Documentary: Who Killed Vincent Chin?

This week I continue my documentary series with one of my favorite documentary films, Who Killed Vincent Chin? 30 years ago (June 23rd, 1982), Vincent Chin was killed in Highland Park, Michigan close to Detroit by two men, Ronald Ebens and his stepson, Michael Nitz outside of a McDonalds restaurant.

Vincent Chin was killed during a rough time in Detroit, especially in the auto industry when a lot of manufacturing jobs were being lost to Japan and their rising auto industry. In the Detroit area there was hatred towards Japan and Japanese people and unfortunately Vincent Chin was a victim of that hatred and he lost his life.

The sad thing is that Vincent Chin was not Japanese but Chinese and got into an argument with Ebens (a superintendent at Chrysler during that time) at a strip club where Chin was having his bachelor party. Ebens was quoted as saying "It's because of you little motherfuckers that we're out of work," talking about the jobs that were being lost.

Chin left the strip club and Ebens and his stepson searched for Chin and found him at McDonald's where the duo beat Chin with a baseball bat multiple times leaving him in a coma before he ultimately died. Ebens and Nitz never really served time for the murder, Ebens was originally convicted to 25 years in prison but was overturned.

I watched this film almost two years ago in my Asian representation class at DePaul and this film has been one of my favorites and I was so intrigued by the way the story was told from different perspectives. From looking at the auto industry in Detroit, the incident that took place, and even the perspective of Chin's family and friends, Ebens family and friends, and how the incident effected the Asian community.

I encourage you all to find this documentary (it's really hard to find) and check it out because it's a very good documentary. In the meantime, you can check out another documentary about Vincent Chin called Vincent Who? This one was made in 2009 and directed by Chris Chin (no relation) and looks back the 1982 incident and he even interviews about 80 Asian Americans to see if they ever heard of Vincent Chin.

Justin

A Frustrating Week

What a frustrating week!! First off, I have to apologize for not posting anything on Monday. I had plan to talk about this documentary called "I Got Next" but unfortunately my blog had a hiccup so I had to fix it to make sure it was ok for everyone to visit again. So I'm sorry once again for not posting on my blog.

Anyway, I had shot some more footage for the film but it didn't really work out the way I planned and I couldn't use the footage at all so the three days that I took time to work on the film were a total waste. I've also been dealing with some personal issues that's really been effecting me and I don't know how to handle it at this moment

The good thing is that this week is over and I'm gonna relax, take a little bit of time to myself and get ready to start fresh next week!

Justin

Deadly Embrace

This week I mentioned on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr that I was gonna be working on another film project called Deadly Embrace. This is a short film noir film directed by Alaric Rocha.The other day I accepted a position on the film as 2nd Assistant Director and I can't put into words how excited I am to be working on this film.

The main reason I'm excited is that this will give me some actual experience in the film industry and the lessons that I learn from taking part in this film will go a long way when it comes to making my documentary. I've been working on my film for 8 months and I'm still a novice when it comes to directing but I'm glad to have people like my special advisor for my film who has a lot more experience than I have and also getting a chance to work on another film and getting a chance to watch and learn from another director.

Justin

Check out the website for Deadly Embrace:
http://www.bluebassoon.net/deadlyembrace.html

Documentary: The Interrupters

Photo: Frontline

Directed by Steve James and produced by Alex Kotlowitz, The Interrupters is a documentary talking about the violent landscape that's been taking place in Chicago. I watched this documentary a few weeks ago and instantly fell in love with it. The style that's presented in The Interrupters is sort of how I want to present my film. I want viewers to go in-depth into my life and my experience in a wheelchair. A lot of people don't understand the work that it takes for me to get in my wheelchair and to get around on a daily basis. Here's a quick clip and it you haven't seen this documentary, I encourage you to check it out.

Frontline: The Interrupters

Watch The Interrupters (Graphic Language) on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Important Update!

Hey everyone, hope you all had a great week! I've got a couple of announcements to make and a major update regarding the blog. Let me start first with the update. I changed the theme for my blog and the reason I changed it because I wasn't really comfortable with the previous theme and in the end, I ultimately decided to it. 

Now on to the announcements. For the blog I plan to post again twice a week Monday & Friday. The reason I'm doing this is that I have more time in the summer now to posts more material on the blog. Even though I'm taking a couple of classes at DePaul during the summer, I do have more time to not only work on the film but also the blog as well.

My plan is for Monday to do a blog post on certain documentaries that I like and I'll share my opinions on why I like it and how it effects my film. On Friday, I'll post film updates and I continue to do my What A Film Should Be Like series.

Also for those who read my blog can you please leave a comment either on the blog at the end of my blog posts or on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. because I really want some feedback on what you all like or dislike about my posts. That way I can work on improving the blog and giving my readers good quality content.

Thank you all for continuing to support my blog and the film.

Justin

What A Film Should Be Like: John Huston

Photo Courtesy: 5 Recipes for Life

This week I continue my What A Film Should Be Like series with a quote from one of my favorite directors John Huston

"The directing of a picture involves coming out of your individual loneliness and taking a controlling part in putting together a small world. A picture is made. You put a frame around it and move on. And one day you die. That is all there is to it."

The directing of a picture involves coming out of your individual loneliness. When I read the first line of this quote it really hit me because this is exactly what I'm dealing with in regards to my film. For many years I've been a loner , staying to myself and not opening up to my friends and family.

This film that I'm creating has helped me get out of my loneliness. I'm opening myself up to not just my friends and family but to the entire world. It's scary to me that I'm actually doing this because I've never done this before and I fear that if people got to know the real me through this film they might not like what they see.

But if this is what I want to do with my film then I can't worry about how people will perceive me. I want people to come into my world and see what I have to go through on a daily basis. I want people to see that thanks to this film I have become a better person and that I'm not a loner. That will give me satisfaction.

Justin 

What A Film Should Be Like: Ron Howard

Photo Courtesy: Very Aware

This week I continue my What A Film Should Be Like series with an excellent quote from legendary director Ron Howard:

"One of the great things about being a director as a life choice is that it can never be mastered. Every story is its own kind of expedition, with its own set of challenges."

To be honest with you all I absolutely love this quote because this is a very important lesson that I've learned in my short time as a director. In regards to my film I felt that I had to be perfect in making this documentary, that in order for it to be a success it had to be perfect and I had to master every aspect of filming but that's not the case. 

Making this film has been a big challenge for me so far but I accept the challenge and the journey that goes with creating this documentary. For a long time I was afraid of facing this challenge of making this film because I feared that I would fail but today I'm in a different state of mind and I'm up for this challenge and I will be a success and this film will be a stepping stone to bigger and better things in my life.

Justin