Kenny Blank and the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival

Ryan Millsap, Chairman & CEO of Atlanta-based Blackhall Studios, is one of today’s top entertainment executives! With a vision for Blackhall that’s ambitious, energizing and boundless, Millsap is blazing a trail through the heart of the South – and setting his sights on the future of entertainment. Listen and learn as Ryan Millsap journeys through the myriad industries, people and landscapes that traverse the complex and dynamic world of film production.

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Ryan: I'm Ryan Millsap, host of the Blackhall Studios Podcast from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm an entrepreneur mostly by necessity, because I have massive authority issues, and also by constitution – as the entrepreneurial life is filled with things I love: freedom, adventure, creativity and imagination. When I began this leg of my journey into the entertainment industry, you may find it interesting to know that my background before this was all commercial real estate.

And then I built Blackhall Studios as a specialty real estate project for production giants like Disney, Sony, Warner Bros, and Universal to have a place to ply their skilled craft of production. I'm from Los Angeles, but I moved to Atlanta six years ago. I've done business all over the world, and I know few places with the dynamism of Atlanta. It's a world-class city with a huge economic future as a center of commerce for a global economy. On this podcast, we get local and global and talk to people who are inspirational, sensational, sometimes motivational, but at all times somehow tied to the ecosystem that is the culture and business of entertainment as it relates to Blackhall Studios.

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Ryan: Hey, good morning — and welcome to the Blackhall Podcast. Going remote, as we're all in quarantine today. We're really fortunate to have Kenny Blank, who is the director of the Arthur Blank Foundation and one of the leads on the Jewish Film Festival.

Kenny: We are the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.

Ryan: That's right, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. I'm sorry.

Kenny: Film festivals — remember those?

Ryan: I know. God, when are we going to get back to being able to watch film?

Kenny: Well, I think there's plenty of movie-watching going on. Unfortunately, it's not happening in the theaters right now.

Ryan: Yeah, the collective experience is missing. You look at AMC being totally empty, and all of the festivals — whether they're music or film festivals — all being canceled. It's a unique time, particularly for extroverted people who love to gather in groups.

Kenny: It is; it's sad. On a personal level, I was on a plane heading out to South by Southwest. My daughter goes to college at UT Austin, and this has become our annual tradition: experiencing the festival together. And literally, while I was on the flight, the governor of Texas declared a state of emergency, and the festival had been canceled. Little did we know that that was just the first domino to fall, and that all of these subsequent — as you said — film, music, any kind of mass gathering entertainment events like this would be suspended in this way.

And, yeah — I hope, coming out of this, that there has been some nostalgia created for the shared moviegoing experience. We know that digital and streaming was challenging the industry in some ways; at least, the exhibition industry. But, look — I think there's going to be a permanent change here. This crisis has really, in my mind, just accelerated that which was happening already — for film presenters like ourselves, but also on the industry side. And so, coming out of this, I hope that we're able to find a balance that still allows for traditional exhibition of film, because we need that community connection now more than ever.

Ryan: What are some of the changes that you think might be permanent? Are you starting to imagine how these trends continue on?

Kenny: Well, it's shocking to me. As you said, AMC is closed. Regal has been our long-time partner at the film festival. You're hearing about furloughs, and questions about whether these major entities in the film industry will survive, coming out of this. We certainly hope that they will. But I think they will forever be changed. How exactly? We don't know. I think film festivals and film presenters are going to have to adapt to what will become some new permanent reality.

Again, I do think films were intended to be a shared communal experience. I know, at the film festival, the way that the audience responds to the film is totally changed when you're sharing the viewing experience with others. And then, of course, the opportunity for dialogue, conversation with the film artists, and other guests — that opportunity to understand, explore — is truly unique to a festival.

