Translator: Ivana Krivokuća Reviewer: Peter van de Ven
Ten years ago I left Spain
and came to San Francisco to attend art school,
and among all the new things that I was experiencing here,
I do remember a couple that really, really caught my attention.
One was this:
the iconic fog of San Francisco rolling in,
covering the city and making huge things invisible.
Sometimes you could see the Golden Gate Bridge
literally disappearing right in front of your eyes,
and I found this fascinating.
The other thing that stood out to me in a crazy way
was the large number of people that I saw living on the streets.
I was shocked.
I knew that San Francisco was the tech capital of the world,
hosting many of the companies that are shaping our lives,
but I didn’t know that San Francisco was also home to thousands of people
who don’t have any.
Over 7,500 unhoused residents, and that’s a big number.
Let me put it this way.
There are a thousand of us gathered here today,
so imagine for a second seven theaters like this one
packed with people who don’t have a home.
Over time, these two things, the fog and people living on the streets,
merged in my mind and became a metaphor.
The stories of those living on the streets are hidden behind the world homeless,
just as the city gets hidden behind the fog.
In other words, we don’t see the true picture
of people living on the streets,
and that’s what I’m here to tell you today.
This is something that I learned through a very, very personal journey
of documentary filmmaking that took over ten years.
Let me tell you all the way to the beginning.
I’m a filmmaker now; ten years ago I was a hairless dude –
(Laughter)
new to San Francisco.
I was attending art school,
and I had to write and produce one short film for one of my classes.
As an artist, I have always been curious
about people living on the edge of society,
so, you know, being in San Francisco, homelessness became a subject
that really grabbed my attention as a storyteller.
I ended up writing the script for a short film called “I wish,”
which basically tells a fictional story of one panhandler in San Francisco.
But the story had a twist.
It required a real homeless person to be the star
as opposed to working with an actor.
So I did a street casting, and I approached a few homeless people.
This is how I would label them in my mind:
I’m just approaching homeless people; this is who they were to me.
I remember walking by one of these homeless individuals,
one night, 10 years ago, just a few blocks away from here.
But this time, there was something different about this person.
This time, this person was the one who approached me.
He did it in a very friendly way, so I kind of stopped, and I told this guy,
“Hey, I’m working on this short film.
Would you be interested in working with me?”
He said, “Yeah. Sounds interesting.
You can find me here every day.
I’ve been coming to this street corner for the last 20 years.”
Then I go, “What’s your name?”
He goes, “My name is Moses, like the guy in the Bible.”
Then I answer, “Well, my name is Francisco, like San Francisco.”
We both laughed, and I guess, you know,
we thought it should be fairly easy to remember our names from now on.
We met up again the next day, and this was back in 2007.
During this meeting, Moses accepted to be the main character
of “I wish,” the short film,
and I was like, “Yay! I found my homeless man,” you know?
Again, “my homeless man.”
Little did we know that the making of this four-minute film
was going to trigger 10 years of making a documentary of Moses’s life,
a film called “Moses.”
During this time, our lives remained completely intertwined
in a roller coaster story that unfolded across San Francisco,
Nashville, Chicago, and Spain.
Let me give you a glimpse into the story.
This is Moses in Spain, eating my mom’s paella.
(Laughter)
My mom’s paella, by the way, is the best freaking paella you can have.
(Laughter)
So Moses appreciated it, and he took three helpings in a row,
and then he took the longest siesta ever.
(Laughter)
My dad came to me, and he goes,
“Francisco, this is quite impressive for a non-Spaniard.”
(Laughter)
Now, imagine Moses reconnecting with his family
after 30 years of separation, in Chicago.
This was a very touching moment.
Some of these relatives thought that Moses was dead.
It was a super touching moment.
Now imagine the same guy recording music again with people
who had played with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
So, I was fascinated.
This became a life-changing journey for Moses.
But you know what? It also became a life-changing journey for me.
It did.
Now, when I look back at these 10 years of filmmaking,
I really realize that this guy was giving me a purpose.
He was giving me connection
and a family in San Francisco.
Being an immigrant is not always easy, because you leave your comfort zone.
