Written by Jessica 'Empress Lanice' Chalmers
Gaudens Martin Zulu, most know him just as Zulu, was born and raised in Zambia. He left his country in 2013 to pursue his education in Australia and then made his way to the United States to pursue his dream in film. Little did he know he was getting prepared to film and direct America’s Black Prophet, Dr. Archbishop E. Bernard Jordan, in 2022.
Zulu has edited and directed various films, commercials, shorts, and music videos for artists such as Drake, Nicki Minaj, Wu-Tang, Timbaland, and Jidena, to name a few.
You may be asking yourself, how did he get connected to the Master Prophet? Zulu met Kenny through Clifton Bell to work on a commercial that Kenny was doing for his brand. Zulu states,
“Fast forward, I met Kenny through Clifton Bell because Kenny wanted me to do a commercial for him. Then eventually me and Kenny became friends and saw what I was doing. I was doing a bunch of podcasts and doing different things in the creative world. He saw what I was doing, and I ended up having faith in the fact that I could actually pull off a real feature film, a four-part series for America’s Black Prophet. So, you know, here I am.”
When asked, when you received this concept from Kenny, what were your initial thoughts, Zulu stated,
“Kenny told me about the prophetic and the ministry. And what Master Prophet E. Bernard Jordan does is very unique. It’s something that no one can ever describe. People can try to describe it, but it’s something that you actually have to experience. So when I was given the opportunity to direct it, I just thought it would be a nice and dramatic kind of documentary. That was the initial idea until I got to find out more. I spent time with him, and of course, we had to do the research for the documentary. And some of the things we’re just learning as we are going. We were finding out all these different things and all of these different stories as we were filming.
And that gave me a broader perspective of who he actually is and what he actually does, so that it was a situation where I’m learning and rewriting the documentary at the same time. Because I was filming and editing at the same time, simultaneously, so that we could make the deadline, so it was one of those situations where it was a story that kept unfolding as we were filming. We interviewed, I think, 47 people. It’s a lot of people, and each and every single one of them has stories. And some people have stories that intertwine. They said the same stories but told from different perspectives. It was really interesting.”
When asked what can people expect to see from the first part of the documentary series, Zulu stated,
“I expect people actually to see a different side of prophecy. Coming into this, the only prophecy I knew was the prophecy I watched on TV and the prophecy I heard about, and that was pretty much about 5% to 10% of what it actually is. It’ll open up a whole different world of what prophecy is, and it will actually convert some of the nonbelievers into believers. I came in open to knowing and learning, but I ended up learning way more than I signed up for. It was an experience. It still is. As I look through the footage that we have, it really is something that you just have to experience, and people actually learn a lot about what actually is out there.”
When asked, what is one thing that you learned about the Master Prophet? Zulu stated,
“I learned that the Master Prophet is one really, really gifted black man. He’s a very, very gifted man, and he happens to be black. So he’s ours! <laughs> He’s ours! We are cut from the same line of upholstery.”
Zulu shares his final thoughts for our readers in regards to America’s Black Prophet documentary, stating,
“Regarding the documentary, I want the readers to go in with an open mind. They should go in with an open mind about what they’re going to experience. Because this is an experience. This is not something that you’re just going to watch and switch the channel and watch the next thing. This is something that you actually have to really go in with an open mind and see it unfold. Once we deliver the fourth part of the documentary, we will actually broaden the spectrum of what this actually really is. But the first one will give you a really great taste of what prophecy is and what it is made of.”
If you haven’t already, watch the documentary here.
