Jan 9
TRE On South China Post
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WEBISODES
Nov 10
On the road before “The Recess Ends”
By: Michael Fox
Some documentaries are made to stand forever; others matter at a particular moment in time or not at all. Austin Chu is quite clear which category The Recess Ends belongs to. Shot earlier this year in a host of depressed burgs and ‘burbs across the country, the verité documentary is a pulsing snapshot of the United States at its lowest economic ebb in generations. “I feel it’s one of those pieces that needs to be seen now,” Chu declares. “I can’t wait for anyone. If someone buys it and distributes it next year, we’ve missed the mark.” Made on a shoestring and rushed out into the world, The Recess Ends reflects both the new economy and the future of independent filmmaking.
When Chu was laid off from an Orange County startup last December, the 26-year-old acted on a long-simmering idea he had. Frustrated that the nightly news wasn’t covering the recession’s effects on everyday folks, he pitched the idea of a road trip and a film to his younger brother. Austin was fluent in social networking tools while Brian, a San Francisco State grad with a degree in television and radio, had experience as an editor, production coordinator and camera operator. Two weeks later, Brian quit his job, the brothers pooled $4,000 and the adventure was on.
The brothers figured they could survive if they bought food and fuel, but not hotel rooms. Austin used Facebook and Twitter to update friends along the way and get leads for places to stay. And they relied on the kindness of strangers.
“Our number one goal wasn’t to get a story,” Austin says. “It was never about, ‘Hey, can I interview you?’ We would talk about our project, they would get a feel for us. And they’d say, ‘If you’re ever in X town, call me because I know someone who lives there.’”
One of the curious things about road movies is that limited assets typically turn out to be to the filmmaker’s advantage. “Having no money allowed us to struggle,” Austin confides. “It forced us to talk to people. We would be at a coffee shop after it closed using free Wi-Fi to try and find someone to stay with.” The final tally: In the course of three months of touring around, they only slept in the van around 10 nights.
There was plenty of time for the brothers to talk, needless to say, and shaping The Recess Ends was a favorite topic of conversation. “We started piecing together structure and timeline during downtime on the road,” Austin relates. “By the time we got back to California we already had a basic foundation and a basic structure.”
Perhaps it goes without saying that Austin didn’t embark on this project with grandiose delusions of becoming a household-name documentary filmmaker. Even now, when he’s identified in interviews as a filmmaker, he does a double-take.
“Am I really a filmmaker? I did make a film. There are a lot of producers who don’t produce. And actors who don’t act. If they can call themselves that, so can I. I didn’t go out to make this film to become a filmmaker. I wasn’t a filmmaker before I left. I can’t say I’m a filmmaker after I finished the film. We’re just good at interviewing people and cutting together footage. But I knew how important video media was, and it was a way for me to contribute to society and get my own thoughts around what was going on.”
The brothers hosted a free premiere screening of The Recess Ends in September at the Victoria Theater in the Mission. It might seem odd to give the product away for free—especially when Austin emptied his pockets on admission fees for a couple dozen 2010 film festivals. But his logic is unassailable. “I didn’t want people to have to buy a ticket to see a recession film,” he says. “It didn’t make sense to me.”
The sell-out show also told Austin something: “If we can do one theater, I’m pretty sure we can do two. And if we can do two, we can do a hundred.”
The Recess Ends returns to the Victoria for one more free show next Friday, Nov. 20 (although the filmmakers welcome donations to offset the cost of renting the theater.) To check out the trailer, go to therecessends.com. To sign up for tickets, go to therecessends.eventbrite.com.
Austin, who relocated to the lower Haight following the trip, recoils at news stories that focus on the stock market and increases in GNP and the supposed end of the recession. “We can’t just say it’s over and sweep it under the carpet,” he declares. “This is my way of inviting people to look back at their values and see what’s important. It’s not really a film about the recession—it’s about humanity and people coming together and organizing and inspiring each other.”
Nov 3
SF Scavenger Crawl – Crawl for a cause
Comments OffThis scavenger crawl is a mash-up of scavenger hunt, fun run, and a costume parade. Teams will each be given a list of challenges at the starting point and the first to complete their selected checkpoints, and cross the finish line, will be the winner.
Why is crawl included? Well, the team heard quite a bit of feedback that adding a few bars to the hunt would increase the fun. And, we are all about fun. So this time around there’s some optional drinking stops involved with some sweet drink deals. Come thirsty!
Scavenger Crawl – Crawl for a cause.
Sunday, November 8, 2-5pm
Check in begins at 1:15pm at Sports Basement at 1590 Bryant St.
Ending point at Jillian’s at the Metreon
$20 per person
For more information and to register, visit ScavengerCrawl
Enjoy drink specials along the way while completing a scavenger hunt throughout some of San Francisco’s historic neighborhoods. The winning team gets $250 in cash. Event proceeds will benefit Whirlwind Wheelchair International, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing uniquely designed wheelchairs to people with disabilities in developing countries.
Some extras to look forward to:
* Take advantage of a 10% discount on your entire purchase at Sports Basement. They will also donate 10% of their sales to the Scavenger Crawl cause. Please help us raise more funds by shopping!
* Enjoy complimentary snacks and drinks (including beer!) at Sports Basement.
