The Loneliness of the Journey - Marlon Palmer - Director of Kush Films - Season 5 - #221

In this episode of the Us People Show, host Savia Rocks dives deep into the world of film with Marlon Palmer, CEO, managing director, and founder of Kush Films. Palmer shares his journey from his early days in North London, navigating the challenges of life, to becoming a pioneer in the film industry. He discusses the importance of representation, his passion for promoting Black films, and the establishment of his various ventures including New Urban Images International Pictures Limited and Kush Community Arts and Media Development. He also touches on the personal growth and resilience required to overcome industry obstacles, and his latest project—building a streaming platform for Black films. Tune in for a candid discussion on creativity, perseverance, and the power of storytelling.

00:00 Introduction to Season Five
01:39 Guest Introduction: Marlon Palmer
02:43 Marlon's Background and Early Life
11:02 Challenges and Turning Points
17:40 Founding Kush Films
25:51 The Loneliness of the Journey
39:10 Martial Arts and Filmmaking Passion
36:22 How It All Started
56:13 Building a Streaming Platform
50:40 Final Reflections and Advice
01:04:09 Where to Find Marlon Palmer
01:05:42 Closing Remarks

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H7_gqM99H4

"Loneliness is the gentle reminder that even in a crowded world, our soul seeks its own unique rhythm. ” - Savia Rocks

Transcript

Savia Rocks: 0:00

Hey guys, we made it to season five of the Us people podcast. I'm your host Savia Rocks. And in this season, we aim to empower and embrace creativity through diversity. As we dive into the fascinating stories and experiences of a diverse range of individuals, highlighting their unique perspectives and creative endeavors from artists and entrepreneurs. To innovators and activists, we celebrate the power of diversity in driving creativity and fostering positive change. Join us as we engage in thought provoking conversations like I made myself intentionally homeless. In pursuit of my purpose,

J Harris: 0:41

we're aware that a lot of people want to present and they were in my position and what's worse, they weren't a white male, which is a joke. That's even still a thing. I

Mel: 0:49

think my family never, ever say you can't do something. So full of support, full of support for whatever dream. If I said tomorrow when I fly to the moon, they'll probably say, I wish you all the best smell.

Savia Rocks: 0:59

So guys, I just want to say thank you for supporting the Us people podcast for the past five years. And we look forward to sharing another new theme song with you. Let's go. Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the Us people show. I'm your host Savya Rooks. And today I'm humbled to have Marlon here with me. He is the CEO, managing director and founder of Kush Films. He's also, uh, New Urban Images International Pictures Limited. And he's also the owner of, um, The community arts and media development non profit Marlon. I want to thank you so much for coming on the Us people show. How are you?

Marlon Palmer: 2:04

I'm fantastic. I'm good. I'm good. Well, I say I'm fantastic. I mean in spirit, you know, I'm grateful at my age now. I'm just grateful to be to have life have strength and you know, somewhat decent health and yeah, You know, um, yeah, you know, you have to be grateful sometimes and most of all, keeping opportunity.

Savia Rocks: 2:26

That is true. That is definitely true. That is everything. So Marlon, I, there's so much that I want to know about films. You're going to educate even me today when it comes to films in the industry. And we had a short talk even before we came on. But the first question I do want to Us you is, Marlon, can you tell me about your background of where you grew up and how that inspired you to be the person who you are today?

Marlon Palmer: 2:51

Yeah, um, obviously British, born here, raised, born and raised in North London in, in a notorious place called Tottenham.

Savia Rocks: 3:00

Yes, I know.

Marlon Palmer: 3:01

And basically, yeah, didn't used to always be on the right side of the tracks myself. Um, I, I, I grew up on a place, well didn't actually live there, I live, I live on a nice, in a nice, a nicer part of Tottenham but somehow got attracted to um, the Broadwater Farm Estate, which is a very notorious estate, where um, As many sort of know, later on in years where Mark Duggan, the guy who was shot by the police, where he, where he's, where he came from and his family, um, and also during my times, was where the first riots was, where the, uh, the policeman PC Blaylock got, got hacked, hacked. Basically in the 80s, the first major, one of the first major riots. So, um, that's where I come from, where I grew up. Um, as I said, it wasn't always on the right side of the tracks. Used to be a bit of a jack of the lads. Um, everyone sort of knew, everyone knew me around town. And, um, I used to keep raves and parties and all that kind of stuff. So I had a knack of sort of, um, bringing people together and sort of promotion and marketing and that sort of thing. And, um, yeah, to keep raising parties on the, on the sort of what we call the rear groove scene and the champagne and brandy crew and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, um, all the excitement around that. And, um, did that set truth, um, right up to, to, in my thirties. So I kind of even started late in, um, in the film business and sort of, um, When I decided to When I realized that there was more to life and I needed to change my life and I wanted more in life. So, um, it was in my thirties basically. And, um, yeah, growing up, you know, everything that happened to me before that, um, and all the things I did were, which weren't good things. Some of them, you know, um, You know, I've spoken about them before some of the things I've done, and it's, you know, similar to what a lot of the young guys are out there doing now. Um, you know, um, but, you know, I think it was more of a necessity in our time, in a sense, because there was far less opportunities for, you know, for, for black people generally. Um, you know, blatant racism. And some of us just chose to do our own thing and make money our own way. So, um, and that's what I sort of chose to do and I was quite good at it. Um, and, um, just, just, just wanted to be in control of my own life. So, yeah, just, you know, um, you know, I dabbled with drugs and, and, and, you know, um, sold drugs and, um, Basically, um, done other things that got me into trouble, uh, in a sense, but always never enough trouble to send me to prison. I've always, always had a smart head. So that always kept me out of, um, away from prison and, you know, where a lot of my friends were going to prison and, um, I, I kind of kept a good sort of duration in between each time I did get in trouble for maybe for me to get permission or get something like that and not actually be sent to, to prison. to, to, uh, grow, you know, to prison and that sort of stuff. So, um, yeah, it, it, it, those, those were the times and, you know, everything that I sort of did in those times and what I learned actually helped me in later life to be where I am now. And I, Learned me, it gave me certain strengths as well. So, and a certain, um, attitude, um, and, and, you know, um, one of those attitudes is basically not to be, um, not to, not to take no for an answer. Um, and that helped me greatly later on in life, especially when I entered the film business. Um, because, um, you know, a lot of, there's a lot of re, a lot of rejection, a lot of, um, Um, you know, um, closed doors in the film industry, but being, being someone who's tough headed, being someone who wasn't gonna take no for an answer, being more, a lot more resilient than I found other, other people who maybe came from film school or whatever. I survived within the industry and, you know, um, over the, over the many years that I've been in the industry, I've seen many come and many go.

Savia Rocks: 7:05

Yeah.

Marlon Palmer: 7:05

And I'm still here celebrating 26 years this year, and I give thanks and praise, um, for that. And, um, yeah, my stubbornness, um, just, you know, wanting to be always, but wanting to be my own person, my own man, um, has helped me to be here to this day.