I think, maybe, to your question, that will be — at least for film festivals — how we survive and thrive after this. It’s the emphasis on creating truly unique experiences. I think festivals have always, to some extent, offered that — different than the traditional moviegoing experience. But now we really have to find ways to compel audiences to leave the safety of home, the comfort of their couch, and come out to the film festival to get something that they can't get at home. And that may be a conversation with the film artists, but it probably needs to be an even larger, more enriching experience than that.

Ryan: When we talk about a film festival that has the word Jewish in it, tell me — what makes a film festival Jewish? Does it only accept Jewish filmmakers? What are the criteria? What, specifically, are the parameters around a film festival that is specifically cultural? Or is it?

Kenny: Well, it's a question that I think every festival answers a little differently, and to which there is no hard and fast rule. At the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, we are a celebration of Jewish culture, Jewish life, history, and heritage. I like to think of it like any other great arts and cultural event here in the city. It is really for the whole community to experience. It's a chance to sample life in another part of the world; a different cultural life story. To meet characters and experiences that, in our own day-to-day experience, we may not have the opportunity to be exposed to. And we are obviously — as this crisis has shown — such an interconnected world now. The importance of walking in someone else's shoes.

It's a really universal festival that explores stories from people from all walks of life; all parts of the world. The common thread is there has to be some connection to Jewish life. It has to be on screen. So, whether the film artists — regardless of their background; their religious background or ethnicity — that's not the primary consideration. It really is... does the film itself explore these themes on screen?

So, we explore films, documentaries, narrative shorts, features — every conceivable topic and genre you can imagine. We have films at the festival that are thrillers, comedies, dramas, romance. We’ve had horror films; musicals. Any genre of film that you would see at any mainstream festival — we have a place for that at AJFF. And then, the topics, again, are wide and universal, and really intersect with people from all walks of life. That's a very long answer. I don't know if that gets you any closer.

Ryan: No, it answers it perfectly. I mean, there has to be a string that gets tied through somehow. And I think you described it very eloquently: that it's a loose thread, but it’s a connected one.

Kenny: Yeah. Well, I just think, today more than ever, all of us are connected in so many ways. So, this idea that an LGBTQ film festival is only for the gay and lesbian community, or that you have to be African American to go experience the Glenstone festival, or you have to be Greek to go to the Greek festival down at the park. All of these different cultural, ethnic, religious experiences — that's one of the beautiful things about Atlanta. We are such a rich, diverse city.

Ryan: That’s so true.

Kenny: And I think we take that for granted — that we have this opportunity to sample all these different kinds of cultural experiences. So we are all about celebrating that.

Ryan: Yeah. I think that's true in America in general: how fortunate we are. And Atlanta is a particularly strong melting pot — of ideas, people, ethnicity, culture. It's a very, very unique place. In some ways, Atlanta reminds me a little bit of Berlin. You have this city in Germany that is unique inside of Germany. And in Atlanta, you have this city that is so unique in the South, right? You're surrounded by a particular culture. But then you have this exponentially more creative element that just appears as an oasis. And that's really how Atlanta sits in the South.

Share with us a little bit about how you got interested in film. I know you have a very diverse background. You've gotten to see all sorts of things all over the world; been involved in all sorts of different businesses; all sorts of different charities. Share with the people listening some of your story, and tie it into to the film aspect — but also, just kind of share with us a little bit about the journey that you've been on in your own personal development that has made you interested in these particular things.

Kenny: All of us who work in this industry feel it's a gift to be able to pursue professionally our own personal passion. And there is no professional training or major for becoming a film festival director. I think people who enter the film festival world do so coming from all different walks of life. And so, my story is no different there.

I was fortunate enough to be able to go to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for filmmaking. I also, at that same time, pursued a double major in journalism. Coming out of film school, I went more in a traditional communications route and worked for a couple of Atlanta mayors — doing communications; PR. I worked in journalism for a number of years as a television producer in Savannah, and then Atlanta. And I really just sort of stumbled into this opportunity with the film festival.

