my time wisely and delivering output, the more stuck in negative thinking I become. Sometimes it’s time to rest, and there’s no need to judge that. We live in a culture that fetishizes hyper-productivity and that trains us to believe that we must be suffering in order to earn our worth. I disavow hustle culture and instead embrace passion culture. That isn’t to say that discipline isn’t important, but in order to work for me it has to come from a place of nurture, not authoritarianism.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
John Rossi (Marque and Hector image)

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