The Alpha

• Crypto payment platform MoonPay announced that it will partner with filmmaker, producer, and photographer Julie Pacino on her upcoming movie, I Live Here Now, according to a press release shared with nft now. The company will serve as Co-Executive Producer.
• The film marks Pacino’s feature-length directorial debut and is based on her 2021 NFT photography collection of the same name. Its production makes it the first NFT-native photography IP to inspire a film.
• Funded in part by Pacino’s follow-up collection to I Live Here Now, Keepers of the Inn, the film has yet to receive a release date but will drop “soon,” according to MoonPay.

Dive deeper

A long-time proponent of NFTs and Web3, Pacino established herself as a household name in the space after releasing August 2021’s I Live Here Now and its follow-up, Keepers of the Inn. In the same year, Pacino was invited to be a part of TIMEPieces’ Build a Better Future Genesis drop, further raising her profile and drawing attention to the fact that photography was increasingly finding a home in Web3 circles.

The I Live Here Now collection allowed Pacino to explore character development through photographic stills, eventually leading to her developing a feature-length film. The psychological horror story behind the project focuses on a struggling actress grappling with the reemergence of childhood trauma. The main character escapes to a remote hotel in the woods, where a mysterious and anomalous presence causes her to question her reality. 

While this upcoming release will be Pacino’s feature-length film debut, she has directed several well-received short films at Tiny Apples, her production company, including Hard Work, Nowhere to Go, and Harmony in Gold.

Pacino has consistently advocated for using Web3 technology in the film industry, believing that NFTs free creatives of all kinds from relying solely on large production studios and crowdfunding platforms to finance their work.

“I want to help pave the way for the next generation of artists entering Web3, which is why I’ve aligned with MoonPay, as they have built a platform that makes the entry easy, efficient, and effective,” Pacino said in the press release. “Visibility for NFT artists — especially women and the LGBTQIA+ community — is vital, and with MoonPay’s support on this film, we hope to help on-board more individuals into Web3 and amplify their film projects.”

What’s next

The news of MoonPay’s involvement with the film comes just two months after the company announced its acquisition of Web3 creative agency Nightshift, which was rebranded to Otherlife as a part of that deal. MoonPay has made no secret of its ambitions to onboard as many people to Web3 as possible, and its support of Pacino’s work could help raise awareness of the brand and its wide-reaching goals.

“We are absolutely thrilled to be a part of I Live Here Now, a historic project that highlights the power of Web3 to create community, break boundaries, and allow artists to share their stories,” Tom Capone, Head of Entertainment at MoonPay, said in the press release.

“Julie is an outstanding filmmaker, photographer, and collaborator, and her work is pioneering the way forward in Web3. We have no doubt that years from now, students in film school will be looking to Julie and I Live Here Now as a landmark in modern filmmaking. We are so proud to be supporting her brilliant vision.” 

Pacino also has a new, intimate NFT portrait series in the works titled Hollywood Mornings that is slated to drop later this year and will also take place in collaboration with MoonPay.

In case you missed it:

• Exclusive: MoonPay Talks Universal Partnership and the Future of NFTs
• 12 Web3 Creators Discuss Royalties, Community, and the Future of Web3
• The State of Web3 Film: How Royalties Help Visionary Artists Find Community

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