Fredgy Noël: A Few Of My Favourite Things

This is my workspace.

There are a few hours in the day when the sunlight surrounds me.

Nature is so important to the process, even in a city like New York.

Here I write, edit and dream at my desk, surrounded by film posters that remind me of the kind of storytelling I love - bold, stylish, a little rebellious.

Le Petit Soldat and Party Girl hang on the wall - two very different films that somehow meet where my work lives, between introspection and play.

The Basquiat mug beside me holds my pens, a small daily reminder of creativity without limits.

This is where my ideas take shape between drafts, rewrites and flashes of inspiration.

It’s not just a workspace; it’s where I return to myself as an artist.

The First Camera

This Canon camcorder is the one I shot my first experimental films with.

I carried it and the MiniDV tapes everywhere, capturing everything from city life in Europe to New Yorkers who would become the heart of my storytelling.

The footage was shaky and sometimes overexposed, but it taught me that truth lives in imperfection.

Looking at it now, I see the spark that started everything - the curiosity that still drives me to tell stories that are a little messy, a little raw, but deeply human.

The Girl 6 Signed Poster

This is my Girl 6 poster, signed by Professor Spike Lee and Suzan-Lori Parks, the film’s writer.

It hangs in my bedroom as a constant reminder of why I make films.

Girl 6 was one of my earliest inspirations - the character, colour, honesty, humour and fearless female lead all felt electric to me.

It was the first time I saw a film that embraced contradiction so boldly - beauty and pain, performance and truth, control and vulnerability.

Every time I look at this poster, I’m reminded that women can lead the story, break the frame, and still be complicated, funny and unforgettable.

The Books That Built Me

These are just a few of the many books that have inspired me through the years - Malcolm X, Simone de Beauvoir, Audre Lorde, Melvin Van Peebles, James Baldwin, and the craft guides that remind me filmmaking is both art and discipline.

I’m a filmmaker who loves studying the art of filmmaking, so books are everywhere in my home - piled on desks, stacked by the bed, scattered across shelves.

This small stack is just a glimpse, but each one holds a piece of my creative DNA.

They remind me that storytelling is an act of rebellion, reflection and reverence all at once.

The Media That Moves Me

Music is the gateway into my storytelling.

My earliest filmmaker memories came from watching music videos on MTV.

At home, I’d listen to records, tapes and CDs, imagining the music videos that could bring those songs to life.

That instinct to visualise sound has stayed with me ever since.

Today, my workspace feels like an extension of that creative rhythm.

My turntables sit below my House of LaBeija poster (the first film I screened at Tribeca Festival) and my Love Jones poster, one of my all-time favourites.

My Clio and Promax awards rest in between them - reminders that authentic stories can still win, even when the odds feel impossible.

A photo of my daughter sits right beside the turntables.

She’s the heart of this space, my greatest source of inspiration.

When I see her face, I’m reminded why I tell stories - to create a world where girls like her see themselves reflected truthfully and unafraid.

There’s also my first master’s degree from Hunter College’s Integrated Media Arts MFA programme, a touchstone for the social power of filmmaking.

Alongside it, art and photography books - Madonna: Sex, Kate Moss, Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure - remind me that one image can spark an entire film.

These walls and shelves hold my history, my taste, my ambition and my reason for it all.

It’s like living inside my own arthouse theatre - one that keeps me inspired, grounded and dreaming.