It was just getting off the ground in 2000. The festival was launched not as an arts initiative, but really as an advocacy project of an international Jewish nonprofit called the American Jewish Committee. They were using the power of film for their mission, which is around bridge-building; fighting anti-Semitism; celebrating religious pluralism. And they really invited me, initially, to get involved as a volunteer. Very quickly, this festival started to grow. The organization needed full time leadership, and they really invited me at that time to take this on and have it become my full-time job. And that's how I got to be the festival’s first full-time executive director.

Ryan: What have been the things that you have learned in that role that have enlightened you, encouraged you, inspired you? I mean, you see so many things come through that festival.

Kenny: You know, stories that are presented on screen are so unique, and are amazing. The production values; the caliber of craft; the filmmaking, and the acting is all absolutely best in class, anywhere in the world. But Hollywood films obviously tend to focus on more easily consumable stories for American audiences. Growing up as a film lover, I was watching all the classic Hollywood films, but never had any exposure to all of this other international cinema that was out there.

And so, the film festival was, in many ways, that first exposure. To realize that all of these different countries had equally compelling stories to tell. Again, people from different walks of life, different life experiences, different challenges in their society, different styles of telling those stories — that was very different from Hollywood storytelling. Different kinds of characters. More ambiguous endings. Different styles of filmmaking and artistry.

All of that was so eye-opening to me. So, to share that with Atlanta audiences who also may have not previously been exposed to that international cinema — I think that's been one of the greatest gifts of the festival. To see people come out of these films truly transformed; seeing something that they cannot see anywhere else; and really looking at the world in, truly, a new light.

Ryan: Well, when you get involved in the arthouse scene, one of the things that I've always loved is the ambiguity you talked about. That feels like it mirrors life a little bit more directly than, oftentimes, what we get in the in the big blockbuster narratives — which, listen: the thing we all love about the big blockbuster narratives is the simplicity and closure.

Kenny: Sure.

Ryan: It makes for very emotionally gratifying storytelling. But it isn't necessarily a reflection of human life. If we had a cocoon that we put all these movies into and left on Earth, and disappeared, and another race found them and watched our movies — if they only watched our blockbusters, they think our lives were something very different than what they actually are. Right?

Kenny: Indeed.

Ryan: Whereas, if they watched all our arthouse films, they'd get a better sense of what it actually meant to be a human being on the planet Earth. And I know that, at USC film school, at NYU film school, at the at the centers for film learning, there's always that great debate about what drama is for; what film is for. What the arts are for. Are they to reflect our lives, or are they to inspire us, are they to entertain us? Are they all of the above? And how do you order those? I love that, when you're involved in what you're doing, you're getting deep into the philosophy of human life.

So, I guess that helps me transition a little bit to the questions that I love to explore — which is, where does this put you philosophically? Share with me the important things that you see to being a human being. And, in this time of... I mean, really, national reflection — if you were leaving letters for your children, or you were writing books for your grandkids, what are some of the big life lessons that you would share with them?

Kenny: Wow. It's a great question. And it does cause one to stop and think about, really, what's the essence of what we do in our day-to-day lives? We all have jobs, and do different things, but I don't know that we ever pause and really think about, you know, “What is my contribution going to be when I leave this Earth?” And, as you're posing this question, I think... film festivals, sure. We are entertaining. We are providing a diversion — or also, hopefully, educating, and exposing people — as I said earlier — to people from different cultures; all parts of the world.

But, distilling that down. What is the essence of it? Back to your question. I think it is about helping our society understand our shared humanity. And, at the end of the day, we're all feeling this now with the current COVID-19 crisis. At the end of the day, this virus has been sort of the great equalizer. It's reminding all of us that, at the end of the day, we're all just people. We're all here. We care about the same things. We love our families. We love our planet. We need to protect each other. We need to care for each other.

