WEBVTT

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I heard communities. Thank you so
much for listening. I'm Renee Denina,

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now joined in studio by Connecticut's own
Well this is pretty exciting. John Cruise,

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filmmaker, writer, producer, talent
exhortenaire. Welcome to our program.

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Thank you for having me absolutely and
you brought your leading lady, the leading

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actress of your film project be mine. Now please help me. I hope

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I'm gonna say and do your name
Justice Shianni Gazi. Yes, all right,

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good, thank you very much.
First and foremost, congratulation on your

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film. Thank you, Oh my
gosh, how exciting and to be made

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all here in Connecticut, to be
from Connecticut. First and foremost, John,

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let me start with you tell me
your story. So Originally, I'm

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a kid from Puerto Rico, born
in Puerto Rico. Came here when I

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was young when my mom finished high
school. My mom gave me the opportunity

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to you know, be more and
really take advantage of what being in the

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US hust to offer, you know. And so I started off as a

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football player, you know, and
from college ball, I just decided to

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get into film and storytelling, you
know, because us as artists, we

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have this obligation to try and create
stories and inspire the youth, especially kids

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around the world, and show them
that anything is possible. I love that

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for you and from you, and
I love that your mom inspired you to

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do that. Who, by the
way, is the silent partner in this

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interview today. Maybe we'll get her
to speak before this is over. But

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how did you go from sports to
filmmaking and writing? Was that creative bug

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always with you? Yeah? I
feel like I got my creativity from my

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mom and from other family members in
the family. I was always a creative

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individual. I always wanted to do
more with my life, you know,

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make an impact. Never really changed
the world, just impact the world in

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such a way where I leave a
message that can transcend lifetimes, you know.

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Yeah, and that does change.
That does change lives, you know,

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even if it's one or more,
um, it does make a difference.

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So that's that's a wonderful way to
lead your life. And I love

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that, you know. I could
see how proud your mom is sitting here

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in this room of you, and
so I think that's wonderful. What was

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the first story that you ever came
up with or how old were you?

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I should say, when that first
story happened. Um, it was really

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me writing my story, you know, and trying to figure out how to

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tell my story in a way where
it's not like, oh, you know,

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I want to have sympathy for this
kid. No, it's oh,

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this kid went through so much and
yet he learned a lot and made something

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of himself. So the first story
I really started writing was the day I

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was born, and it's my story, you know, and I continue writing

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into his day. Now you're staying
in Connecticut, right, you made your

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film in Connecticut. Um, tell
me about all of that and where this

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film be Mine got started? Yeah, so, b Mine was a story

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that I started developing back in twenty
twenty one. I'm a big horror movie

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fan. I love horror films,
and I wanted to try and create something

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different, you know. I wanted
to try and create a villain that could

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exist in our society, someone who
can walk among us, you know,

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without the demonic stuff or anything like
that. Um, that's scarier, by

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the way. Yeah, I think
that's right. And she's like that,

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you know. Right. So I
wanted to, you know, try and

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create you know, something authentic,
but something good, something juicy, gory,

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and so what I did was,
you know, I wrote it,

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um, I put it to the
side because I had a lot of things

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going on personally. And then I
reached out to a couple of guys,

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Tom Sash, you know, and
and you know, we started to get

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in going and we locked in the
script. We you know, locked in

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the cast um and then we entered
production and you know, from there we

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just made the movie. And I
think we did a pretty good job,

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you know, making I feel like
the best short horror film in Connecticut.

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And congratulations. Now how can people
watch it? So where I actually doing

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a premiere. Our premiere is going
to be at Apple Cinemas July ninth,

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twenty twenty three. The premiere starts
at five, but our Red Carport Walk

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starts at four. And if you
want to purchase tickets, you just have

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to visit our film page on Instagram
be mine the movie, and on there

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you will see a link tree and
you'll be able to just you know,

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purchase your ticket and come and support
local. Yeah, and horror fan people,

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we know that you are. There's
a lot of you here in Connecticut.

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You're gonna want to go and see
this now. Now, enter Shianni.

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Now, how did you get involved
and how did you find out about

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this project? So funny we're just
talking about this. Somebody came in here.

