Meet Luner Eugene

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Luner Eugene. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Luner below.

Luner, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I truly believe that I have gained my resilience from wanting more out of life. I hate poverty with a passion, and I also believe it’s in my DNA as a proud Haitian man. Coming from a third world country like Haiti, where poverty is widespread, has driven me to never give up. Additionally, knowing that Haiti became the first free black republic in the world, the first independent state in the Caribbean, and the second independent state in the Western Hemisphere after the United States, it feels like it’s in our genetic makeup. However, one has to discover themselves to find this resilience within; that warrior is inside of us. I love to see greatness in people, and I’m always present to do a good deed for others, so it really bothers me to see people in need and I feel powerless to help. This pushes me to have more so I can do more, not just for myself but for others as well. And I’m talking beyond money; help someone with the gifts that you possess. I continue to build my hunger for greatness and resilience over these past years by listening to a lot of motivational speakers, reading books, watching inspirational movies, and listening to positive songs—wherever I can find inspiration. It’s vital for one to stay hungry even when you’re full. There’s just too much negative energy that outweighs positive energy these days, so one has to desperately seek or find inspiration like oxygen.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’d like to ensure that people know that I’m more than just another filmmaker. I’m an overall artist, explorer, and free-thinker, consciously aware of self, and an entrepreneur at heart. It’s very important to me because in our society these days, people like to put you in a box. Society makes you feel like you cannot stand and speak up when wrong is wrong. We all have a voice, and it’s important for our voices to be heard when injustice happens. I’m sure most people may label me as a film director or an artist, and it’s all good, but it’s important for them to know my true self. In every film that I put out, you will see these traits. I am an advocate for unity, especially within the black community. I’m very passionate about the black community. My last film, “Queen’s King,” is about an inspired rap artist who is battling a street life and making music. It’s solely about uniting the culture, standing against violence and gun violence that continue to plague our community. For this reason, we created a movement (#TheQueensKingMovement) out of this film. This is where my heart is at; I hate any violence of any kind. I wish everyone was able to see how much many of us are destroying ourselves and others. I feel like respect, love, and kindness are being shown less and less in the world. So whenever I can state my opinions or views to better someone, that’s where I’m most satisfied and fulfilled as an artist. As humans, we are constantly evolving, but it almost feels like we’re changing for the worst. So as an artist, it’s my responsibility to show respect, love, kindness, and unity through anything that I produce or am involved in. Apart from filmmaking, I’m getting into the clothing brand, another medium to spread positive messages. I’ve always been a leader and not a follower, even if there are more people on the negative side. I’m still standing for what I believe in, and that’s positive energy. Positive energy creates and gives life to anything broken. I’m a walking billboard, and I want to advertise respect, love, kindness, togetherness, and self-expression. I consider myself a responsible rebel standing against negativity! I look forward to 2024, as we are expecting to shoot two feature film projects. I’m excited about “The High Value Man,” a film that I believe anyone who desires to be in a healthy relationship or may have a twisted mindset when it comes to love and dating will appreciate it. They will examine themselves on what they think is valuable in a relationship. We are organically creating a film catalog for generations to come. Our business motto for Lunerversal Film is “Uniting the Culture through black cinema!” because our people are desperately in need of great content that is going to change lives and communities. As artists, we must be responsible and be held accountable for the work that we put out. It’s easy for us to influence people, especially when negative energy is promoted so much these days beyond social media.

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?
I believe the three most important qualities to have on your journey to greatness are to have a positive outlook on life regardless of what it may look like. Be optimistic always about the things you see for yourself and never give up on them. Do not allow anyone’s failure or life’s tragic events to take that away from you. Live a minimalistic life to achieve your goal. Stop looking at your neighbor and deal with the cards life has handed to you. Keeping up with the trends and people’s opinions can lead to a disastrous dead end and can cause one to lose themselves in the process. Third, there’s always a sacrifice you will have to make to achieve whatever dream or life that one desires. There’s no success without sacrifices. The process of achieving greatness hurts and it’s rarely comfortable. Especially as a filmmaker, take a business course; this will set you apart from other filmmakers. Although indie filmmaking is a work of art, but 50 percent of it is a business if you are expecting to be profitable in it. It’s not a hobby unless you want it to be a hobby. You don’t have to become great at everything, but learn every moving part of the business and, lastly, make the film and the stories that matter to you. Don’t follow genres or create films just for entertainment. Be open and allow your intuition to guide you!

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
There are numerous challenges we face as filmmakers, but the number one for me, and I think for most filmmakers, is funding. I’ve been blessed to be on my fourth feature film. From “Loving Till It Hurts,” “Bae Night: The Little Black Book,” “Queen’s King,” and now “The High Value Man,” it doesn’t get any easier. Most of my films have been produced with limited resources and the support of great minds who believe in me. The majority of them are willing to get paid on the back end, and those who are able to do that, I am truly grateful for. “Queen’s King” was the first project where we had a little bit of money from investors, and it was still challenging. We still had to give some people a deferred contract. These people who were there for me, I can never forget them. They were in the trenches with me. I feel like I’m at a point where I don’t have to prove myself to a bank or an investor anymore. We can do the work, and we have done it with little, so imagine if a bank or an investor would take a chance on us. I wouldn’t disappoint them, and we would be in business for a while. I’m that confident. By the end of 2023, my business partner and I have been working on a solid business plan, learning more about our industry to put ourselves in a winning position to get funded. I truly believe it’s going to happen. I’ve gotten closer than the average inspired filmmaker in my city, and I’m humbled and blessed. I truly believe it’s because of my thought process and where I see myself heading. Another challenge I’m facing is that a lot of actors are moving out of Florida to ATL and LA in search of better opportunities. I mean, can you blame them? So, this forces us to branch out and work with out-of-town actors. But now we’re talking about hotels, flights, and providing them with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Truth is, the majority of Florida actors fail to take any acting classes to better themselves, and most of them feel entitled. Everyone is a superstar here in Miami, and no one wants to put in the work. The work ethic here is not so great compared to ATL, LA, and up north. I like to challenge these actors here to sharpen up a bit. It’s important if you’re taking acting seriously. One thing about us is we like to make people feel special, and they are. So, it’s important to treat people with the utmost respect and experience, but sometimes it’s not reciprocal. We take pride in catering to the people we work with. I need a minimum of 1 million dollars a year to operate this type of business and hope to get 2 or 3 great films out of that as an indie filmmaker.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
For the studio pictures: @Fortysix73productions For the Queen’s King Movement premiere: @Guil.Dormeus For The Red Jacket: @MyMaTV

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