![]() In other situations, like this film or even ‘Life Itself,’ the documentary opportunity is brought to me. Frequently, the idea is mine, regarding something that interests or fascinates me. I went to New York City to do some filming, to decide whether the pursue the subject as a film, and it worked out.įilm ideas come to me in all kinds of different ways. He spelled it out for me, and I was very much intrigued. He called me up because he was friends with the Sung family, and me told me about the trial that was about to kick off, and how crazy the situation was. ![]() Steve James: I first heard of Abacus from Mark Mitten, who is one of the producers on the film. : What is your process for deciding on your documentary subjects? How did you run into the story of Abacus and decide it was ripe for exploration? spoke to Steve James via phone about his latest, and the interview is split between the transcript and an audio portion below. But he didn’t stop there, because through his home production base Kartemquin Films – based in Chicago – he has released nine full length documentaries since that breakthrough film, and several documentary shorts. His seminal film “Hoop Dreams” (1994) ushered in a modern sensibility for the doc art form, and remains one of the most lauded reality films ever rendered. Steve James needs no introduction in documentary circles. Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for The film chronicles the turmoil that Thomas Sung and his family had to endure. The New York District Attorney, flanked by federal government officials, decided to make an example of this community bank. His successful enterprise had one bad apple in it, which resulted in fraudulent mortgage applications, much like the “too big to fail” banks that did the same thing. The film is about the Abacus Federal Savings Bank of Chinatown New York City, a financial house built through the sweat and toil of Thomas Sung, who opened the institution because he wanted to help his community… he was inspired to do that from the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the George Bailey character. The director of “Hoop Dreams,” “Stevie,” “The Interrupters,” “Head Games” and the Roger Ebert biography “Life Itself” has a new doc, focusing on one repercussion of the financial crisis of 2008, subtly entitled “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. His daughters are all sharp lawyers the bank takes on the government in a five-year court battle that seemed to be a waste of the prosecutor's time.įailing to convict any of the Wall Street banking behemoths after the market meltdown of 2008, were they looking for a small-potatoes scapegoat? Maybe they didn't care for Chinatown's bustling off-the-books economy? The film's director, who would make an excellent character witness for the defence, raises the questions but frustratingly doesn't answer them in an otherwise compelling documentary.CHICAGO – The documentary maker Steve James, one of the best in the history of cinema, has a resume of quality reporting through feature film that is stunning in its context. Those owners are the Sung family, led by the dapper first-generation immigrant Thomas Sung, who models himself after the savings-and-loans hero George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life. ![]() ![]() ![]() After the bank turns in one of its loan officers for bribery, the Manhattan District Attorney's office swoops in sledgehammer-to-mosquito style and indicts the whole bank with mortgage fraud. From the excellent documentarian Steve James (of Hoop Dreams fame), the deal here involves the owners of Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a smallish family-run institution based in New York's Chinatown. Goliath saga, and the David is a bank? True story. ![]()
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