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Um we met on another short.
We met on another short, and

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um it was I think a comedy, but it's just not working really And

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just like you never know that one
person you meet that leads me to another

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thing. And so I think when
he finished right in a script, I

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think I was probably want the first
few people he contacts, like, I

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want you on this. Oh wow, so you've got you You have to

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do a like you didn't even try
out you were in Yeah, it was

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so tell me about your character.
So my characters leading actress, So she

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Emily, She is the town's sweetheart, and she takes in the main the

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male actor who is the killer in
a film, and because he's very like

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um, kind of being bullied and
he's the odd ball of the town and

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so she kind of finds liking into
him. She sees something into him that

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I guess everyone else is ignoring and
builds a friendship with him. And then

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that kind of turns a sour And
then now my life has turned upside down,

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because now it's up an ab section
that he has with me and now

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he wants to kill everyone in my
way to get to me. Type of

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things like a love story gone very
wrong. Not telling me about yourself a

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little bit too? Are you from
Connecticut? Yes to telling about yourself?

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Born and raised in Connecticut, Hartard, Connecticut, that is. And I

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knew I was an actress. I
think from like the day I was born.

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I mean, and my mom would
tell you stories that I was like

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two three, like standing up watching
Little Bear and playing the roles on TV

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kind of like mimicking each role.
So I don't know, I just I

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just am Like people say, that's
what you do, know, It's what

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I am. I'm a storyteller.
So yeah, and I started that.

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I fell in love with film and
TV acting in college, but I was

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already doing theater acting all through school
until I hit film theater. I'm film

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and TV and I was like,
oh my god, this is the medium

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that I love. I love like
having a moment with the film and with

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the camera, and so from there
I just then starting to develop my film

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and TV career. Well congratulations to
how can we follow you online? Um?

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You can follow me on my Instagram
and I am shiannig, I am

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si s h I h A n
I G. All right, well we'll

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put it up at my community access
dot com as well, and back to

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you to John and about be mine
and the premise and the other actors.

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Did you pull strictly from Connecticut or
New England and tell me a little bit

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about what we're going to see because
I know people love to see landmarks right

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when they're watching things. Yeah.
So what we try to do is we

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try to make it a homegrown film. Um. So what I did was

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I tried to make the entire cast
from Connecticut. Um, with the exception

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of our lead man who plays the
killer. Um, he's from Maine.

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But he yeah, shout out together, phenomenal. There's no spoiler alert with

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that, Like we know he's the
bad guy from the Star. Yeah.

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Yeah, you can sell all right
if you watch the Caesar trailer. Um,

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Yeah, he's he's uh he went
to Uhar actually, but he's from

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Maine. Phenomenal actor. And the
crew itself came from New York actually,

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so they're you know, different parts
of New York. Um. But we

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shot half of the film in Bristol
and then we shot some parts in East

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Harford. Um, I'm forgetting the
restaurant's name, but the owners Romans,

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right yea yeah. So we shot
at Roma. Shout out to Paul phenomenal

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guy, Phenomenal Grinders and pizza.
Yea yeah, I ate there before and

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they got some really good food if
they don't um and uh. We shot

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in Hartford as well at Sama Cafe
Okay, owned by my boy Elijah.

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Great coffee. It's in downtown.
Yeah, it's definitely a vibe. It's

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you know, calm after you're a
movie. I'm sure it'll be a live

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right. But this is great though, because what you're doing is, you

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know, by by default, you're
bringing in business or you're creating business,

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or you're creating awareness for your home
state, our capital city and surrounding towns,

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which is what we need, which
which is what we love. And

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I feel like more and more filmmakers
are coming to right, connect Get and

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there's more opportunity right. I feel
like there's just so much talent here.

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I just hope that even on the
industry is growing here, that we tap

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into the actors, the writers,
the directors, the creatives that are in

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Connecticut, specifically Hartford, Connecticut.
As well. But yeah, yeah,

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and then now so this film is
done be Mine, Um, this is

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coming out in July. The premiere, it's going to be run down the

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information again. Yeah, so the
premiere will be in July. The way

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you could buy tickets is visiting our
film page. It's be Mine the movie

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on Instagram. You can visit the
link tree to purchase your ticket and we'll

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have that amazing premiere to red Carper
premiere. A lot of people are gonna

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be there, you know, and
we're just gonna have a great time.

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And then from there we're gonna you
know, do film festivals and we might

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you know, be on some streaming
platforms. Yeah, maybe maybe. So

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if you want to find out more
about that, always check our pages.