Savia Rocks: 7:22

It's kept you persistent, as definitely is.

Marlon Palmer: 7:25

Yeah, yeah. As my Jamaican grandmother would say, you know, My head's tough. Me head tough. You know what I mean? Me head tough. So yeah, you know.

Savia Rocks: 7:39

There's nothing wrong with a tough head. Sometimes you need a tough head just to get through life in general.

Marlon Palmer: 7:43

Well, you definitely do in the film industry, especially being black in the film industry. And especially in the times that I started, you know, even, even my own people thought I was crazy. When I said I was gonna start showing films. I was going to be a, you know, people didn't even, I won't use the word film exhibitor because even to this day, people don't, don't know what a film exhibitor is. People say, what do you do? You, um, you promote, you promote movie or you promote film. I say, I mean, I'm a film exhibitor. They ain't got a clue what, what that is. Even film distribution, it's not a job that, you know, in the black community that people even understand because everyone in film, you know, in the Black, as far as the Black community are concerned. I'm talking about the general, sort of, you know, the public, the Black community especially. Everyone in film is either an actor or you're a, you're the director, or you're a producer, or you're a writer. But when you say you're a film distributor, they don't, they, what is that? What do you do? You know, and what is a film exhibitor? They don't understand what that is. So trying to explain that to people. So I just say, you know, I promote movies. I put movies on the big screen. That's what I do, you know? Um, so yeah, you have to explain, explain it like that. But yeah, when I first started, people thought I was going to, thought I was crazy. You're going to promote films. Who's going to come and watch that? That's not going to work.

Savia Rocks: 9:01

Marlon, was there a lot of negativity when you turned around and you said that this is what you was going to do in your life?

Marlon Palmer: 9:08

The most negativity. The most, the most first thing, a lot of people obviously knew me from the streets and they knew me from what I used to do before. So a lot of people said simply, Oh, don't worry. We soon see him back in the dances soon. See him back in the race again. Don't worry. You shouldn't see him back in the dance. You know what I mean? And that's what people said. And, um, I even have, you know, I've got a very famous uncle who's knighted, but is knighted by the queen. He's a, sir lives in Scotland. Um, so Jeff Palmer OB. And I remember speaking to my uncle and telling That I was going to you know, what I was going to do. And he, he turned around and said to me, black, you know, it's not going to work. You know, you're going to get black people to come out to the cinema and watch movies and pay to watch it.

Savia Rocks: 9:48

Exactly.

Marlon Palmer: 9:52

I think maybe again, a lot of people didn't even understand what I was trying to do.

Savia Rocks: 9:57

Yeah,

Marlon Palmer: 9:58

no sort of representation before me of that. You know, what I was doing was quite pioneering. There's only one guy before me, and he was from South London. That was a guy called Mark Booth from New Bend Hills, and he was a sort of pioneer from back in those days who did screenings. But he kind of more, you know, he did stuff, sort of more art house where it was for filmmakers and within that sort of, you know, circle of, you know, very small sort of, um, you know, the film sort of circle, people who, where I came differently when I came, I went to do it for the general public. I went in the masses. I went to, you know, I went glitz and glamor and all that kind of stuff. That's what I went to do. And so I, uh, you know, when, when I came here, I came with a very different idea of how I, what I went to do and how I was, how I was going to do it.

Savia Rocks: 10:48

One of the questions I do want to Us you is, before we get to more films and the industries and your companies and what you do, the one question I do want to Us you, Marlon, has there ever been a time Where you have looked in the mirror and not recognized the person staring back at you. How did you go from being a person that you didn't necessarily like being to being the person who you are now, who is productive and entrepreneur in your own right, you know, in your own sense, inspiring and a pioneer of what you do.

Marlon Palmer: 11:20

Yeah, there sure was. There sure was. That's the story in itself. In terms of how I changed my life from being someone on the streets and being the sort of person and, you know, sometimes maybe, you know, being a bit of an aggressive person as well. A bit of a chatter lad, as I said. Moving around with certain guys. Um, and, you know, we all, we all wanting to be what we call name brand. We had a name, everyone knew me as Marlon Brando back in the day. And this was even long before I went into the film business. I was called Marlon Brando from about 18 years old. Um, and that was my name, but it was more to do with the gangster thing, more than the h more than Hollywood, uh, sort of thing. But it just, it's just funny. I ended up in, in the film business. But, um, yeah, there definitely was, um. Yeah, it was some serious times, serious times when a lot of my friends were using started using drugs. So we're cracking out. A lot of them became crack addicts, ended up in prison. Um, you know, this is sort of like in the nineties, um, you know, lots of people, yeah, drugs, drugs everywhere, basically. And it wasn't a nice time. And I, um, yeah, I, you're right. Looked in the morning, look, looked in the mirror, definitely didn't see what, what I liked and realized, as I said, that there was a. Bigger world out there. There was more to life

Savia Rocks: 12:39

and

Marlon Palmer: 12:39

my area was just a small, a very small, um, just a small part of the puzzle and that I could excel at. I could stretch myself out of that and moving, you know, change my life and be, be whatever I want it to be because I've always had great ambitions for myself. I always believed that. Anything I put my mind to, I can achieve. And yeah, it, it, it, uh, I, I got to that stage where, yeah, things, I got to a very bad stage where basically I was using as well. Um, I had to, I had to sell, as I say, as I said, I had to sell. And for many years I, you know, many, I had a strong mind. But for many years I had to say, I had to say it's mind over matter, mind over matter. I could never get into that position like some of my friends, because my mind was stronger than that. Yeah. It did come to the stage in, in the latter days where I was used, I started using and encountered some issues. Um, and I had my children and my daughter and my son. Um, and um, it's a good friend of mine actually, who, it was, I don't know, it was like, you know, um, the universe's, universe's will, God's will or whatever you want to call him, called it. Call the powers that be. Um, and a good friend of mine who used to go to church regular, um, and his daughter was born the same, same month as mine and he was driving past one day and I was, I was actually going to pick up my daughter, it was her birthday. And I went to take her out, but again, you know, um, was struggling a bit and didn't really have the finances that I wanted to do what I wanted to do. And he, I would just, he just drove past me, stand outside my daughter's house and he beat, he blowed the horn and, um, he saw me and we had seen each other for a while and we started talking and I somehow, I don't know, I can't remember if I told him what I was going through or whatever, but he invited me to church, his church. Basically, I ended up going to church, to his church with his wife. He was a, he was very prominent in the church. His wife was also sort of a, a very well known and she had her own TV show as well at the time. And, um, I ended up staying at their house for a little while. They, they invited me to their house and, um, I kind of went through a sort of a, um, I went through a, almost like a, you know, shedding my skin, a change.

Savia Rocks: 15:05

Yeah.