I think film can have that same power: to remind us of that shared humanity. You may come from different corners of the world. You may have different socioeconomic circumstances. But, at the end of the day, we're all people. We're all sharing the same journeys in the short time on this earth together. How can we support each other? How can we find empathy with each other? Understanding; we say the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival is about building bridges of understanding. If we can all understand one another better — understand our needs, our challenges, fears, hopes, aspirations — all of those wonderful things, we can leave this world a better place if we have found that human bond.

Film is just another way of storytelling. And we've been telling stories as a human civilization since the beginning. They may have been originally on cave wall drawings, and then around a fire pit, and then through scrolls. And now, this is just another way that stories are written. I think stories are like water. They're essential to living. Without stories, we don't have structure to our lives. We don't have order to our lives. It allows us to process and understand our world.

So I think, for me — you ask about philosophy. I think, at the end of the day, that's why I'm so satisfied by the work that I do each day. Again, it’s not just putting flickering lights up on the screen and distracting people for a couple of hours. I'm hoping that we're strengthening those human connections.

Ryan: Human connections makes me think of quarantining. How are you quarantining? Who you quarantining with, and what are you learning about human happiness in the midst of the quarantine?

Kenny: Well, I am self-quarantining at home, here in Atlanta. I'm comfortably ensconced with my family, and we're doing, I guess, what a lot of other people are doing — which is a lot of cooking. Eating. A lot of conversation with the family — which, again, I think when people look back at this time, there'll be certain things that they may miss, or hopefully feel they can retain coming out of the crisis.

We were just talking about connections. I think those family connections are hopefully being strengthened in this. I know they’re tested sometimes, for sure. But I think about my own family, and we're certainly spending more time together talking about things that we probably never would be talking about if we were just going about our regular routines and daily lives. The family ritual is, after dinner, we all retire to the basement, and everybody gets a rotation around who's going to pick which movie tonight. We've been watching from episodics, which I've never had time for before. Now I’m catching up on them. I just finished watching, with my son, Disney's ‘Mandalorian’ series — which I'm a little late to getting into, but I’m having a great time with that.

So, that's how we're spending our time. And then on the professional front, we are trying to rally our team to forge a path forward through this crisis. It's a very difficult time, obviously, for everyone; particularly arts organizations. We are all about bringing audiences together in arts spaces — whether that's theater, dance, ballet, music, or in our case, film. How are we going to stay connected to our audience during this crisis? And how will we plan for the future, so that when these restrictions are lifted and we get back to communing together, how are we going to ensure that we are well prepared to present the best film festival we can at that time?

It's difficult, because you're dealing with so many unknowns and uncertainties. We have to just take it one day at a time. And I think you're seeing a lot of innovation come out of this, in all sectors of society — including the arts sector, who are struggling, but really rising to the occasion to adapt to the challenge.

Ryan: What time of year is the Jewish Film Festival here in Atlanta? Is it a summer event? When are you guys scheduled to have the film festival this year?

Kenny: We actually really dodged a bullet on that. Our festival just concluded in February. We have year-round programing, and our big annual festival is in February. And, just as the festival was concluding, on February 27^th — that was really when you were starting to hear the first reports of coronavirus cases popping up in the US. We were fortunate, in that we were able to complete our big annual tentpole event just in time. But we did have a slate of other year-round programing that we intended to pivot quickly to — and those have all now been suspended. We're holding out hope that we might be able to continue some of those programs later in the year. We're making alternative plans where we can. And of course, looking ahead to 2021 — and returning back to the big screen, hopefully, in February of 2021.

Ryan: Do you know some of the history — the Jewish history — in Atlanta? I don't know a lot about that. Is there a story there? Is it robust? I mean, what's that narrative?

Kenny: Yeah. One of the topics that we explore at the festival is Jewish geography, and how these different Jewish communities have bubbled up and thrived in different corners — not just of the United States, but around the world. We had, at our recent festival, a story filmed in Montana, of all places. So, we get very specific sometimes, but it's fascinating — because each of these communities have a different history; a different Jewish story — and yet also so much in common.