In a way it’s like exiting this red circle.
If you’re like a plant that’s been put into a bigger pot,
that plant has roots, and I think we all do, don’t we?
But it also needs new soil to be able to keep growing.
In my case, Moses’s story became that soil.
He brought together a lot of people to work on this story,
many of which became my friends, my family, and one of them, my girlfriend.
I ended up recording over 600 hours of footage over 10 years.
Yes, 600 hours.
At this point I thought,
“All right, Francisco, you better make a film on this guy.”
(Laughter)
I took a leap of faith and I quit my job.
I was working as an advertising creative director, here in San Francisco,
and I decided to quit my job to work on the film
and on something else called “Stories behind the fog.”
In an effort to amplify the message of Moses’s film,
we’ve been collecting and sharing the stories of 100 people
affected by homelessness in San Francisco.
The stories of men, children and women, and we call them “Stories behind the fog.”
We are using character driven storytelling to address this issue.
To do so, we’re putting all this content, all these stories, 100,
at the disposal of you guys, the general public, media outlets,
homeless outreach organizations, educators, and storytellers.
I can tell you firsthand:
the range of stories we found is just mind-boggling.
Former CEOs who lost everything and are now living on the streets.
Pregnant women staying out there.
Victims of domestic violence, addition, incarceration,
mental illness, substance abuse, children, families.
People from all walks of life, races, ages – you name it.
“Moses” and “Stories behind the fog.”
This is my last 10 years in San Francisco.
You must be wondering, “All right, so what are you up to now?
Well, we’re editing this 600 hours of footage
for a documentary “Moses,”
and we’re doing this at SF film,
and we’re also collecting all these stories into one book
that we want to publish next year along with the release of the film.
At the end of the day, all these stories make me believe
that we all have a story to tell, here and outside.
When it comes to the stories of those living on the streets,
they are just hidden behind the word “homeless.”
Just as the city gets hidden behind the fog.
So next time you see the fog,
I dare you to think differently about the people you see out there.
Think about their stories, because you never know,
you might find one story, one person, that will change your life.
Thank you.
(Applause)
Ten years ago I left Spain
and came to San Francisco to attend art school,
and among all the new things that I was experiencing here,
I do remember a couple that really, really caught my attention.
One was this:
the iconic fog of San Francisco rolling in,
covering the city and making huge things invisible.
Sometimes you could see the Golden Gate Bridge
literally disappearing right in front of your eyes,
and I found this fascinating.
The other thing that stood out to me in a crazy way
was the large number of people that I saw living on the streets.
I was shocked.
I knew that San Francisco was the tech capital of the world,
hosting many of the companies that are shaping our lives,
but I didn’t know that San Francisco was also home to thousands of people
who don’t have any.
Over 7,500 unhoused residents, and that’s a big number.
Let me put it this way.
There are a thousand of us gathered here today,
so imagine for a second seven theaters like this one
packed with people who don’t have a home.
Over time, these two things, the fog and people living on the streets,
merged in my mind and became a metaphor.
The stories of those living on the streets are hidden behind the world homeless,
just as the city gets hidden behind the fog.
In other words, we don’t see the true picture
of people living on the streets,
and that’s what I’m here to tell you today.
This is something that I learned through a very, very personal journey
of documentary filmmaking that took over ten years.
Let me tell you all the way to the beginning.
I’m a filmmaker now; ten years ago I was a hairless dude –
(Laughter)
new to San Francisco.
I was attending art school,
and I had to write and produce one short film for one of my classes.
As an artist, I have always been curious
about people living on the edge of society,
so, you know, being in San Francisco, homelessness became a subject
that really grabbed my attention as a storyteller.
I ended up writing the script for a short film called “I wish,”
which basically tells a fictional story of one panhandler in San Francisco.
But the story had a twist.
It required a real homeless person to be the star
as opposed to working with an actor.
So I did a street casting, and I approached a few homeless people.
This is how I would label them in my mind:
I’m just approaching homeless people; this is who they were to me.
I remember walking by one of these homeless individuals,
one night, 10 years ago, just a few blocks away from here.