Marlon Palmer: 15:06

Went for a change. And I actually went to church for a year, got baptized, and started again. And that's even where the name of my company, Kush Films, originally Kush Promotions, and that's where it came from. It came from a Bible. The Kush, which is the Kisha, it's the Asian Kush, Kush civilization, one of Africa's greatest civilizations. The Kisha is the Nubians from the land, from the land of Sudan. And, um, I kind of got into my black history, uh, and, and was empowered by a Bible that my sister gave to me. Um, it's called the African Heritage Bible, which I still have on my bed to to to this day. And within that Bible it was the King James version of the Bible. But it also. Um, it was written by some black pastors in America, but it had a whole history in the ba in the back and, and, and, and in the, um, the, the forward of the, of, of the, um, of the Bible showing you the black connection to the Bible and the black tribes and the black people and the black kings and everything. Gave you the whole history. And, and I had heard about the new bins, but this is really, I kind of learned about the Cushite. And of course, I had civilization and made me go and study more and go learn more about it. And that empowered me, really empowered me. And, you know, I decided to call my company Kush Films. Um, it was also another way. Uh, I also learned that Kush also was, um, Another, it was an ancient Hebrew word for, for the word black. So I was thinking of a way not to frighten the white people in the film industry by saying black, black, black. And, but still push the blackness at that time. And I decided, I decided to use Cush Say Cush Films as my company name, which meant black to me. Um, and it was Cush from, but also Cush was also to remind my people that we were once kings and queens in power because everyone knows me when I walk, I walk tall and I like to wear big hats and have my chest, I have my chest puffed out. So anywhere I walk, I don't care whose office it is, Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers. I don't care how, what, what credential these people got. When I walk in there, I'm walking in there tall, you know, and that's what's enabled me to get to where I am to this day because I'm not going in anywhere carrying, begging anyone for anything. I'm going in there offering services, which I believe I can deliver and you're going to pay me for those services.

Savia Rocks: 17:39

That's what I like to hear. So you've got Cush Films and then you've got New Urban. Um, images, international pictures, limited community, um, arts, media development for nonprofit. Talk to me about each one and why you decided to do each one.

Marlon Palmer: 17:57

Well, it's all, it was all part of the journey actually. And also it was all part of the part of the fight. It's all part of me adapting to the industry, evolving, and then also part of the fight that I was getting. So, Cush Community Arts and Media Development, that came about in 2000 and 2006, was it? probably, um, where I was getting so much fight in the industry. And, you know, you always begging for opportunities is that I decided to set up my own, I just felt alone. Uh, you know, I mean, this whole journey, a lot of time I felt alone and, and doing what I'm doing. As an individually in a sense, um, and, you know, the way I think and the way I want to do things and, you know, um, yeah, I've always felt kind of alone on the journey. So right about 2006, before 2006. Sorry. Yeah. It was 2000. Um, yeah. Before 2001. Um, that's when I first set up Cush Community Arts and Media Development. And that was basically because I was getting so many doors closed in my face in the industry. Some distributors would support me, some wouldn't. And I was getting really frustrated with the whole thing. And also, again, I said I felt alone. And I set up Cush Community Arts and Media Development as a not for profit to basically be. try and, um, set my own training courses to train more young people to come up, to come from, to come up and do what I do and be in the industry. There were lots of, you know, actors, filmmakers and stuff like that. And I went to train other people, young people that maybe about. Film, film exhibition and film marketing and that sort of stuff. And, um, so I set up, I was based in, I was based in the London Borough of Hackney at the time. And working with a colleague of mine who was a funding sort of expert. He was able to obtain some major funding. And I set up, um, my company was set up, Kush Community Arts and Media Development, and I started running my own training courses. And I set up a flagship training course, which is, it won awards. It was called a Bridge to Normal Living, a training course that I set up. I've never done any of this before. Um, and I basically was, you know, I set it up and became the project manager and I had various people who I still work with today become something who became my tutors and we helped, you know, um, we enrolled young people who were recovering from substance abuse, learning difficulties, prison, exclusion, um, we taught them digital video production. And we worked with the London, um, borough of Hackney with the, with the community safeties teams in the London borough of Hackney and the, and the police who funded our course we got, you know, um, at that time was getting some, some, some, some good money about 40, 000 pounds every time, you know, for our course. And, um, I was able to. Work with the re, um, the Rio Cinema in Dalston in East London, and they had a basement. They gave me their basement and we done run the course. The courses in the basement of the Rio Cinema in Dalston was there for about three years. And we basically, I also got choice of F on board, which was the, the, the prominent radio station at the time, black Radio Station. Very. sponsored me and run ads and that sort of stuff. And then I also got Nando's on board. Nando's just launched in the country and I got Nando's to sponsor lunches for all our students. And they sponsored me for three years, if I remember right. And, um, Choice sponsored, you know, sponsored us as well for a number of years. And, um, yeah, we ran it for three years in London Borough of Hackney and I helped a lot of young people to, who were on drugs, on the hardcore drugs, to find themselves in life. And a lot of them still credit me to, um, today's one of my proudest sort of moments to see them now as big as adults who credit me for helping them at that time. And, um, yeah, so, and that's what, and then we also, um, for Cush Community Arts also ran a black, I also ran a black history month film festival. So I came up with the idea of, of creating my own black history month film festival, which was a mobile film festival. It ran for, for, um, for a week. Um, and we basically started it at the Rio Cinema and then it did a tour to various cinemas, went to the West End as well, cinemas in the West End, and then we ended it back at the Rio Cinema. And, um, I got major funding from, um, the LFVDA at the time, which is now called Film London, who sponsored us, and we've got various other sponsors that sponsored us. And we, screened black films that champion black history and shoot and showed our true history as black people. I've been thinking about restarting for years and I just never kind of got back around to it. Um, and yeah, it, it ran that for a number of years. So, and run various other training courses. We did other various screenings and, and, and that sort of stuff for, of course, community health and development. So that was set up as part of my, Almost like it was a resistance to the industry. So you're not going to block me out. You're not going to stop me. And if you stop me, I'm going to either go over the top from the top. I'm going to go underneath. If I can't go on dig underneath, I'm going to go around the long way around, but you're not going to stop me. So I found just find another avenue to continue to do what I love to help other people to help. Other people's development and still promote black films at the same time. So, and that's why I did that. Then later, much later on, 2013 new urban image, international pictures was set up. I set it up when I basically realized that, um, um, I, I wanted to move into distribution,

Savia Rocks: 23:40

into

Marlon Palmer: 23:40

distribution and I, I sort of moved, I sort of dabbled with film distribution and become sort of a distributor working with my close. friend who's sadly now, um, passed, um, the director, Melanik Shabez. who's like a big brother to me. And, um, we worked on his film, The Story of Lovers Rock and together myself and, and he, we, uh, distributed his film directly because we couldn't get no distributors. He couldn't get any where he couldn't get any distributors to support him theatrically. And we decided he came to me and we decided to do it ourselves. Took his film around the whole country over six months and toured it basically and that taught taught me that we can distribute films ourselves and taught me a different way of distributing art, you know, with that with very little money, very low budget and sort of doing it in a sort of a tour style and bring it to the people and getting the people to demand the film and bringing it on the road to each city as we went along. So. Uh, you know, after that, I kind of, um, did another film called Get Her Life, a Jamaican film, um, boxing film, um, feature film. And, and then 2013, I set up my own sort of new urban image as a distribution company, which, as far as I know, is the UK's, you know, first black owned distribution, film distribution company started, and I started to, you know, aim to distribute my own films from there as well.