Atlanta — we have one of the largest Jewish populations in the United States, depending on the ranking. We’re, I believe, the 10th, 11th largest Jewish community in the U.S. 125,000 in Metro Atlanta. And yet, we have one of the largest Jewish film festivals anywhere in the world, really. We had been the largest — or sometimes second largest, depending on the year. So, it's interesting — because, like so much of Atlanta, we are so spread out. And I think one of the great things about the film festival is that it’s one big umbrella event that sort of brings the whole Jewish community together.

Film festival goers — they don't go to Sundance and Tribeca and travel around there. They have a love of film. But I think, for a big part of the audience, what primarily brings them to the theater is this opportunity to connect with their cultural identity; their religious identity; what it means to be Jewish in Atlanta. It’s this feeling of community connection and coming together. Our audience will typically start queuing up for a movie about an hour before showtime. And that's pretty unusual. I think one of the reasons they do it is not because they have to, but because it's the chance to see family, friends, neighbors, and feel that sense of community connection.

And of course, a large part of our audience is not Jewish. They’ve come because they want to see the best in international cinema. In fact, apparently, a third of our festival identifies as non-Jewish. They're coming for that love of film, and — as I said earlier — that chance to have a cultural experience that they can't get anywhere else.

Ryan: You know, one of the things that I've always admired and loved about the Jewish international community is the way that the Jewish culture communicates, sticks together, and helps each other. What are some of the ways that you're seeing, in this crisis, the global Jewish community coming together; the national Jewish community coming together; and the local Atlanta Jewish community coming together?

Kenny: Well, certainly this is a time where all of our religious institutions are having to find ways to provide solace, comfort, support, and inspiration to the communities. I'm a member of the Temple: the historic Temple synagogue on Peachtree Street. That’s the site, of course, of the tragic Temple bombing milestone event in the history of antisemitism in this country. And, once again, the temple, is in this historic footing — where they are viewing streaming services and virtual programs to help the community feel connected and feel they have a safe space online. There’s such a bombardment of horrible headlines each day. And we want to know what's going on. We feel that urgency.

We also have our own families to attend to. We have our professional lives we need to attend to. And the economic toll of all of this. Now more than ever, religious institutions, I think, provide a vital role in... how do we get back to a sense of humanity and spiritual connection? What is our purpose on earth, and how can we process these tragic events? So, if you look at studies — national studies, international studies — about the diminishing impact of traditional religious institutions and formalized religion, and all of that, this is a time that reminds all of us that there is absolutely still an urgent need to have our religious institutions. Our synagogues, our churches, our mosques, and so forth. To have that available to us as a place to find comfort, and to find meaning, and to process events like these in our lives. And it doesn't have to be a worldwide pandemic. We all have individual challenges; tragedies. We search for a spiritual connection. ‘What's our place on earth?’ And so, it's a reminder about why these religious institutions are still so important, so relevant, no matter how we choose to experience our own faith.

Ryan: You know, as these statistics come out, and more and more people are affected directly by this virus, I'm inclined to ask. Have you been directly affected? Do you have friends, family, who are dealing with infection? How are they doing? I know all of us are certain to be touched by this directly.

Kenny: Yeah. Who’s not going to be impacted on some level? Fortunately, in our immediate family, we've not had anyone fall ill. Although you always wonder — there's such a mysterious, sinister quality to this virus. You don't know whether you could be infected or not. You may not show any symptoms. The people in your own household — are they safe? You want to protect them. You want to protect yourself. It's a very trying time, but we feel we're faring fairly well in this situation, for sure. Yet we know friends who are facing economic hardship; who have other family members who have fallen sick. We all know folks in New York. I think everyone has a New York connection. So we look with particular concern to the situation in New York, and family and friends who may be there, and how they're dealing with this crisis.

