Film documents seriousness of comics

Comics are serious business to Neil Kendricks, the multi-talented photographer, filmmaker, writer and SWC adjunct instructor. Now he has a new title – comics documentarian.

Kendricks’ project, “Comics Are Everywhere,” is a documentary about comic books and chronicles four artists and their struggle to follow their dreams.

“It’s people who are picking up a pencil, a blank piece of paper and dreaming away,” he said. “And when you get to see their dream on paper, whatever form it may be… that is awesome. That is something I’ll never get over, it will never get old.”

Kendricks teaches photography at Southwestern College. He said he sees talent and promise in students and enjoy working with him. Adrian Talamantes, 36, business major at SDSU, met Kendricks while studying film and photography at Southwestern College.

“I was recommended to Mr. Kendricks by several professors on campus,” he said. “I was one of few who knew how to load the camera he uses.”

After transferring to SDSU, Talamantes reconnected with Kendricks in passing at school. By the next summer, Kendricks invited him to sign on to the documentary.

“I had never worked on a documentary before but it was awesome,” he said. “The crew was very close it was like we had all been friends for years, but it was only the first day. Working with Kendrick was the most natural and easiest thing I’ve ever done.”

Production of “Comics Are Everywhere” is based in Los Angeles, but Kendricks chooses to stay in San Diego and travel periodically by train to L.A., lugging with him gear and production journals.

Cinematographer Nathan Gulick is Kendricks’ right hand man. Kendricks stays in San Diego, Gulick said, to stay grounded.

“He comes from an honest place and not a commercial one,” said Gulick. “He is doing this because he is truly passionate about it.”

Gulick met Kendricks in San Diego while attending a film festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art where Kendrick works as a curator.

“Immediately after the event I had to know who organized it and I needed to meet him,” he said.

As a film curator Kendricks is breaking down the walls of traditional film festivals with his annual Alt.Picture Show.

“In a traditional film festival you buy your ticket and sit through each film,” he said. “People during this event don’t have to feel confined to a film. They can get up and move to the next if they lose interest.”

While reinventing film-going experiences, there are some things Kendricks said he appreciates about the past. In his film he explores the reality that technology is replacing hard copies of things he holds dear such as books, music and photography. With digital downloads, comic books are available at the click of a button instead of a trip to book store.

“There is a certain nostalgia about walking through a stack of books,” he said. “The reading experience is tactile. I like to have something in my hands— a book or comic book. Books are these beautiful objects that you share with your friends. There is something about a book that is dog-eared and you can tell its been read a lot or more so loved a lot. And when you give that to someone else, it is not like an e-mail. It is an object you cared about.”

Before film consumed Kendricks life, he had a deep-rooted passion for art and built a reputation in concert photography. During the 1990s he was a student at SDSU and an arts editor for the Daily Aztec newspaper.

“During the day I would go to class,” said Kendricks, “and at night I would attend concerts and take photos. Sometimes the bands would even take notice of my work.”

Kendricks has photographed Nirvana, U2 and Depeche Mode, among others.

With technology moving forward, he teaches a beginning digital photography class, but remains loyal to his classic film camera.

“I’m an old school guy,” he said. “But as times progress the industry does as well.”