Multi-award-winning New York-based filmmaker Timothy Allen Coons has been taking home a lot of awards for his films over the last year, winning four awards at the Indie Short Fest – Los Angeles International Short Film.
His independent film “Fable Of The Hired Guns & The Woman Who Cried Witch” swept awards for, Best Western Short, Best Original Screenplay, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Costume Design.
Timothy was just five years old when he fell in love with film. By the time he was 8 years old, intrigue had turned into fascination. Though he was born colorblind and with a visual impairment that hindered his ability to drive, he was determined to make films that might impact others in the way the films that he had loved impacted him.
When Timothy turned 23, while working full time and attending Finger Lakes Community College, obtaining his Associate’s degree in Communications, he finally decided to make his first short film. While working, and studying, Timothy embarked on a serious film career, independently producing, writing, directing and acting in his films.
Industry watchers and film fans in the know say that young New York-based Film Director and Actor, Timothy Allen Coons has a unique vision. At only 30 years old, he has already seen his work lauded and applauded across the continent from Los Angeles to Toronto, garnering an impressive number of prestigious awards.
Here’s some of our conversation with Timothy, watch the complete interview above!
Hi, guys this is Mohid Moosani from ScreenBinge.com and today we have with us a very special talented and mind-blowing filmmaker Mr. Timothy coons. Hi Tim! How are you?
I’m doing very well. It’s very nice to be here with you. Thank you so much ScreenBinge for inviting me.
Guys, I’ll let Tim tell his own story, but before that let me shock you all first. Tim is colorblind and yet he has produced 16 independent films at the age of 30 years only. His last film “Fable Of The Hired Guns & The Woman Who Cried Witch.” has garnered four awards including Best Original Screenplay. Tim, I’ll leave it to you now and I want you to start your story from the beginning.
Yeah, absolutely! I was raised by my mother; my father wasn’t really in the picture too much. So, I was raised by a single mom and my great grandmother was around quite a bit too. But I was born with a visual impairment so, my vision itself is not correctable. I can’t drive because my vision is so poor and I’m colorblind so…um go figure that all the things that I would learn to love growing up, would be visual things. I love photography, I love drawing and painting.
I love making films and I think it just comes down to you know the desire to want to provide something different and contribute in a way where you’re telling part of your own story.
For me, it’s always been very cathartic to kind of put bits of myself in my own story throughout my films. But yeah, so I was raised by my mother in a little town called Shortsville and New York in the United States and there weren’t a whole lot of options in the way of like possibility or in regards to the arts. It was mostly industrial stuff you know; you would grow up and you’d go off and be a teacher or a nurse or go into the factory work.
So, I kind of went against the grain and went against what everybody else was kind of telling me was realistic. As I grew up and I really had this affinity towards film since I was five years old when I would always watch the behind-the-scenes. you know even on VHS and…. yeah, it was a big thing when I was a kid to go to a movie rental place and pick out my film for the weekend you know.
That was like…. that feeling I’ve always been chasing. That feeling as an adult you know in the regard of creating a film I wanna obtain that same kind of feeling that I got when I was going to the video store to pick out my film.
So, I’ve always felt this connection to storytelling. I love writing, I write, direct and produce and act in all my films. Hopefully, I won’t have to produce too much longer because that’s definitely become kind of a burden at this point.
What sort of ideas do you incorporate in your films? Every artist subconsciously reveals parts of their own story in the films.
I love kind of implementing um my own story and what’s surrounding me in my life with my people. In those stories, I’ve always been a big fan of people like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese and I love that bombastic over-the-top style.
I guess I basically had no opportunity unless I was to move away to New York City or Toronto or L.A. So, I wanted to just kind of make my own opportunity and I just picked up a camera when I was probably 22.
I dropped out of college, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with myself and I picked up a camera and I just got some friends together, started making movies and I guess the rest is history.
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