Day: August 12, 2026
A new independent crime thriller with deep Brooklyn roots is getting ready to reach audiences beyond New York after “Neon Affair” landed a worldwide distribution deal with Los Angeles-based Indie Rights.
The feature, written and directed by Sean Hinds and produced by Marcus R. Smith and Hinds, follows Toni Jefferson, a young Brooklyn woman whose relationship with Junior Mayes pulls her into a high-stakes heist. She is ultimately forced to decide how far she is willing to go for the man she loves — and what she is willing to risk to change her life.
The film, which stars Caitlyn Joi as Toni and Smith as Junior, was shot entirely on location over 22 days across nine neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Its Brooklyn locations include Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Carroll Gardens, Canarsie East New York and more.
For Hinds, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, bringing the borough to screen was one of the most personal parts of making the film.
“I think when it comes to filming it in New York City, I know there’s always Manhattan that everyone looks at in terms of scenery, but I think Brooklyn to me has such a different feel and different — every neighborhood has its own feel,” Hinds told Brooklyn Paper. “I grew up in East Flatbush, but I always kind of know where I am in Brooklyn just by looking at the homes and the architecture, and they all they all have their own feel to it. I just wanted to put that in this movie.”
Rather than focusing only on the Brooklyn locations most commonly featured on screen, Hinds wanted to show the borough’s range.
“I really wanted to put Brooklyn’s personality, beauty and diversity in ‘Neon Affair,'” he said. “For example, how you can go from great big landscapes of parks to tall buildings.”
The approach includes locations that may not immediately fit the typical image of Brooklyn. Hinds pointed to a scene shot on a bridge in Downtown Brooklyn as an example.
“You wouldn’t expect to see this nice area with the bridge and two of them looking over and the buildings on the side and just looking out into the water,” he said. “I think that’s just the way I describe it; a lot of scenes from Brooklyn that you wouldn’t expect.”
The borough’s visual variety also helped the filmmakers create the film without the resources of a major studio.
“Neon Affair” was shot in 4K using 1.5x anamorphic lenses, with a 2.66:1 aspect ratio that gives the independent production a widescreen cinematic appearance.
Hinds said the production used a Z Cam E2-S6 camera, which he contrasted with much more expensive equipment typically used for studio productions. The filmmakers also purchased anamorphic lenses at a lower cost and later worked with a colorist to further shape the film’s visual style.
“I feel like we were able to cheat our way to the top a little bit just by, getting a good camera, lens, and colorist,” Hinds said. “Our sound person was also great.”
Smith, who plays Junior and also served as a producer, said “Neon Affair’s” independent nature allowed the team to make creative choices rather than simply trying to replicate a studio production.
“As an independent filmmaker just working with the resources that you have, like, it’s more interesting I think for me to lean into that independent look,” Smith said.
The production itself came with plenty of challenges. Smith was balancing his work as a producer with his role as an actor, something he described as an ambitious undertaking given the film’s scale.
“It was ambitious, you know?” Smith said. “And honestly, I had a lot of going back and forth with Sean of like, ‘How do I make this work?’”
Smith and Hinds had previously worked together on multiple projects, but “Neon Affair” represented a significant step up in terms of locations, cast and production responsibilities.
The pair tried to have Smith handle as much of the production work as possible before filming so he could focus on acting once he was on set. Even with that preparation, unexpected problems still arose.
Smith recalled one shoot where the production ran out of storage on the camera.
“I remember specifically when we were shooting one time and we ran out of storage on the camera, and Sean and I had to run, hop in the car and run to Best Buy,” he said. “We literally delayed shooting so we could get an extra SD card for the camera so we could finish out the day.”
For Smith, the challenge of switching between producer and actor was also about finding the right mental space to perform.
“I would need a moment right before we go into the scenes to reset myself and ground myself in a character,” he said. “Because sometimes I’ll be running around a bit, doing more production stuff.”
That balance became especially important as the story explored the choices Toni and Junior made.
The film centers on love, loyalty and the consequences of choosing to break away from the life others have built for you. Hinds said he wanted the story to leave room for audiences to debate whether the characters’ decisions are ultimately right or wrong.
“That’s what I wanted to get. I wanted people to be able to argue that out,” Hinds said. “Even if it was a bad choice, was it a good choice?”
Hinds said the question extends beyond the “Neon Affair’s” central relationship.
“We have all these pressures of culture and family and expectations, and do we ever get to live out our own desires and our dreams, even if it could be a bad decision?” Hinds said. “Is that really a bad decision then if we go ahead and do it?”
For Junior, that question carries its own set of risks.
“Junior’s a little bit more conscious of that journey in the beginning,” Smith said. “The stakes are a bit higher for him in terms of what he’s dealing with.”
Smith said Junior is also trying to determine whether the risks of leaving his current circumstances are worth the possibility of building something different.
“There’s a lot of dynamics of complexity about morality of decisions, what is worth it to us ultimately in life,” he said.
The screenplay itself had already received recognition before the movie was filmed, winning Best Drama Screenplay at the New York Film Awards. According to Hinds, the project initially began as a much shorter idea before Smith encouraged him to expand it.
Hinds said the original concept started as a seven-page script that he sent to Smith.
“And [Smith], as he always does with everything I send him, he’s got a great mind on him,” Hinds said. “He said, ‘Well, it’s kind of missing ABC and D. I don’t understand this and understand that.’”
The script continued to grow as the two worked through the story together.
Eventually, Smith told Hinds they should turn the project into a feature.
“‘You know, some things are still missing.’ And he was like, ‘You know, we might as well put, just make this a feature. We’re gonna make it a feature. Like, stop playing around, let’s just make this a feature,’” Hinds recalled.
The finished film is now headed toward a much larger audience. Indie Rights will distribute “Neon Affair” worldwide, with the film expected to be released on major streaming platforms. An official release date has not yet been announced.
Smith hopes the film’s journey can also encourage other Brooklyn creatives to pursue their own projects.
“I definitely think there is that sense of chasing your burning desire, which I think is an element that’s in the story,” Smith said. “That insider perspective of New York City and a borough that is not often explored in such a detailed way on screen as in “Neon Affair.”
The film’s creators hope that perspective — and the story of an independently made movie finding an international distributor — can serve as inspiration for filmmakers who are still trying to get their own ideas off the ground.
“I hope that the backstory of this can be something that gives them a boost of energy and motivation towards reaching that goal,” Smith said.
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