Savia Rocks: 25:07

I like that, I definitely like that. So one of the things that you did mention Marlon, which I want you to touch on, is the fact that you kept on saying lonely. And I know in the industry, in any industry, when we're working hard or working long hours, sometimes even overworking, we can get burnt out, which I know even before we came. And we started having this interview, we were talking about burnout and overworking, but one of the things that I do want to touch on is you were talking about lonely quite a bit. What is it like being on a journey and feeling lonely, even if you feel like you are doing your purpose? How, when does the lonely part kick in for you and how do you get yourself out of that lonely part?

Marlon Palmer: 25:49

Well, It's, yeah, it, it's for me, obviously, it, it, it's, it's all part, it's all part of the, it's all part of the journey and still is very much part of the journey. So, um, you know, you know, um, there's something that I say, I have a sort of a saying, um, because, you know, one of the greatest things that the film industry ever did for me. Mm-Hmm. You know, I realized, particularly coming from where I come, I come from, you know, back in the day and come from Tottenham and the life I had before, it wasn't that, um, the opportunities given me now, you know, um, which is my passion, you know, even my spare time, I'm watching films and I'm lucky that I've got a job where I'm doing something that I love. And I can screen films and I, you know, I basically can go to bed when I want, I can get up when I want to do what I want, you know, especially for someone, you know, as again, as I said, who kind of had, it was almost like I, that's the sort of life I had when I was a younger guy, you know, as a lot of young guys that get up when you want to do what you want.

Savia Rocks: 26:53

I

Marlon Palmer: 26:54

was able to still try and leave that life and still have that sort of control over my life and not. Going to a nine to five and be working for someone else and someone else is controlling me. But yet, at the same time, when you're working for yourself, it is not nine to five. It's nine, it's, it's, it's nine to twelve or nine to two in the morning or something like that, basically. And that is the problem, being able to sort of, um, shut yourself off. But when you're really trying to forge ahead, you're really trying to make headway. When you're, you know, as we know, as our parents used to tell us, you know, um, Black people that basically have to work twice as hard as anyone else to, to, to, to move forward and very much in the film industry, that is the case. So, yeah, um, me working 14 hours a day does nothing. That's normal. Uh, that's a normal, that's a normal thing. Um, and then, and not even sleeping properly and getting up the next day and back on it again. So, yeah. One of the greatest things that the film industry did for me wasn't the opportunities that I have now, as I said. It made me, because of all the hurdles, the, the issues, the fight I had, the film industry made me, made me look at myself, look in the mirror, as you kind of pointed out. And that was, this is the second time, not the first time when I changed my life. This is once, you know, this is years into the film industry. And then, you know, um, I remember one day, like, um, This is many, many years ago that, you know, when, you know, like, um, you know, I water, you know, I will, it sort of came to my eye because I was struggling to pay my, my, my, my bills at home. Couldn't pay my rent and things like that. And I'm thinking, you know, why the hell did I do this? Um, I'm seeing my mates on the street and they're still driving big, nice cars and looking like, and looking like a, looking, I should say, looking like a thousand dollars, thousand dollars, look like they've got money. And I'm saying that I could still be on the, on the road, be doing. Something else. Why am I doing it? Why did I do this? I can't even pay my bills. These bloody people are fighting me all the time. They, they, you know, they don't want to pay me for, to promote their films. Give me the film. But when you Us them to pay you, it's another story, you know, or they want to pay you some chump change or something like

Savia Rocks: 29:05

that.

Marlon Palmer: 29:06

And, um, yeah, I got very frustrated. And, um, what happened was I basically sort of went into myself and wanted to find out more about almost like myself and who I was and almost, and also the, the sort of human condition. And I, I basically, um, I took up personal development 20 years now. And, you know, I started listening to some of the great, um, New age, new Fort Thinkers. You know, the, the Deepak Choppers, the Wayne Dyers, the, the Tony Robbins, the, um, you know, um. All the great sort of, um, as you know, people talk about law of attraction, all this kind of stuff, and all the business sort of guys like the Brian Tracy's as well, the Brian Tracy, and I still do to this day. And, um, I just went into a whole sort of ethos of learning, learning who I was as a person, what my capabilities are, what my limitations are, what my limitations are. All my, you know, my limiting beliefs, the things that held me back. And I learned so much about myself. And one of the, one of the things that I actually learned was that. I was actually blocking myself from actually progressing within the film industry because I had certain things that were sort of innate within me. They were sort of built, they were part of my, my habits and they'd come from the streets from what I'd learned. As growing up as a young black man, I'd grown to dislike certain white people, like the police, for instance, and certain people who just didn't like us. So, I somehow changed my life and then went into the film business, but I carry baggage within me, but it was deep inside of me and I didn't realize I thought I changed my life, but didn't realize that I had certain still had certain issues. So the minute some of these film companies and their, their CEOs or their marketing manager started to try and tell me what to do, there was a resistance that came up and I didn't sort of, I wasn't aware of it. I didn't realize it. And it was like, immediately they were going to tell me what to do, I'm telling them what to do, you know, I'm trying to get them to pay me to do a job, but then I had a certain amount of resistance there, and I, in the end, and as you, if people who do sort of personal development understand these things and learn about, um, um, you know, how the mind works and your limiting beliefs and things, you, you, you kind of get to understand that there's certain, there's certain things that certain habits that you may have and certain things you do that, that where you, you end up blocking yourself.

J Harris: 31:38

It's true.

Marlon Palmer: 31:39

You end up blocking yourself from, from, from progressing. And you, and even from, you know, overcoming what they're, what they're throwing at you in a sense, you know, cause there's resistance just breeds more resistance basically at the day. Uh, I've, you know, uh, food person, the food person development, I learned to be more smarter and, you know, as they say, you can, you're going to work smarter, not harder. You're going to be more smart. And then you've, you've, you've got not to, you don't fight resistance, their resistance with more resistance, you know. at the end of the day. And I've learned to, um, not take on resistance, not, um, spend time fighting them. And there's other people who do things differently, maybe, and they want to fire the industry. I learned not to fire the industry. I will voice my opinion if and when needed. I rather put my focus on doing what I want to do, what I need to do on fueling my progression And opening doors and leading the way doing that put my focus on that rather than focusing on their, what they're doing and their negativity, because all of that actually just holds you back and it stops you from progressing. You're putting all your energy into focusing on why are they doing this? Why are they doing that? They're stopping me from doing this. They stop me from doing that. And you're you're putting your You're actually being attracted to their, to, to their negativity and their resistance. I learned to stop doing that. I did that for many years and I learned to stop doing that. So now my focus is always on, on what I'm doing, not what the industry was. It did the industry designed to keep us out. If you put your industry on, or we put you all your energy in finding. You know, um, the route to take you forward and you'll focus on that. Then you'll only keep going forward. As far as I'm concerned,

Savia Rocks: 33:38

that's true.

