Filmmaker Julian Sol Jordan Might Be Indie Film's Next Darling

Julian Sol Jordan is an artist to his core. A multihyphenate in the process of breaking big, the 24-year-old has written, edited and starred in his new film, Real Life, which he dubs an “experimental documentary.”

The film has received national attention for Julian’s perseverance, as it was filmed over two-and-a-half years on a limited budget. Additionally, he is a member of the North Texas indie-pop band Sunrise Academy, whose EP, Big & Strong, dropped earlier this year.

When we connect with Julian to discuss Real Life, he's on a break from editing a short film written by and starring his girlfriend, actress Lily Kirk. He has a self-imposed deadline he wants to meet to have the movie completed (a little pressure, we learn over the course of our conversation, is good for his creative process), but the up-and-comer is still beaming from the surreal experience of releasing his own debut.

He grew up in East Dallas and currently resides in Oak Cliff with his Sunrise Academy bandmate, Yakob Dye. His father, Josh David Jordan, is also a filmmaker who has long worked in the business. For Julian, documenting the city he grew up in was an important part of making Real Life. He says life in Dallas is more than just posing in front of a mural on the side of a building; it is pillared by the likes of an abandoned skating rink, the Bath House Cultural Center and Deep Ellum Art Co., giving those sites the ability to live on through film.

Real Life is compiled from footage Julian shot of himself, his friends and his family around the city. He sees it as “a meditation on memory and growing up.” There are some striking visual moments accompanied by voiceover detailing his journey trying to figure out what the film should be, all while Dallas sits at the heart of the project. The movie has a pleasantly DIY feel to it, but Julian has enough confidence (and the editing chops) to have created something that still feels thoughtful and intentional. Though the movie was rejected by nearly two dozen film festivals, it caught the attention of IndieWire, leading it to a wider audience.

Julian’s journey making Real Life began with a Blackmagic camera, one he purchased with his own money (and some help from a YoungArts grant). Prior to the documentary, he had directed some music videos, but as he began testing out his new camera, he realized he could use it to make something more expansive.

“I would just put the camera on a tripod and just take a shot of me, like, walking somberly in my neighborhood,” he says. “And then I just started putting ambient music on it, just to see, like, ‘Okay, this looks pretty cinematic.’”

The filmmaker then began capturing footage of his friends partying, taking trips together and working through their young adulthood.

“I started realizing that it was starting to become this project about the early 20s in that kind of gray area where you’re freshly out of high school, more or less, and you’re kind of trying to figure out what the path is,” he explains.

As the director himself notes, the film does not have a linear story so much as a driving sense of melancholy, of time passing by. The foundation of the storytelling rests between interviews with his friends, moments where he himself ruminates on the value and direction of the film, and seemingly random footage

“I think there’s a version of the project that exists in my head that is a masterpiece,” he says.

Throughout our conversation with Julian, he seems hesitant at times to even refer to Real Life as a movie. Part of that is because he sees a gulf between what he envisioned the film as and what it became. When asked, though, the director says it has more to do with how he views himself as an artist.

“I consider myself to be a writer … a storyteller first and foremost,” he says. “When you watch this movie, that’s not really [at] the forefront of the movie. And so I just feel like... it was kind of just an experiment. I think I’m maybe just being too hard on myself."

With Real Life out in the world, Julian's focus is on using the film as a calling card to help him reach the next step in his career. He wants to make a physical media release happen for the film, maybe with a limited edition Blu-ray run. He also has a national tour lined up for El Tonto Por Cristo, a film he edited that was directed by his father. 

For now, he wants to leverage the momentum and attention he has gotten for Real Life, along with the lessons he learned making it, to set himself up for his next feature – ideally with a script and a crew this time.

Julian's film and music work can be found on his website.