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

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.

Shady Business

This has been a really rough week for me. Normally I would talk about my film adventures during the week but I just can't do it today. I wanted to talk you all about something that happen to me the other day and how it affects me as a person with a disability and in a wheelchair. I was in class getting ready to start and I get a call from Rehab Tech. Rehab Tech is a company that I've been apart of for over 10 years. This company along with The Rehab Institute of Chicago (R.I.C.) has supplied me with my manual wheelchair and power wheelchair and they have been very good to me.

Well I was in the process of getting a new wheelchair though both places when I received a call from them. I was expecting to hear that my new chair is read but something wasn't right. I was told that everything was all set but that some other company had charged my Medicare for a wheelchair. I was confused because I never asked another healthcare company to sign off on a wheelchair expect for Rehab Teach and R.I.C. so I was baffled. I thought about it for minute and then I remembered that in September of 2011 my mom started getting phone calls from a Doctor from this healthcare group in Morton Grove, IL saying that had a wheelchair for me and was ready to deliver it to me. Now first off, I don't know this doctor and I've never met him before but the thing that bothered me the most is that how can you have a wheelchair for me when you've never met, you don't know my disability, and haven't done any measurements on me. I'm a tall person person and in order to get my new chair they have to measure me in order to get the right specifications for the wheelchair and this doctor has done none of that and yet you have a wheelchair for me, get outta here!

This guy continued to call my house until my mom told him that if he called again she would report him and the company for fraud and the calls stopped but this doctor still went through the process anyway and charged their wheelchair to Medicare. I was pissed off at this point because I wasn't gonna get my new wheelchair from two companies that I have had a great relationship with all because of some shady doctor and healthcare company screwing me over. I told my mom about the issue and we went through the process of calling Medicare and filing for Medicare fraud and during the conversation over the phone when the customer service agent asked us if I was on the Medicare website and said no. Come to find out, this shady company was trying to hack into Medicare trying to block the agent for filing the fraud claim...Unbelievable!!

Well after all of that the claim was filed and now were waiting to get everything cleared and soon I'll be able to get my new chair hopefully soon but I was really upset at the fact that this other company was trying to screw me over and this happen a lot to other people who depend on their Medicare to help them out. There are a lot of healthcare companies who to this type of sleazy, shady business practice and get away with it and that's what makes me mad. I never thought I would be in this situation but I was and it sucks.

Next week I'll get back to talking about my filming adventures but I really wanted to talk about this because it just really upset me and I wanted to share with you how I felt about it.

Justin

A Wonderful Experience!!

So far I've been enjoying working on my film, it has been such a great experience for me. Last Wednesday I actually  started filming, it was just for practice to get aquatinted with the video camera I'll be working with for the film. I was trying to figure out what I was going to shoot for practice then it hit me, I should film my trip from the DePaul campus in Lincoln Park all the way to my house. It's a trip that I normally take and so I figured it would be a good idea.

I started my trip at the DePaul student center and from there I rode in my wheelchair all the way back to my apartment. Let me tell you, I had so much fun filming and I got some incredible footage. Seeing my travels through a video camera was just amazing because I normally don't think about my travels back to my home and when I looked at the footage I was stunned by the many obstacles I go through.

Now on the day I started filming it was cold and there was no snow on the ground. Now just imagine the obstacles I really have to go through when it snows, trust me it's not fun at all. In the end my film session was fun as hell and today I am going out here to have another filming session. If this one is as fun and exciting as my first session, then I can't wait to get outside, enjoy the weather and start filming my journey through the City of Chicago.

Justin Cooper