Marlon Palmer: 33:39

So, um, and, and, and that's, that's how I've always kept moving forward, moving forward, moving forward because they no longer, my focus is no longer on them. Basically and, and the gatekeepers and, and, you know, trying to get them to endorse me or to validate what I do or be my friend or whatever, you know, um, you know, all I want you to do is get out of my bloody way. Um, that's all I, that's all I want you to do really. And Judy, you know, we could be friends, but get out of my way. Let me, let me loose. Simple, you know.

Savia Rocks: 34:14

That's a fair point. I think. Loads of people in the industry, once they get to a certain level, they know they become gatekeepers. And what they do is they suppress the people who are just like them, which I think is wrong because there was a point where they wanted to be exactly, and I can see it in your face, there was a point where they were climbing the ladder. Now we can talk about this for ages.

Marlon Palmer: 34:32

That's right. They know, and they'll tell you as well, because they, because they know that I don't chat to some of them, and it's always been like they're in the industry. I, they see me, I just nod my head and say, all right, you know, because they're, you're right. Um, and, and they just, there, you know, with their little hand get with their handout, getting these little pots of little money trying to, you know, um, they're ticking boxes, ticking in boxes. Um, and I, I've never done that. And to, and. They can't say they're ahead of me in terms of what they're doing or whatever. Um, I think I'm ahead of a lot of them in terms of what I'm doing. And not only that, I have my, I have the freedom to do what I want to do. I don't have, there's no one that doesn't need to, I don't need anyone to validate what I do. Um, and, um, to tell you the truth, you know, they, they, um, the industry, in the industry, they respect me. For who I am. And when I go to them and, and, and I go, you know, um, maybe for a project or to promote their film, they know they're going to pay me properly, you know, they know that they know that Marlon, they're going to talk to me properly and show me respect at all times, all times.

Savia Rocks: 35:38

I like, this is, this is what I like because you need to, I know they say you have to gain respect in what you do, but it's also about giving the respect, especially when you're doing a job. As hard as you do working as hard as you do, but one of the things I do want to Us you, Marlon, is what made you decide, I know that what you went through to do film, but what made you decide that you wanted to bring urban films into the cinemas so that more people can be educated by the film, especially within the black industry or any other cultural industry. What made you decide I want to broaden people's minds so they can be more open minded to see films like black films and any urban films?

Marlon Palmer: 36:22

Yeah, um, it basically, it's a great question and it's been Used, it's been Used of me many a time and for many, many a year. question properly. I could not. I just said, and to tell you the truth, it is kind of roughly the same answer, but, um, it wasn't a plan. It just happened. It sounds

Savia Rocks: 36:46

like it was your purpose.

Marlon Palmer: 36:49

Yeah. It was given to me by sub sub. I don't know. It came from somewhere else. It came from a higher force and, um, I didn't have a plan. Again, you know, it was more as well, I suppose, an extension of what I used to do before when I used to get ready for parties. And it was just, I like, I like entertaining people and bringing people together and being of service. And it was that. And then I had a passion for film and I had a passion for film that I had actually forgotten about from a very early age as a young, as a young man. But I, for many years, maybe because of my street life and the things I used to do on the street and you kind of become hardened to sort of life as a young man, I had forgotten that until not, not, not that long ago, a few years ago, it all came flooding back that I used to, um, I had a passion for film as a young kid. And, um, we used to get comic books as, as young, young kids back in, this is like, I'm an old geezer now, you know, a lot of people don't realize how old I am, but, um, a lot of people see me and think I'm 45, 50 or whatever, I think, well, they do, but, you know, I turned 60 last year, um, So yeah, you know, um, I basically, so this is like, I'm talking about the seventies. So, um, we'd get comic books and in the comic books used to, you could, um, they used to advertise these little projectors, projector. And I ordered one, I don't know, nine year old, 10 year olds. I ordered, I ordered one of these projectors. I got the money and all these projects. I bought these, um, Charlie Chaplin and Laurie Hardy film reels, little films, and I would be in my bedroom, turn off the lights and put the blanket over you and be projected onto the wall and watching Laurie Hardy and Charlie Chaplin films. And then also growing up as a young black person as well in the UK, you know, um, You know, every time we saw someone black on TV was a big, a big thing, you know,

Savia Rocks: 38:48

where

Marlon Palmer: 38:50

the family would gather around and things like that. And then also, um, I took up martial arts as a young man as well, um, that, which was big in the blacks, in the black community. And that is kind of part of another story why I have a new event that I've been doing since COVID, which is, um, the launch of my Kung Fu cinema. And I've brought back old school, late night Kung Fu films.

Savia Rocks: 39:10

Marlon, do you find that? Martial arts gives you a discipline within yourself. Absolutely.

Marlon Palmer: 39:14

But also, but there's a whole story to it. There's a whole story to it, especially with young Black guys and even Black women as well. In the 1970s, 80s, when we were facing a lot of racism and battles and fights on the streets. And where a lot of us, you know, um, again, just quickly going back to my story. There was that, you know, growing up as a young man, you know, our hero, one of our heroes was Muhammad Ali and a lot of us had, you know, posters of Muhammad Ali on our bedroom wall. But alongside Muhammad Ali, a lot of guys also had Bruce Lee

Savia Rocks: 39:48

on

Marlon Palmer: 39:48

their bedroom walls. And Bruce Lee was like, almost like an honorary black man.