But this time, there was something different about this person.
This time, this person was the one who approached me.
He did it in a very friendly way, so I kind of stopped, and I told this guy,
“Hey, I’m working on this short film.
Would you be interested in working with me?”
He said, “Yeah. Sounds interesting.
You can find me here every day.
I’ve been coming to this street corner for the last 20 years.”
Then I go, “What’s your name?”
He goes, “My name is Moses, like the guy in the Bible.”
Then I answer, “Well, my name is Francisco, like San Francisco.”
We both laughed, and I guess, you know,
we thought it should be fairly easy to remember our names from now on.
We met up again the next day, and this was back in 2007.
During this meeting, Moses accepted to be the main character
of “I wish,” the short film,
and I was like, “Yay! I found my homeless man,” you know?
Again, “my homeless man.”
Little did we know that the making of this four-minute film
was going to trigger 10 years of making a documentary of Moses’s life,
a film called “Moses.”
During this time, our lives remained completely intertwined
in a roller coaster story that unfolded across San Francisco,
Nashville, Chicago, and Spain.
Let me give you a glimpse into the story.
This is Moses in Spain, eating my mom’s paella.
(Laughter)
My mom’s paella, by the way, is the best freaking paella you can have.
(Laughter)
So Moses appreciated it, and he took three helpings in a row,
and then he took the longest siesta ever.
(Laughter)
My dad came to me, and he goes,
“Francisco, this is quite impressive for a non-Spaniard.”
(Laughter)
Now, imagine Moses reconnecting with his family
after 30 years of separation, in Chicago.
This was a very touching moment.
Some of these relatives thought that Moses was dead.
It was a super touching moment.
Now imagine the same guy recording music again with people
who had played with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
So, I was fascinated.
This became a life-changing journey for Moses.
But you know what? It also became a life-changing journey for me.
It did.
Now, when I look back at these 10 years of filmmaking,
I really realize that this guy was giving me a purpose.
He was giving me connection
and a family in San Francisco.
Being an immigrant is not always easy, because you leave your comfort zone.
In a way it’s like exiting this red circle.
If you’re like a plant that’s been put into a bigger pot,
that plant has roots, and I think we all do, don’t we?
But it also needs new soil to be able to keep growing.
In my case, Moses’s story became that soil.
He brought together a lot of people to work on this story,
many of which became my friends, my family, and one of them, my girlfriend.
I ended up recording over 600 hours of footage over 10 years.
Yes, 600 hours.
At this point I thought,
“All right, Francisco, you better make a film on this guy.”
(Laughter)
I took a leap of faith and I quit my job.
I was working as an advertising creative director, here in San Francisco,
and I decided to quit my job to work on the film
and on something else called “Stories behind the fog.”
In an effort to amplify the message of Moses’s film,
we’ve been collecting and sharing the stories of 100 people
affected by homelessness in San Francisco.
The stories of men, children and women, and we call them “Stories behind the fog.”
We are using character driven storytelling to address this issue.
To do so, we’re putting all this content, all these stories, 100,
at the disposal of you guys, the general public, media outlets,
homeless outreach organizations, educators, and storytellers.
I can tell you firsthand:
the range of stories we found is just mind-boggling.
Former CEOs who lost everything and are now living on the streets.
Pregnant women staying out there.
Victims of domestic violence, addition, incarceration,
mental illness, substance abuse, children, families.
People from all walks of life, races, ages – you name it.
“Moses” and “Stories behind the fog.”
This is my last 10 years in San Francisco.
You must be wondering, “All right, so what are you up to now?
Well, we’re editing this 600 hours of footage
for a documentary “Moses,”
and we’re doing this at SF film,
and we’re also collecting all these stories into one book
that we want to publish next year along with the release of the film.
At the end of the day, all these stories make me believe
that we all have a story to tell, here and outside.
When it comes to the stories of those living on the streets,
they are just hidden behind the word “homeless.”
Just as the city gets hidden behind the fog.
So next time you see the fog,
I dare you to think differently about the people you see out there.
Think about their stories, because you never know,
you might find one story, one person, that will change your life.
Thank you.
(Applause)
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