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When we think of filmmaking, we picture directors like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, or James Cameron and imagine blockbuster movies with million dollar budgets. The reality is that all the big names in Hollywood started somewhere, and it’s an eye-opening experience learning about their journey, especially when they’re on mission to change lives through film.
Kindred Image is an LA-based production company already making a splash in the industry with their documentary The Drop Box, a documentary about a South Korean man who created a drop off place for abandoned babies to get a second chance at life.
These men are living Urbane + Gallant lives, and we had the opportunity to sit down with them to discuss film and masculinity.
Here’s the interview:
Film
What do you love most about filmmaking?
Bryce: Film is really the most comprehensive form of media, and I love it because it has the unique authority to tell stories and shape ideas, which will hopefully change culture and people’s hearts. This is our vision and heart for filmmaking in general. Having this in mind and being uniquely gifted in these areas makes filmmaking that much more exciting.
Brian: The reason why I love making movies is that it keeps me awake. What that means is that when I make films—whether it’s in pre- or post-production, rain or shine, day or night—I don’t have to rest. It’s what I’m made to do. It keeps me wide awake.
Will: I’m similar to Bryce. What I love about film is that it’s more than a lecture, an article, or news coverage. Film has a way of getting to your heart. It allows you to drop your walls and get lost in an experience. Within that experience, I love how we’re able to tell a story and share a worldview that can be thought about in a way that can’t be done through an article or another medium.
Were you Arbella Studios before Kindred Image?
Bryce: Arbella Studios still exists. Arbella Studios is the production company, which was formed once we did The Drop Box. We ultimately want to make positive impact through film, which was a huge call on all of our hearts. The Drop Box is its own thing. Kindred Image is a non-profit that owns the film and uses it to promote its programs and support Lee. It’s the same guys doing both. Anything film related is Arbella Studios and anything that is related to The Drop Box and Lee is Kindred Image.
The men behind Kindred Image: Will Tober (L), Bryce Komae (M), and Brian Ivie (R)
What brought this team together?
Pocket square: The Wilberforce – Red (Urbane + Gallant)
Masculinity
How does the film industry define being a man?
Will: It’s the stuff that you see all the time in movies or in TV shows: the player with no responsibility, the man who’s got to be tough all the time, or the man who is all about “me”.
Bryce: I would agree with what Will said, but I would also add there’s this idea of masculinity where the man has to absolutely earn everything he has and make that his foundation and his identity. This can be financial success or success with women. Men are pretty much told to do what you can do for yourself and for your own pleasure.
Brian: I would say we’re told: a man follows his primal desires. That’s for sure what you see all the time in movies: “A man does what he feels because this is just what a man does. I was going to show restraint, but I’m a man.” This idea is really pervasive but obviously a total lie, and I’d be happy to say that to anyone in Hollywood. It’s all false. They never talk about the inner man. A man is a person of integrity and character. Strength isn’t defined that way in Hollywood.
How do you guys define being a man?
Bryce: At the heart, it’s understanding that everything you have or acquired is not your own. It’s amazing that so many men claim talent as their own, a natural talent that you can’t take credit for. It’s amazing certain men take credit for that and use that to inflate their ego. Men need to recognize that everything is a gift and whatever we have should be used for others.
Another thing is taking responsibility, since none of us are nowhere close to perfect. Being a man really comes down to being able to own up to the different decisions you make—good or bad. If you are not going to take responsibility for that, then, yeah, you don’t understand what it means to be a man. I personally don’t do that enough.
Brian: A real man is under authority. A real man submits to authority. A real man can lay out for a woman he’s with or a daughter in ways that are not pitiful, which is a fine line. That takes a lot of strength. You still want a man to walk in authority, but you don’t want to be a man who is tossed. A man is sturdy, and a man is able to offer strength.
A man can only genuinely pour out himself for others if he finds his identity in unconditional love. A lot of times I find my identity and worth in other people. At times when I’m having a problem, I’ll look to my girlfriend as an escape, but that’s not her place and not her purpose. When I set her free from that, I’m able to love her in more freedom and more valiantly. That might be related to romance but that’s still important to know, too.
