In December 2009, I attempted to hitchhike from Los Angeles, CA to FL. I wanted to find adventure. I wanted to see America. I wanted to witness kindness.
I stumbled across Vice's Thumbs Up series with Dave Choe (it was on their VBS.tv website at the time) in late fall of 2009. Back then, I was so inspired that a Korean American dude could be so outgoing. A month later, I was out on the road with my thumb out. I even hitchhiked through Europe a few years later. The whole experience opened my eyes to really seeing people with kindness and empathy. It became a driving force in all of my work.
HANDi, a group of friends that made documentaries, was birthed out of this video. Our motto was "There isn’t anyone you couldn’t love once you’ve heard their story." - a quote from Mary Lou Kownacki that Mister Rogers carried around in his wallet and that we printed on the back of our business cards. People say I was naive back then as someone in my early twenties but I still carry that naivete now. You need it to survive as a filmmaker.