But, again, I try to focus on the positive. I think this is bringing out the best in humanity as well. People are stepping up and doing their part to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. They're having to make sacrifices of the type we haven't seen since, say, World War II or 9/11. People are being tested in ways that I think, by and large, we as a community are rising to the challenge. Ryan, your own generous offer to make your studios available, if the need arises, to shelter medical patients. How can we help in this situation? Whether it's with our family, with our neighbors, our larger community; it's helping us understand what it means to live in a community, and our obligations there.

So yes, this is certainly testing us. But I think it's also bringing out the best in people. And that's always encouraging to see. You always hope with situations like this that, when the crisis passes, people won't forget these things, and the good will carry forward. I love going for walks at night and just seeing the quiet of the city. Not so much car traffic, and not so many planes flying overhead. Noise pollution and light pollution. The city takes on a whole other feel. And even as horrific as these events are, there's a certain beauty I think we all see — in kind of this quieting that's happening in our lives, and in our city. Your hope, with elements of that, at least maybe we can also change the way we live a little bit for the better.

Ryan: Yeah, I have a lot of friends in LA, and LA's being dramatically affected. But one of the things that's interesting: my friends in LA are noting how clear the air is; how bright the sun is; how the earth feels like it's breathing while the humans are all hiding. The Earth feels like it's breathing. And it might be a breath that the Earth has needed for a long time. I mean, who knows the positive effects that are happening from an environmental standpoint? And who knows the, changes that are happening sociologically that will allow us to maybe live more in harmony with the breathing of the earth? I think some of those elements that you're touching on — the ways in which these kinds of shocks have lasting social implications on philosophy of life and philosophy of culture; the philosophies that we don't even realize that we have.

The other thing that I've been exploring in this is the way we handle failure. I look at the way right now that we're handling this pandemic, and it feels like we're falling on our face, right? Collectively, we don't really have a good handle on a pandemic protocol, and how to deal with that as a society. We clearly don't have any sense of a protocol for how to deal with the economic consequences of sending everybody into a quarantine — and I don't blame people for that, necessarily, because we’re all learning as we go. Nobody's been through this.

But I think we'd be foolish to act like we're actually handling it well. And that question of how candid we can be comes up for me in my own life. I've seen it with athletes. I've seen it in intellectual circles. The people who can be most honest about their failures are the ones who can actually then achieve greatness. Have you found that to be true, too? Have you seen that? When you find people who can actually be honest; be candid; be brutally direct in their assessment of themselves — or, in this case, the assessment of our culture. How have you experienced that in watching people deal with failure and grow?

Kenny: I think this is such a seismic event, and so disorienting, that it is forcing all of us outside of our comfort zone — our daily routines, the way we talk and interact with each other. It’s sort of a trial by fire. It puts all of our relationships to the test, and kind of gets them down to their essence, in some ways. It forces us, as you said, to be candid in a way that... day to day, maybe we busy ourselves and ignore the things we want to ignore. This crisis does not allow for that. It really distills our relationships with one another down to their essence and forces us to be self-reflective.

So, I do think people will come out of this, hopefully, with a stronger reality check about — as you said — our own failures, and the time we have left on this Earth. How can we make ourselves better people? But also, the relationships with our families, with our loved ones, with our colleagues — to kind of ground them. Ground them in a way that, maybe, they hadn't been before.

Ryan: I see that happening with a lot of people that I know. They're grounding themselves in ways they had no idea how to ground themselves before, because they're being forced into situations that they never would choose. They’d never choose this much isolation. They'd never choose this much alone. They never choose this much unavailability of distraction. And so, it's just forcing all sorts of things upon people that they hadn't dealt with before.

Kenny: I was just going to say — having conversations with each other that we would never otherwise have. What we're talking about around the table together at dinner, as a family. I think we have different kinds of conversation when life is on the line. And that really brings out a real intimacy of conversations with everyone that we interact with. Again, I think some of that can be retained for good afterwards. There will be a silver lining in this unfortunate crisis.

Ryan: Right. So, let's imagine. We get to the other side of this crisis. What are the things that you hope for over the next five years? What are some of the things you'd hope to see in Atlanta, and that you'd hope to see in the growth of the film festival? What are some of the things you imagine that you’d hope to have come to fruition?

