Jay Lathon speaks for Black History Month

BY CAITLIN HEIN / HC Media

Documentary filmmaker and president and owner of Birdofprey Filmwerks Jay Lathon will be speaking for Black History Month Thursday evening in the French Memorial Chapel at 7:30 p.m.

Lathon will speaking about a book written by his friend Gabriel A. Tolliver, Embrace the Suck: 366 Days of courage, strength, inspiration, wisdom and, that he helped design the cover and layout of the book. The book talks about Tolliver’s experiences during his deployment in Afghanistan.

Lathon is currently residing outside of Nashville, Tennessee, but was born in Clarksville, Tennessee. Lathon said knowledge was highly regarded in his house because both of his parents had years of experience in education.

He studied architecture at Hampton University and Art History at Lane College.

After graduation he began working for The New York Public Library and worked as a freelancer, designer, director and content producer for several companies including the Abelson Company, Threshold Media Ventures and HBO’s Blaze Battle.

While working as a DJ in lounges across Manhattan and Brooklyn, Lathon said, he reconnected with his love of music, and in 2000, Lathon wrote, produced, directed and edited his firm films The Process and Ms Right Now.

In 2003, Lathon moved to Nashville to make films and create art focused on Southern Culture and the influence it has on musice and style domestically and internationally.

Lathon said his interest and work in cinema helped hone his design work even more because he was required to make sure his message could reach several media platforms.

Currently, Lathon works for Bird of Prey Filmworks, which is based out of Nashville. Bird of Prey makes motion graphics, music videos, narrative films and documents along with other animations and designs.

Even as Lathon creates documentary and biography films he designs the titles, typography and logos for production companies and non-profit organizations.