Savia Rocks: 39:53

You know,

Marlon Palmer: 39:54

he was a minority, a Chinese. And in them days, Chinese were treated just, you Just as bad as black people, maybe worse, you know, um, they were seen as lesser, you know, Chinese. So when Bruce Lee came, Bruce Lee also empowered a lot of black people, a lot of black guys and we started watching all these, these martial art films. And, you know, as I know now, martial art films were big, big hits. in the Caribbean, big in America, hip hop scene. You know, I'm hearing that they were what they used to watch in Africa as well in the seventies and things like that. So there was an untold story here that's not being told about why the black community so gravitated to martial art films. And, but the martial art films also was always about the stories were always about The ostracized ostracized people, the poor people and the elites who dominated them and them, um, fighting back. And I think the reason why a lot of black guys like the martial art film is that, yeah, we like the fighting back, but we like the fighting back in style, you know, in style. We could have that style with it. So a lot of us was into the martial art films. And, um, as I said, you know, um, I've actually bought, I'm actually, we've got a Well, tomorrow night I've got an event. We've got kung fu cinema, my kung fu cinema. This is my new event, which I've been doing since COVID. I've been experimenting with it. And I've actually just decided to get very serious with it because it's really picking up and I'm getting such a really diverse audience. White, black, Asian, Asian, Asian, Chinese and Indian, Asian women, men. And it's really fantastic. And I hope to also do be able to tell the story one day to make a film, a documentary about that, you know, the whole connection, the black connection with martial art films. And, and, and, you know, um, the reality of what happened in the seventies and the racism and all that kind of stuff, and why a lot of black people took up martial arts. And I, you know, it was, it gave us self esteem, let us have to defend ourselves. And, you know, we just weren't taking any more liberties from people who were attacking us. And we decided to. To attack back. So, yeah, so, um, and just just sort of, um, flipping all that and going back, as I said, so that, um, the Bruce Lee thing that I was, you know, Bruce Lee films that got me to make me a part of a passion for movies as well. And as a young man, you know, I to record VHS Kung Fu films on VHS tapes and like to sell them to my friends, sell them to my friends. And then, um. About, it was about 19, no about 20 or something like that. I did a youth, um, The Prince Trust, The Prince's Youth Trust business course and, and I had the idea of setting up my own company with a van, a mobile van where I'd sell videos. So back in days, you know, like blockbuster, you'd have the rentals. And I came up with the idea of doing my own sort of mobile van and going from the different estates, estates and people renting like films from me. And, and I had an idea to, I did a business plan for that basically, but it didn't, it didn't actually pan out, but it's funny years later, it all came back to me that I had. I entered into the filming. So I always had this passion for film and, and always wanting to. So it was almost like it was when I did start moving to the film, it was like an extension of everything I was doing before passion for film, the raves and the parties, bringing people together. But really what happened was, it was just a mystery. It was just, I it. I, because I don't remember exactly planning it out and what was going on and blah, blah, blah. All I remember is really walking, there was a cinema at the bottom of my grandmother's road. It's the same cinema that we used to go and watch martial art, Kung Fu, late nights Kung Fu cinema back in, as a, as a kid. And I used to walk, my grandmother had a, had a house on the bottom of that road. And I used to walk past that cinema every day, every day, every day. And then, When I did, you know, later on in life, when I changed my life and, um, that's it. Like I said, got baptized and blah, blah, blah. And I think I had this, the seed, the seed started, it was planted. It was in my mind. And I started having this idea about promoting black films

Savia Rocks: 44:03

because

Marlon Palmer: 44:03

the key thing I always remember was that. Black films weren't being given the opportunity in certain cinemas. We would get them on VHS, but we weren't able to see them in cinemas. And I was saying, you know, why can't we see these films in the cinemas? Why they're not getting released in the UK? Why weren't black film being given the opportunity, or black filmmakers being given the opportunity? And I wanted to, to, you know, just made that difference. And I just came up with this idea that I'm going to start showing black films. And as I said, everyone thought I was mad. Um, yeah, you're going to start showing, you're mad, you're crazy. And I just actually walked into the cinema one day, this small independent cinema, the Curzon Cinema in Turnpike Lane, North London. A lot of people will know it. And, um, I just said to the Indian guys, I want to start showing movies here, you know, black films. Um, and I'd also met a girl at the time who, who also was showing, she started showing black films in South London and we decided to eventually partner up and work together. And she had a company called film days, um, Julia, and we started together. And, um, but I walked into the cinema and I said to the Indian, the Asian man that I want to start showing black films. And then he goes to me, Oh, and I said, I went to the manager and he said, Oh, the manager's not there. And then, um, so I went and then next I was walking, walking past the cinema again another day and he, the same man ran out and called me. And then he said, come, come, come. And he said, what kind of movies you want to show? You want to show, you want to show like blue movies, dirty movies? I said, no, I want to show, I want to show black films and support black filmmakers and things like that. And then it turned out he was, he was the manager and he liked it. Ah,

Savia Rocks: 45:41

knew it.

Marlon Palmer: 45:42

And then, and then he must have, he must have sought opportunity to make some money. So, but then he didn't realize I was hustling him because I never had no money. And I, but I'm a hustler. I came from the streets. So, um, I basically hustled him and I said, look, I'm going to start showing movies. I went and spoke back to Julia. And I think it's like, um, the first screening I did. Was, um, was Daughters of the Dust.

Savia Rocks: 46:09

Mm-Hmm.

Marlon Palmer: 46:09

Film by Julie Dash, iner American. It's now in, in, in, um, in their, uh, oh, what they call it, not the Hall of Fame, but their, um, in, in their national archives. Um, a a as a seminal film. And that was the first film. First film I screen was Daughters of Dust. Um, and then the second film I, I did, that's the one that where everything just, it was lift off. So we was able to go to, um. Who's the distributor again? I forget, was it, um, was it Warner? I think it might have been Warner, if I remember right. But I was able to get Ice Cube's directional debut, a film called The Players Club, um, starring Bernie Mac and the whole swathe of, um, American actors, Ice Cube as well, um, in the film. And basically, I got that, um, As a, like a special preview screening before the film was released, that that was then became my trademark different to anyone else that I would get the films before they were released. And I would only ever screen films as premieres or exclusive screenings before the film release. And I use, you know, the whole key for me, as I said, I didn't come from a film background, so it was more the marketing skills and the promo skills. And I use that to really push my company, push, push films, push promotions, what we were doing with the screenings. And really, um, it took off from there and, um, yeah, that screening as my, only my second ever screening. And I basically wrote to the, I'm a Tottenham football club supporter and I wrote to Tottenham, um, Hotspurs and I invited some of the footballers. And I couldn't believe it when I got a response back. And, um, at that screening, I managed to get, um, as they call him now, Sir Liz Ferdinand. Liz Ferdinand, um, who's a, you know, a great, um, British, played for England as well, British, um, striker. And I also got, um, Rule Fox and, uh, and, um, Clive Wilson, who played for Tottenham as well, the defender. And they came down. So that, that brought the press as well. So I got the press. And it all came down to this grotty, grotty old cinema with rats running around. And I had 500 people pack out the whole cinema in Tottenham. And it was, I thought I'd made it there, there and then. And that was the launch, the real launch for, um, for Cush Films there. Yeah, that was in 1998.

Savia Rocks: 48:39

So Marlon, let me say to you, what was, what is your film of choice? There are so many films out there and I know it's going to be a hard decision for you. You're shaking your head like,

Marlon Palmer: 48:47

I don't do that. Yeah, I don't know. I honestly, I have such a varied lack of things. Even music, I don't have, I'm a, I'm a big sci fi fan. So if I had to choose, it'd be a sci fi film, but then I've got martial art films, old school kung fu films that I like. classics that we love from the 1970s. You know, I'm a big Matrix fan, the original Matrix sort of films, sci fi films, Terminator, anything sci fi, you know, um, Star Trek movies, um, I'm a sci fi nut. Um, Yeah, you know, um, those films, um, yeah, really sci fi is the thing for me. You know, there are black films, there's certain black films that I love, but no, I'd have to say definitely sci fi. I'm definitely, I'm an old, I used to be a conspiracy theorist as well. So, um, sci fi, definitely, and the future and all that sort of stuff. Um, yeah, futurist, you know, I like that sort of stuff as well. Um, yeah. Yeah. Um, again, you know, martial art films. There are classic black films that I love. Um, one of them I screened, um, back in the day as well with Bill Crosby and Sidney Poitier film. Um, Um, film that I love, um, uptown Saturday night and let's, let's do it again. Let's do it again. That's one of my favorite film. It used to be a, that was a classical minds comedy, black comedy. Um, yeah, it, it's, um, oh yeah, the, the, I mean, I like such, and these are many other films that I, I like as well. Um, I, I have a very, very taste. Uh, and, um, I'm not, I don't like to pigeon myself, pigeonhole myself in anything. I'm a very free spirit.

