Self-Funded Documentary Projects
Checkmat Co-Founder Leo Vieira watches on as his students drill the move of the day. (2019)
In December of 2018, two weeks before I was set to move back home from New York, I collaborated on a project with Very Hard To Submit, a popular international jiujitsu apparel company, and made a mini-documentary on Jonathan Satava, a Marcelo Garcia Black Belt (one of the most respected schools in the world). I moved back on December 13th and attended the IBJJF NoGi Worlds Championship at Anaheim Convention Center as part of the press. I brought my style and my eye to the jiujitsu photography scene and my images exploded. It was different than any other photographers on the scene. Let me explain, most jiujitsu photographers fall into two categories: black & white or saturated + contrasted. Mine were cinematic and moody. Anyway, I jump into the jiujitsu photography scene and make a bunch of connections. I took a bunch of photos and sent them out to anyone thats anyone in jiujitsu. FloGrappling, the ESPN of jiujitsu recognized and we connected. In February of 2019, I contacted MoyaBrand, another popular international jiujitsu company and they hooked me up with two documentaries: Amanda Monteiro and Lucas Leite and paid me for it too. This is what I wanted to do. Create and tell stories around something that I love and enjoy. MoyaBrand did that for me. Yesterday I put out a poll on my jiujitsu instagram @passmyguard and people wanted to see Gabriel Sousa. He is the youngest black belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu athlete to win UAEJJF male player of the year (2018-2019) and the only one to win it in his first year as a black belt. He is also a 3x Grand Slam Champion. He agreed. I’m excited. And then, last night happened. Around 1am, I got a message from Leo Vieira, the eldest of the Vieira brothers. He’s down. I was absolutely mindblown. If you read my previous post, you can see how much I respect Leandro Vieira, the youngest of the Vieira Brothers. And now, I have an opportunity to do a documentary on all three brothers and the start of the jiujitsu powerhouse, Team Checkmat. This is something that FloGrappling doesn’t have access to. Well, they do, but they won’t be doing it any time soon. And that’s where I have the advantage. Because I operate by myself, I have the one thing that allows me to go far: speed. I don’t have to jump through any loopholes, I don’t have to get any approvals from higher ups. I just need to find the funding for it. I’m getting back into the desire to create. And that’s what this day job was designed to do: suffocate the free time that I have so that I am bursting at the seams to create. I’m excited to start planning for these documentaries. I think this will be the first time I actually sit down and storyboard so that I can do it justice. Who knows, maybe this will be picked up by FloGrappling. Maybe I’ll get funding somehow. I’m excited. Stay tuned