For local film-maker Julian Park, the season for giving is every month of the year, not just December. He doesn’t wrap his presents in shiny paper or bind them with jaunty bows. He tells stories through film. Some are fictional, some are documentaries. You can see them all on the internet for free.
His body of work reflects themes of optimism, kindness, and following one’s passion, and I urge people to watch his films this Christmas season. Not only will the stories lift your spirits, your added “clicks” to the “number of views” are a way of way of saying Thank You to Julian for believing in and celebrating human virtue.
Julian’s self-described high school hobby of making movies has become his passion. He poured a lot of sweat equity into making his earlier films.
“I want to tell meaningful stories,” he says. For this latest one, Invincible Boy (Video), he hired a professional crew and actors, financing it through his day job as a web designer.
He wrote, directed, and edited this 20-minute story about two young boys wanting to make a difference in the world. The young protagonists, Vincent and Barney, played by Kaleb Alexander Robert and Nathan Kim, are perfectly cast.
A rewrite was required after Julian first approached city officials for a permit in his hometown of Downey. They told him that he couldn’t block off the streets.
“My initial ideas were too expansive,” he says. Filming in Downey, where he grew up, was an advantage for the rewrite. “I know it [the city] so well, that at least when I wrote the sequences, I knew where it would take place in my mind.”
He managed to convey a dynamic chase scene even without blocking any streets, and the city refunded most of his deposit when he finished the five-day shoot. Local streets are recognizable for those who live in Downey, and the multinational cast reflects the neighborhood. I even recognized some of the “extras” in the bus scene as my friends and neighbors.
Road Trip
Julian’s mother must be a lovely lady to have raised such a thoughtful, reflective son with empathy for others. But I would think that his generous heart must make her anxious over the risks he takes for some of his films. In 2009, after studying creative writing in college, he left home with a backpack and Handycam, only telling his mother that he was going on a road trip.
“I wanted to find adventure,” he says in the film. “I wanted to see America. I wanted to witness kindness.” The result is a 53-minute personal and compelling documentary about the people he encountered in his travels across the United States, Only Kindness Matters – hitchhiking across the USA (Video)
Documentary in Kenya
In 2010 Julian filmed a 30-minute documentary Standard 8 (Video) that would make any professional proud (even the likes of Steven Spielberg or Ron Howard). A high school friend, Eddo Kim, had started a non-profit, The Supply, to serve children in African who have little or no access to education. The organization’s particular focus at that time was assisting a public elementary school in the slum of Lenana, Nairobi, Kenya.
At Eddo’s invitation, Julian flew to Nairobi to help publicize this educational effort. He and an associate spent a week filming students and their teachers. The documentary is titled after the exam the students must pass.
This effort was not without risk. On the last day of shooting, Julian and his associate ignored their usual practice of leaving the neighborhood before nightfall. As they were being escorted out of the area by supporters of the school, the two film makers were robbed at gunpoint of all their equipment.
School supporters were beaten as they tried to protect the equipment. Julian remained undeterred from doing all he could to complete the project. Even before he returned home, the story had been broadcast on the web.
Within three months $8,000.00 had been raised to replace the equipment, and Julian returned to Lenana to film once again for a week. By March 2011 the film was complete and available for screening at various universities to raise funds for the school. It is a moving film, full of hope in the face of tremendous obstacles.
In Julian’s words, the film is a “voice for the voiceless.” Julian and the young people working with him have set the bar high for the rest of us who want to help the world become a better place.
“Bumblebee” – The Film
In 2012 Julian completed a documentary Bumblebee Loves You (Video) about an anonymous artist who was delighting the public with whimsical images that seemed to appear randomly on walls around Downey. The figures of children at play were secretly painted at night on unused buildings or walls beside vacant lots. The images seemed too wistful and lovely to be labeled as graffiti.
The unpermitted graphics were signed with “bumblebeelovesyou,” and the children were usually wearing some article of clothing with black and yellow stripes. Such creations are often termed street art—the result of sudden vision and inspiration by artists who do not bother with submitting proposals or getting consensus from a governing body. Each work is an act of faith that someone will see it and be touched in some way before it is painted over.
Julian was so moved by the sensitive figures that he made it his mission to track down the artist. Connecting through email, Julian asked if the artist would like to tell his story. The answer was yes, so long as his face is always obscured and his name is never revealed.
“The work is the celebrity,” Julian explains, “not the person.” What emerges from his 10-minute film is the not uncommon story of someone who felt discouraged from pursuing art as a career, but could no longer ignore his inner drive to create (a little like Julian).
It turns out that Bumblebee and Julian were roughly contemporaries who went through the same school district, but the two had never met before. As a consequence of Julian’s movie and publicity, a local building owner allowed a 16-foot high mural of a little girl snipping at her hair (we’ve all done that) to be painted on the wall of a business. The sign for the neighboring hair salon appears close by her right shoulder. The mural is now a city landmark.
Iraq and the Yazidis
Julian’s drive to tell meaningful stories took him to Iraq last year as part of an effort to help ameliorate the devastation wrought on the Yazidi communities by ISIS. His trip was sponsored by Habibi International and he traveled through the invitation of another high school friend, Daniel Chung. This film, however, is not for public viewing.
Yazidi women were being targeted by ISIS for sex slavery. Profound feelings of shame usually left the victims unwilling to speak publicly when they are rescued. Two teenagers agreed to share their trauma, and Julian says he was able to integrate their story into a training film about Habibi’s work in the area.
Julian’s traveling companion was a dentist and they both carried large backpacks filled with medical and dental supplies. The two were detained for three hours before they were allowed to enter Iraq from southern Turkey. I gasped as Julian recounted this detention, but he remained cheerfully unruffled – willing to do what he can to share a meaningful story. He says his mother has learned to accept this. I feel for her, but I know she is tremendously proud of him.
The Future
It is a privilege to know young people like Julian. They are sources of hope and inspiration in these discouraging times. Never mind the easy jokes about “snowflakes” and “adulting,” these young people have been mobilizing, challenging forces of greed and oppression, and are clearly making a political difference.
Julian’s area of study in college, creative writing, compliments his goal of movie-making. Right now he’s in a writing group, working his ideas for stories and screenplays. I can’t wait to see where his passion takes him.
For me, politics starts with the question, “What kind of society do I want to live in?” I am encouraged by the vision of Julian and his friends to tell meaningful stories that reflect compassion and hope. We need it more than ever. Thank you, Julian, and Merry Christmas, Everyone!
Morning Echo 
Simply brilliant – both Carol Kearns, writer of this blog, and her subject, Julian. I can’t wait to see his films! Inspired!
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Your response means so much to me, Emmy. Thank you.
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