Conversations with Adam and Monique Madrid

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam and Monique Madrid. Them and their team share their story with us below:

It all started with a question while sitting in the back row of the Sun-Ray Cinema in Five Points, July 27th, 2016. Monique Madrid asked her filmmaker husband, Adam Madrid, “Think we can create a local comedy film festival?”. He pondered the question overnight before responding he was onboard for the new adventure and from there the LOL JAX Film Festival was born. The co-creators quickly recruited local stand-up comedian Jenn Weeks to officially host the event. Kessler Creative helped bring their vision to fruition.

The vision for LOL JAX was simple; create a platform to present short films and talent by local community filmmakers, actors/actresses, and comedians. The genre comedy was chosen as a way to promote positivity to the community. “Love Our Locals” by “Laughing Out Loud” is the motto for the festival. With so much drama in the world, they wanted to create an event in Jacksonville where people can come and enjoy a good laugh while supporting the local, amazing talent this city has.

The film festival continued to expand each year after the success of their first year’s sold-out screening at the local theatre where the vision began. Year four proved to be different. Much different. The year 2020 involved the world coping with the effects of Covid-19 and other unprecedented twists. As Florida started opening up again, the locals were seeking safe ways to escape reality for a little while. The Madrids felt it was important to be a safe outlet not only for the creative community but the community at large. After multiple meetings through their partnership with MOSH, LOL JAX Film Festival was able to continue as a live event with limited capacity and safety precautions in full effect including temperature checks, masks enforced, social distancing, and spaced seating.

They were able to have a two-day screening of locally made comedy films in the Bryan-Gooding Planetarium. The showings included a mix of local stand-up in between films from resident comedian host Jenn Weeks and selected comedians Wes Johnson and JPaw. Rooftop parties on top of MOSH were held each night with DJ Jimmie Hustle providing musical vibes on the first night and a close-out award show on the second night. The winning film was “American Exorcist”. No cases of Covid were reported from guests that attended the festival.

The festival donated 100% of its profits from the festival that year to the Jacksonville Arts and Music School (JAMS) non-profit. JAMS is a Creative Youth Development Program with a vision to create positive change in our community by developing tomorrow’s problem-solvers, creative thinkers, and innovative leaders. In April 2021, Jacksonville Business Journal named Monique as one of their 40 under 40 for 2021 for all her efforts in the community and with everything she does with the LOL JAX Film Festival.

In August 2021, the 5th year of the local film festival kicked off at MOSH with a rooftop after-party. Live music from local musician Jeremy Ryan. The featured comedians were Nick Harvey and Chris Buck. The winning film was “Speaking To The Dead”. With another Sold Out event, the Madrids had to start looking at a new venue.

Year 6 of the event will be held on August 6th and 7th, 2022 at the new venue, WJCT Studios. The Madrids just want to show what they’ve seen all along in this city, to give the amazing local talent a place to have their art shine and be recognized.

LOL JAX Film Festival has won Folio’s Best Of JAX “Best Film Festival for the past three years (2018, 2019, and 2020) and won Void’s #1 in the 904 back-to-back years (2020 and 2021).

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
During the pandemic, all entertainment stopped and when the world started to slowly open back up, our main priority was the safety of our local artists and audience. We made the tough decision to opt out of doing the festival virtually because we knew how much our community wanted to go out for live entertainment.

We took appropriate measures and pulled off the first successful live festival in our city with no covid cases.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Adam Madrid is a Director under his film company Argyle Forest Films (founded by him and his childhood best friends Joshua and Jeremiah Stadt who are Writers) which has produced award-winning shorts and has just finished filming his first feature film that is currently in post-production.

He is a board member for the Mayor’s Advisory Commission on Television, Motion Picture & Commercial Production. Monique Madrid is a Producer for Argyle Forest Films and was named Jacksonville’s Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 in 2021.

The Madrids pride themselves by using their brand to create opportunities for the local artists to collaborate not only with one another but with local businesses and student art institutes through their personal outreach which results in a more resourceful and diverse (expanded) community for artists.

We are also the Co-City Producers for the Jacksonville 48 Hour Film Project that allows filmmakers to race to make a film in 48 hours. The winner goes on to compete against other cities winners all over the US and internationally.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Passion. You have to love what you are doing or what is the point. The love we have for running our festival has inspired others to follow their dreams.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: loljax.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/loljaxfestival
• Facebook: facebook.com/loljax
• Twitter: twitter.com/loljaxfestival
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAjH5oLID7hR15WDki4Nssw 

Image Credits
Tosha Holland, Vanessa Del Pilar, Lydia Broward, and Eileen Kohner