Savia Rocks: 50:33

That's understandable.

Marlon Palmer: 50:34

Yeah, in everything I do, in everything I do.

Savia Rocks: 50:40

So if I said to you, Marlon, what is the best advice you have received from someone and how has it helped your life?

Marlon Palmer: 50:50

Um, what's the best advice? The best advice I suppose is what I've learned is that, um, if I don't have any limitations. I don't have limitations, you know? Um, as all of us. As all of us. If you allow your mind to think in a certain way and you realize your true potential, then, you know, just like myself or or or anyone else, you, you, we don't have limitations. You know, we are people. Our people place limitations on us. That's true. And we place limitations on ourself.

Savia Rocks: 51:27

That's true.

Marlon Palmer: 51:28

Um, that was one of the key things that, that I'm limit, limitless, uh, um, anything I put my mind to it. I really put my mind to it. I can achieve it. Um, and that used to be one of my, one of my sayings, you know, as, as you believe so, shall you become.

Savia Rocks: 51:44

That's true.

Marlon Palmer: 51:45

Um, it is something that I, I I I, it was actually part of my kushma motto. Um, you know, as you believe social, you become against. biblical, biblical thing as well. Asian biblical kind of a saying, but also a, um, it's, it's part of the whole new age fought, um, um, kind of a thinking as well, but yeah, it's, um, you know, it's, it's all up to you. So that was the most, um, that is the thing that really taught me. And it's not just about again, Oh, you can do this and you can do that. It's about, again, um, Not placing limitations on yourself, you know, it's about not, um, limiting yourself in, in, in, in what you can achieve and what you can do. That is the first and foremost thing before you start thinking of all the great grand, grandiose things that you can do.

Savia Rocks: 52:38

It's just,

Marlon Palmer: 52:39

you know, stop placing limitations on yourself. Stop letting other people limit you. Not letting people put you in a box, you know, um, in this film industry, people like to put you in a box, um, I don't let them put me in a box.

Savia Rocks: 52:54

From everything that you've been through. When was the last time that you felt totally at peace with yourself?

Marlon Palmer: 53:03

Uh, well, I'm, I'm a hard person to deal with. As some of the mothers of my children would probably tell you. Um, I'm very, yeah, I don't, um, I have high standards. Um, As far as I see it, and I, I like to push myself, um, as far as I can go and I keep pushing myself. So, um, yeah, I, I, um, I think that happens, I think that happens only when I separate myself from, from my work and I take time out to maybe meditate and put myself in a state of, of, um, awareness of who, where I am and how far I'm in my journey. And it's only then you sort of realize. The big steps that you've made, you'd be kind of happy in a sense of where you are right now, because my life could have been totally different.

Savia Rocks: 53:59

That's true.

Marlon Palmer: 54:00

Yeah. And I find that, you know, um, that I am happy, but then, you know, Every day I'm working, work, work, work. I'm just trying to, you know, for me also now, I think the thing for me as I get older, you kind of realize maybe time is running out for you and this is now your time to sort of leave your last legacy. And again, what I'm doing now, this is for me, what I've just done since, since COVID. COVID came and just sort of changed the game completely. I saw how the world changed. I saw what's happening in the film industry. And I saw how Netflix sort of, you know, was disrupting the game, was watching it for years before that. But I really sort of changed during COVID and that inspired me along with the murder of, you know, the sadly, the murder of George Floyd, fueled me to again, take up a new, another new challenge and to build my own streaming platform. And, um, that again has set me on another path. You know, different, different to before, which is I've found as a founder, as a, with a new startup, you know, in, I've found now, you know, um, something that's very difficult. It's been very, very difficult. It's been very, um, Um, draining, um, tiring, tiring, stressful, um, trying to get people to support me trying to, um, the three years it's taken me to build this streaming, my streaming platform, um, which, so yeah, so just, you know, let everyone know that I've, you know, I've built, I basically fueled by the murder of George Floyd, as I said, I was inspired to, um, To stand up once again and represent black people and, and was really upset, you know, of how, what I saw and how, how we were being treated and how, you know, um, a black man being killed in the streets, being treated like cannon fodder, just like we're nobody. And I wanted to step up and say, look, you know, um, represent and say, we're not, we're, we're, we're, we're not kind of kind of fodder. We are people to be respected. Um. And it's not just about, you know, money or whatever. It's about representing, you know, people representing in the UK and people respecting us for who we are. So I reached out to a good friend of mine, uh, who happened to be white, a white man is a good friend of mine. And he's always supported me. He owns an international company that builds VOD platform, video on demand streaming platform. big film companies. And I said, you know, you know, um, when the George Floyd have murder happened, I reached out to him, called him, something inspired me to call him to just reach out to him and say, say that I want and Us for help to build my own streaming platform. Cause he's been telling me for years to get, you need to be online while they need to be online. So I took that opportunity. Something inspired me that day when the George Floyd incident happened to call him and say, I want to build my own streaming platform for my community. Something that we own is black owned because again, it was some conversation that I've been having for a long time with a lot of my black acting friends that, you know, we can go, we go to this, who go to the cinema more than us? Who, you know, um, Who basically, um, who, who goes to nightclubs more than us, but how many nightclubs do we actually own? How many cinemas do we own? What do you actually own in this country? You know, and I, I kind of wanted to represent. So, um, you know, building my own streaming platform, that was something that was really, um, endearing to me and really powerful to me to, to really show that we can own our own things here and we can represent. So, you know, um, I decided to, to, to, to go on, on the journey and venture into building my own streaming platform. And basically, yeah, it was, it was, um, I'm proud of what I built now, but a lot of people don't know what I've, what I went through those three years, basically during COVID when everyone was worrying about getting back outside and, you know, doing work, maybe meeting family and other things like that. I just had my head down for two years straight, basically. And the year after COVID as well, three years straight building this platform. Didn't even, I hadn't even left my house. Basically, you know, um, to the point that I developed a lot of issues. I kind of had them before. Anyway, from, you know, 20 plus years we've been on the computer in my neck up here, you know, and arguing with people to get paid or whatever. And, you know, um, so recently I've suffered a lot of, um, issues around my neck with a lot of muscle tension issues, muscles locking up. Um, I've had to, you know, have acupuncture and deep tissue massage and getting lots of pain that, you know, numbness down my left arm with my, you know, my thumb is going, going dead and my forearm is going dead. And all of this, you know, um, yeah, just through my passion, um, for what I'm doing, but also overworking, pushing myself too hard. And this is the sort of, um, again, You know, um, relaying back to what you were saying about love and that journey of an entrepreneur and maybe not having someone fully to tell you to stop, you know, time to go to bed or time to put down the computer or just being so driven that