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Check my personal page Tank seven seven
thirty two, so t a n K

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seven seven thirty two, or you
can visit the film page for updates on

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that. We're trying to get that
going. But this is a unique horror

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film, even though it's a short, it's a horror film that I think

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a lot of people are going to
be impressed by well, and I just

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would love for people in our state
to rally around you to get larger streaming

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services or anybody to even pay attention
to this. So if anyone's listening right

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now, to show your local support, like the film's page, spread the

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word tag and spread the word,
right. I mean, that's how we

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create a little following, a little
you know, fan club, right,

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you know you need you need some
fan people here, So let's build that

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up for you. And you know, congratulations to you. What's coming next?

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So next actually, um, we're
going to do an exclusive announcement the

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premiere. Oh but I'll say something
here. Now, I'm producing and co

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hosting a TV show, so that's
an early development. We're trying to give

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a different vibe to the TV show. We're trying to give a cinematic feel

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to it, add a little you
know, color diverse today aspect to it,

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diversity exactly. And then after that, I'm planning on working on a

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comedy film, you know, So
that and the comedy film. Actually I'm

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planning I'm breaking the fourth wall,
you know, so we know how that

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goes. Yeah, well I'm really
excited. So you're going to come back

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and share with us all your updates
and good news, right of course?

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Yeah? All right, Well we
hope so and I wish you nothing but

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success. Do you have any plans
for any other projects you're working on?

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Yeah, I'm actually writing process of
writing a film myself that I want to

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shoot this summer, and I think
tapping into one of his shows, but

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you know, to be announced,
and yeah, starting to get my own

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film started as well. In Connecticut. I'm really really excited for you.

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Now, introduce your mom for me, please. So my mom, the

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beautiful woman that's sitting right there is
Shakira Sveto. She's the owner of Shaky

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Promotions. Her and I are actually
teaming up for our first ever like you

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know, business type of thing that
we're doing at the heart for Latino Festival

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this year. Okay, that's happening
at Duncan Park where we will be showing

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our official trade trailer. We'll be
talking about the film. They're in front

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of five thousand people, and I'll
be alongside my mom, you know,

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while she's doing her business, I'm
doing my business. So it's not just

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a mom in some relationship. You
know. We got a work thing going

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on entertainment dynasty here in Connecticut.
So Mom, SA come up to the

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microphone here tell me. I mean, I know your smile says it all.

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But Pete, this is you know, radio and podcasting. Get up

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to the mike. Tell me about
how you feel about your son and how

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proud you are. Well, the
word proud is not enough. Yeah,

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I'm very very proud of seeing him
like it was worth it or the struggle,

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because like it was, it was
amazing, ace amazing seeing him now

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young men and with a future and
all the things that he made or really

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and he's going to make. It's
like you're making me tear up because I'm

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working at her mother speak speak in
Spanish because I want you to tell him

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how you feel, and I want
people to understand that because I want you

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to say it the way you want
to say it. Go ahead. Me

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is I don't know what you said, but I felt it. I say

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that I'm very very I had three
three boys, ole mother with three kids,

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and I'm very very prouds like it's
no words, like what I feel

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is no word. And I be
with him like any time they need me,

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I be there to help. I
help them with the kind like with

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the actors, and I say I
cook, I do anything to help me,

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guess, and I want to be
on set so you know, what

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do you need me to do?
I'll cook too, or what do you

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mean? I'll help whatever you want. But you know, this was a

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wonderful interview and I sho all nothing
but success. And I know you're going

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to come back and chat with us. I know people are going to start

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following you. So I'm gonna just
one last time. I know We've said

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it a couple of times, but
how can people follow the film specifically?

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Yeah? So, um, if
you want to follow the film and you

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want to come to our premiere,
just visit our film page at b mine

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the movie on Instagram. You can
visit the link try and purchaser tickets.

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The premiere will be July ninth,
twenty twenty three at Apple Cinemas and down

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Town Harford thirty nine in Front Street, and be sure to save this day

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two July. First, we'll be
at the Harford Latino Festival Center stage taking

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over home Play at the Heart at
the Harvard yardgo Stadium at Duncan Park.

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Well, I've got my Dunk and
yard Goats Jersey ready, I'll be there

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myself there I go. All right, guys, Well, thank you so

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much for being on my Heart community
thank you, thank you,