Kenny: You know, I'm not sure I'm at a place where I could answer that question in thoughtful way. I think we're still, a little bit, trying to get our bearings and think day to day. Like, how are we going to get dinner on the table tonight? What’s the scene going to be at the grocery store? What's next week look like for me at my job? So, it's been hard for me to look past that.

But, to our conversation earlier — this is strictly now from an industry perspective. We were already seeing these changes coming, in a way that we could assume for movies and entertainment. This crisis has really just been an accelerant poured on top of that. So, our organization — we happen to be at an inflection point, at the end of one strategic plan. And we were just in the process of authoring our next five-year strategic plan. So, the timing of this has really put into focus very quickly a lot of these questions that we're going to be facing. What does it mean to be a film festival? How to connect with these cinematic stories? How are we going to provide a unique experience?

That's purely industry. And it’s something that film festivals, film exhibitors, filmmakers, are all going to be reevaluating. You see all kinds of articles in the trades now about how, coming out of this, the movie business is going to be entirely transformed. It may never return back to what it was before — in some ways good, and in some ways bad, I'm sure.

As far as the community goes? Look: I think the number-one thing we're all saying, that we knew, is that our health care system had problems. That it was broken to a large extent. And this crisis, I think, has already put into sharp relief where these deficiencies and gaps are, and what needs to be addressed for whatever the next crisis is that's coming down the road — and sort of the day-to-day realities that people confront when they want to go to the doctor; when they want to get treated; where those deficiencies are.

I think, also, this has been a real test of leadership. Not to get political, but we're all looking at the different leaders in our local, state, and national government, and seeing who is rising to the challenge. And I think it reminds all of us why leadership is so important, on every level — whether it's within your own family, or within your own company or organization, or from your government. People need leadership in a time of crisis like this. We're seeing some of the best — and, unfortunately, some of the worst — examples of that right now. But it’s certainly, as a value, something that we recognize the importance of. I'm hoping that is something that will outlive this, and that people will be reminded about the importance of leadership.

Ryan: I hope you're right. I mean, I would love to see that. It's so fascinating in these times of crisis when you realize that, when the leaders are good — 90% of the time it’s because 90% of leadership is administrative. Sometimes they're just terrible when you get to the 10% that is truly critical thinking, in times of uncertainty. And the difficulty there is that the guys that are great at critical thinking in times of uncertainty oftentimes are not very good administrators. And so, if you can find those amazing teams of leaders that can work together, and know when to defer to one another — defer to their strengths — that's when you can see magical decision-making. But it's hard in politics. And I think we're seeing that right now.

We're out of time. But, Kenny, this has been amazing. Thank you for taking the time in the middle of the quarantine to spend the time with us. Thank you for your leadership in the entertainment industry, and your leadership in Atlanta. Congratulations on running the largest Jewish film festival in the world, it sounds like. And thank you so much for taking the time to be with us on the Blackhall Podcast today.

Kenny: Well, thank you for a great chat.

Ryan: Do you have social media? What are ways for people to find you if they want to follow your life; find out what's going on with the film festival, etc.?

Kenny: Absolutely. We’re on social media channels, and our home page is ajff.org. That tells you everything you need to know about our programing, how we're navigating the current crisis, and our plans for the future.

Ryan: Stay safe out there. Stay healthy, and keep up the fight.

Kenny: You too. Stay safe and healthy, everyone.

Ryan: Thanks, Kenny. Bye-bye.

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Ryan: In leaving you today, I'll leave you with one of my quotes from my Instagram page. “In crisis, we learn the real value of wisdom and goodness — be that in friends, lovers or leaders. It's these critical junctures that reveal the quality of people that impact our lives. Great learning is now.” This has been the Blackhall Studios Podcast, recording from quarantine in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm Ryan Millsap, chairman and CEO. Thanks for listening.

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