* Get ready for the event with free coffee! Courtesy of Peet’s Coffee & Tea and Ritual Coffee Roasters.
* Celebrate with us at our awards ceremony / after party at Jillian’s at the Metreon. There will be drink specials and a portion of sales also goes to our cause!
Oct 30
By: Sylvie Kim
Since the recession hit, much attention has been focused on banks, politicians, economists, and the myriad of theories on what sunk us and what will lift us out. In their documentary The Recess Ends, filmmaking brothers Austin and Brian Chu look at the recession through a revolutionary lens: a human one.
Traveling the country by car, the brothers Chu go from state to state (seriously, they hit up a lot of states), talking with a diverse swath of Americans about how they’re making ends meet in the current economic downturn. From elementary school students in Queens, NY to legendary civil rights activist Grace Lee Boggs in Detroit, MI to an unemployed mom in a small Florida town, everyone has a story to tell. And it’s not just about their wallets; they share how the recession is affecting their relationships, their goals, and their outlooks on life.
While watching the film, my inner film critic couldn’t help but think, “This interview could be shorter,” or “The scenes should have been organized differently.” But they were lil’ gripes made irrelevant by the genuineness of the film and its mission. To get me to ignore my anal-retentive film-viewing ways is a feat in and of itself.
The bleak images of foreclosed homes and job loss gradually brighten as the film shifts to themes of community, service, lifelong dreams, and a sense that people can, and will, rebound quicker than the economy. While some Americans may feel like crawling into fetal position until financial markets stabilize, others are taking the initiative to strengthen their communities, turning to grassroots organizing and thinking of their neighborhoods as something to invest in. As Boggs says during her interview, “The American revolution is gonna be different from other revolutions. Because it’s gonna require us giving up things rather than acquiring more things.”
One of the admirable traits of this documentary is its apolitical stance. While references to President Obama and interviews with politicians appear, there’s clearly no agenda aside from capturing how people maintain their spirit in tough times. After all, the recession hits every average American regardless of political affiliation or beliefs. There’s also a noticeable lack of demonizing of the banks and Washington. It’s just not that kind of film. And sometimes that’s what we need.
Oct 20
The Recess Ends @ The Victoria Theatre 11.20.09
Comments OffBack by popular demand!
Our 9/30.09 San Francisco Premiere was awesome. All 500 seats were filled. We decided to bring it back to the Victoria for one more special night!
Mark your calendars!
Where: The Victoria Theatre. 2961 16th Street, San Francisco
Time: Doors open at 7pm. Movie will start promptly at 8pm. A Q&A will follow after the movie.
Cost: Free Admission. Donations at the door will be accepted.
Get your tickets: HERE
Oct 9
Kazu Donates To T.R.E
Comments OffThanks for your support and for coming out to our film!
Stay in tune with your recession news: RecessionWire
Sep 25
SF Chronicle: Brothers Chronicle Recession On Film
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Brothers Chronicle Recession On Film
September 25, 2009
Sam Whiting, Chronicle Staff Writer
When Austin and Brian Chu set out to drive through all 50 states and make a recessionary road film, they totaled their mother’s red Suburban before they’d even crossed the California line.
Lucky break, that. It downscaled them into a middlebrow Toyota Minivan, which is a more sympathetic approach if you’re going around asking ordinary and oddball Americans about their finances. The brothers yanked out the backseat so they could sleep side-by-side and then they were unstoppable, covering 30,000 miles in a route that looks like shark’s teeth.
About 300 or 400 hours of video have been boiled down to “The Recess Ends,” a 68-minute documentary which they will premiere Wednesday at the Victoria Theatre in the Mission District. In keeping with the hard-times theme, admission is free, though in keeping with the theme of their adventure they’ll rely on the kindness of strangers.
The film “isn’t about people losing their job, losing their home, even though those are the physical aspects of recession,” says Austin, who is the older brother and does most of the talking. “It’s about love and compassion for one another. That ultimately is the solution for all the stuff that is going on.”
Job loss
Like many creative impulses in this economy, this one started with a layoff. Austin, 26, lost his job at an Internet startup in December. He was in a Newport Beach coffeehouse, fueled up, when he turned to a friend and blurted out “I want to drive through 50 states. I don’t know why.” He thought about it and then he did know why.
“People were losing jobs, retailers were filing for bankruptcy. I was like, ‘Man, something is happening and I need to go out and film it.’ “
Because he knew nothing about filmmaking, his brother Brian, 23, tried to talk him out of it, but that backfired. Instead, Brian, who majored in television and radio at San Francisco State University, quit his job to join his brother and they hit the road in late January.
“We tried to come up with a thesis before we left,” says Austin. “But that was very difficult because I had no idea what I wanted to cover.”
By the time they left Las Vegas, he knew. Just beyond the glittering lights they saw something they’d never seen, not even in overbuilt Orange County.
“As soon as you go beyond the Strip, you see brand new neighborhoods, less than 2 years old, that are abandoned,” says Austin. “You look down a street of 10 homes and eight of them have bank foreclosure signs. We were on Route 66 for a long time. We were also on 80, 40, 15.”
They drove along, filming whole developments of foreclosed homes.
Click to continue reading “SF Chronicle: Brothers Chronicle Recession On Film”
Sep 25
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Stay in tune with your recession news: RecessionWire