Savia Rocks: 59:23

you,

Marlon Palmer: 59:23

you're just blinking. You're not seeing anything else. And that's where the journey can become very lonely. And then also you can, you can, you know. You can be successful at what you're doing, but also you can, you know, encounter health issues and things like that because you're just not, um, Counterbalancing, you know, um, in terms of what you do, what you do. I mean, the good thing is that, you know, over the years I have suffered issues. And again, one of the key things along with the personal development, I took up yoga and I took up meditation, all that kind of stuff. So I'm totally aware of everything what I'm doing, but it's being able to sometimes just stop yourself. Time to go to bed, but you know, when you got work to do, you got work to do, um, you know, um, it's so weird because all those years as a young man growing up, me, work, I was allergic to work, um,

Savia Rocks: 1:00:21

I,

Marlon Palmer: 1:00:22

I went to work. Now. In my older age, I'm a workaholic. I can't stop working. That's all I do. That's my life. You know, I've been sitting down there on even on a Friday. I've got the laptop. I'm working. I like the movies, the movies on the TV. I'm watching a movie. I'm drinking wine. I'm eating chocolates, but I'm still working. I'm just working. It's never ending. And that's what happens when you're an entrepreneur, when you're working for yourself. Also, like a founder, you've got a new venture. And I'm sure a lot of these younger people out there, you're experiencing that. But you do need to point where you've got to realize. And the key thing with that is just awareness. It's teaching yourself. I'm training yourself that you have trigger points that you, you, you get, you, you're aware of when you're stressing your body out, when you maybe need to hit the gym, you need to maybe go and do some meditation, you need to get up, you need to stretch, you need to do all of that sort of stuff. But yeah, um, I don't know, maybe for me as well, it's, you'd think, um, I'd be a bit more wiser, but again, you know, um, And you, and I, you know, I obviously know what to do, but when you also, again, I, I, I'm a person, I'm, I'm very, very, I can get very focused when I, when I'm, when I'm on something and I'm very determined to get it done and get it finished. And, and that's what, when I start things, I always get it finished and always get it done. So, um, very proud of what I built with Kush. Cushcinema. com with my streaming platform showcasing the best in black films. Um, you know, I spent three years building that platform. Then, then talking to distributors to get them to believe in what, um, my vision that I want to build a one stop shop to showcase Blackfoot, showcase black films, because, you know, you're going to Netflix, you're going to Amazon. It's just like black, a lot of black films are just lost in a sea of content. And unless you that that content is specifically there or you come across it accidentally, you're probably never going to find it. So, um, you know, KUSH cinema is all about creating a one stop shop where you can find great black films all in one place and make it easy for people to find these films. And also with my knowledge of black British cinema, also champion black British filmmakers and place a spotlight on them where I don't think, you know, now, It's all trendy now. Netflix and Amazon, everyone, everyone else to go. They want to put a spotlight on Nigeria, on Africa, a Nigerian filmmaker, Nonik Woods, you know, um, but black British filmmakers and what's what's happened here doesn't seem to get a spotlight. Um, obviously I'm black British and I want to put a spotlight on that at the same time. still support filmmakers from Africa, filmmakers from the Caribbean. I'm a Jamaican background and want to have all these films, all these films on my platform, but also have a great spotlight on black on a talent here and black British filmmakers and a lot of the films that many people have forgotten about because, you know, um, they only see that they seem to only remember films from from the no Clark era from when no Clark came and started screen, you know, becomes become and became successful. And No one remembers all the filmmakers who were before that. There were lots of other filmmakers before Noel Clarke. There was a black British film scene way before that from the 19, from this, you know, from the 1950s. Um, you know, there were black actors appearing in films. And then it was sort of a vibrant scene starting from, you know, sort of around, you know, the early 1980s. But no one doesn't seem to remember that. Um, so, you know, it's my job as an elder to remind people and create a place, a home, an archive, where people can find these films.

Savia Rocks: 1:04:08

This is what I like. So before I say thank you to you, Marlon, I really would like everyone to know where they can find you, where they can find your platform, where they can see these films, so that they can be educated and, and, you know, And inspire. So if anyone's an independent filmmaker, which I know so many people are, and they need that education, where can they find you?

Marlon Palmer: 1:04:29

And also just to say, we're looking for content. So we're looking to partner with filmmakers and looking for content to put on a push cinema, K U S H K U S H cinema. com. Check it out. We're going to build it out into a fast channel. We're looking to get it, get an app and have it on all the TVs. I'm looking for it to be international. Um, we're offering currently AVOD and also TVOD rental, um, deals and also able to do. You can find us on Instagram at KUSH films online. F I L M S online KUSH films online. I mean, if you Google KUSH films, you find it, you find it, you find us, it's in my big face somewhere and my, my one of my hats. Um, and so yeah, KUSH on Instagram, KUSH films online. Facebook Kush Films also, um, and also Kush Cinema, Kush Cinema also on Instagram, also on Twitter, Kush underscore online and Kush Cinema as well. And you find me Marlon Palmer on Marlon Palmer, P A L M E R on Instagram, Facebook. LinkedIn everywhere, basically. So, yeah, and you can, as I said, can Google, Google Kush films and you also find the streaming platform and I'm sure you'll come and you'll see me.

Savia Rocks: 1:05:42

Marlon, I want to thank you so much for taking your time to tell your story so eloquently. So, you know, you showed your vulnerability, your kindness, your compassion, but most of all, your way of telling people that no is not No, you can find your yes. You find your yes in your way. No, no, no. Thank you so much for taking your time to come on the show. I appreciate you.

Marlon Palmer: 1:06:05

Thank you very much. It's my pleasure. I'm here to help all filmmakers who are trying to make their way in the industry, especially any rebel filmmakers. Please feel free to reach out to me. My experience is my experience is yours to have.

Savia Rocks: 1:06:18

That's perfect guys. I want to thank you so much for listening and watching the Us people show. And please remember you can connect with us every Thursday at 8 p. m. UK time. You can also watch us on Apple TV, Fire TV, Freeview channel, two seven one YouTube. lcbn tv and also lcbn tv. com. You can also listen to this interview again on Wednesday on the heart songs, live radio at 9 PM. Also every Tuesday we have the us people podcast, which comes out, which is a prerecorded conversation with myself. And I guess talking about their journey and their story in their way, guys, I want to thank you so much for listening. Stay happy, stay positive. And as always, please continue to be kind to one Take care. You'll be guided through the light. Oh, yeah, set me free so I can saw your journey just move on so you can be free spread your wings and let the wind glad you have wheels you're soaring through this journey leaving fear far behind Oh, so full of courage you can win if you try redirect this to you Oh. You see that toll. Yes. If you want. Oh no. Super wide. Super. One. Sped. Yeah. Hello. Hello. Oh yeah.