The Story Behind 'All Styles Welcome'
A short documentary exploring the intersection of culture and community in Downtown Albuquerque at Ace Barber Shop.
Choosing Ace
In September 2019 my friend Johnny mentioned that there was a student film festival coming up and that we should make something and enter. We only had three weeks to shoot, edit, and submit so I knew we needed to tell a short documentary story.
I have a running list of stories that I want to tell and I had always been interested in sharing something about Ace. I knew that it was the film we had to make, I just didn’t know what that looked like.
I sat down with Gabe and we talked for a few hours with a mic over him. I didn’t end up using any content from those interviews but they led me to understand and capture the story that we told.
Going into shooting, we had no clue what story we were going to tell, which is pretty terrifying considering people are giving time and money to make it happen. We spent two and a half days shooting at the shop, looking for interesting moments that we could build a story around.
There were a few times when things were really boring and we didn’t know if we were going to be able to make anything out of what we were shooting. But through a balance of patience, awareness, spontaneity, and direction, we were able to capture some beautiful moments that are a perfect representation of Gabe and the shop.
the shop through my eyes
After a week of shooting and looking through all of the footage, I realized that we had something special. I began to cut a few scenes that were anchors to the overall story, but I still didn’t really know how I was going to put it all together.
We decided not to enter the festival and instead take more time to edit because it deserved our full energy and effort. Putting the story together was really difficult but after a few 2am editing sessions, I was able to breakthrough and put several pieces together.
I honestly still don’t think there’s a real “story.” The film doesn’t necessarily follow a traditional story arc. It is more of an open conversation or thought that gives interest to how Gabe lives his life in such a pure and inviting way. When you watch this, you are seeing the barber shop through my eyes with the enhancement of the people who collaborated with me.
