UrFavorite'Threat
• Interdisciplinary Artist • Auteur • Visionary •
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us, are looking at the stars." - Oscar Wilde
Atlas Oggún Phoenix, also known as UrFavorite’Threat, is a director and independent filmmaker whose work explores trauma, identity, and alienation. Their films, including “Little Men,” “Do I Qualify for Love?,” and “Ordinary,” have received critical acclaim and awards. Phoenix’s current project, “f*ck pr*de,” is a film series exploring self-love and acceptance, particularly for African American seniors transitioning later in life.
f*ck pr*de (formerly Beautiful Boi) has received six grants, including the Jerome Foundation’s Film, Video, and Digital Production Grant in 2023, Metro Regional Arts Council’s Next Step Grant in 2022, Minnesota State Arts Board’s Creative Support Grant in 2022/23, and Art Experiences Grant for 2024/25. They also received an Honorarium from the Sundance Institute’s Uprise Grant in 2021.
They were commissioned by the Walker Art Center, under Atlas Oggún Phoenix, to write three essays about the making of the series for the Walker's MN Artists online reader, published between November 1, 2021, and February 14, 2024.
Little Men won multiple awards and nominations at various film festivals, including the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, Bucharest ShortCuts Cinefest, the UK’s Rapport Black Film Festival, Seattle Black Film Festival, Gary International Black Film Festival, IndieFest in La Jolla, CA, Worldfest Houston International Film Festival, and the 2020 Black Continental Independent Movie Awards, where it received an Honorable Mention. It also received an Honorable Mention from the Deep Focus Film Festival in Brooklyn, NY, in 2021.
Their third film, Do I Qualify for Love?, was exhibited at various festivals, including MSPIFF, London & Birmingham, North Carolina, DC, and Gary. It competed for Best Short Documentary at MSPIFF in 2021 and was selected as one of the Best of the Fest, alongside Questlove’s “Summer of Love.” The film’s style will be incorporated into Beautiful Boi’s monologue segments.
Ordinary, the official fundraising film for the film series, won awards in France, India, and Houston, including Cannes and Marseille’s Prix Coup de Coeur at the AVIFF festival and Pune’s, Out and Loud Queer Film Festival for Best International Documentary Film. It screened at various festivals, including the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, TRANSlations in Seattle, Brighton/Hove’s FilmPride Festival, and the University of Brighton’s Research Department’s fundraising screening. It also participated in Cherry Grove’s Trans Celebration Weekend and Out at the Movies in Winston/Salem and Tampa Bay Transgender Film Festival in 2023.
PHOTO CREDITS LEFT TO RIGHT:
My mother, Lorri Seals, Walter Penn, Evan Frost for Minnesota Public Radio