DOC SAYS: UP SYNDROME, THE RIGHT PRESCRIPTION
Indie Slate magazine, January 2001

Rene and I grew up in the same neighborhood of San Antonio. That’s actually the first line of voice-over in Up Syndrome, a feature-length documentary which chronicles a year in the life of my childhood friend Rene Moreno, who happens to have Down syndrome.

Sharing a passion for cinema, we spent our scorching Texas summers producing wacky VHS movies with a camcorder I got for Christmas in 1987. It was on the set of our most ambitious effort, Innocent Bystanders, that our unique friendship was born. It was followed by a handful of forgettable projects, such as Revenge of the Cabbage Patch Killer and Man vs. Beast. Two things remained constant: Rene was the fervent star, while I manned the camera. That and Rene usually died at the end.

THE IDEA

Although the idea to profile my childhood chum was one I had toyed with for years, it wasn’t until 1998 that I realized just how poignant a portrait documentary could be. As I sat in a theater watching Bennett Miller’s The Cruise, it occurred to me that not only could a character study capture an audience for 80 minutes, it could be done relatively cheaply on digital video and achieve distribution. The story behind, and ultimate success of The Cruise inspired me to begin planning my first feature-length project. All I needed was some equipment!

I finished up a degree in a small TV/Film program at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi under the mentorship of Kim Henkel, scribe of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre film. Like many first time directors, I quickly realized I barely had enough money to pay for rent and groceries. How could I possibly make a movie with no money or equipment? That was the inevitable question to which I had no feasible answer. So I forgot about it.

PRE-PRODUCTION

One afternoon I got a call from my father. He said he was standing in front of a dumpster in an alley beside a television station. Inside it was at least 200 16mm reels still in their metal canisters, all of them labeled I Love Lucy. After the years of flack my mother gave him for dumpster diving, dad had finally hit the junk jackpot: a complete 16mm collection of all 179 episodes of the series.

Although it was tempting to have a massive Lucy soiree, I’m not a film collector, and I don’t know anyone who is. I saw it as the perfect opportunity to gain necessary production funds. That night I sorted through the massive celluloid loot and posted an auction on E-bay. The winning bid yielded over $4,000 and quickly afforded me a new 3-chip Sony TRV-900 mini-DV camera, a non-linear editing setup, several microphones, lenses and a plethora of tape.

Once equipment was taken care of, I had to discern the project’s overall approach on the subject. Handicap people are usually a sober topic, and the media often traps them in stereotypes just like anyone else. You wouldn’t have to spend an hour with Rene to realize his personality reaches far deeper than shows like Life Goes On and sugary Hallmark commercials.

My goal was not to educate viewers on the specifics of Down syndrome, but rather to dispel the stereotypes by painting an intimate portrait which remains honest, while never becoming overly sappy or condescending of its subject. I wanted Up Syndrome to have a noticeable edge, yet remain playful -mimicking Rene’s ability to keep his spirits high amidst despair. I felt our unique friendship provided the foundation for a movie equally as original and, in turn, an opportunity to share my friend with everyone.

PRODUCTION

Production kicked in throughout 1999 in and around San Antonio, primarily on the weekends. The hardest part of the process was thinking of all aspects of production before hitting record. Rene tends to act a certain way around his close friends and family, and strangers often hinder his vivacious personality, causing him to quickly close up in front of the camera. I took on just about every role to prevent him from entering silent mode. A small crew would surely have changed the outcome, so I decided to keep it simple and comfortable.

I used a Kenko wide-angle lens adapter on the TRV-900 to accent the movie’s humor by lending a semi-fisheye, cartoonish look. The "golden hours" were utilized whenever possible, mainly because the sun is free and the warm glow and flattering shadows of morning/evening helped bring out the colors and mask the flaws I was sure to notice later. Sound was recorded using a Sennheiser XLR microphone mounted on top of the camera with a shock-mount, as well as a wireless Azden. I even splurged on a Glidecam to get a few steady "beauty" shots I’d use in time-passing montage sequences later.

The movie begins in the Spring of 1999, a year after Rene’s high school graduation. At this point, Rene’s desire for independence has strengthened after watching his friends depart for college. His days have become methodical: he’s dropped off at Albertson’s where he bags groceries in the afternoon, makes his way over to Luby’s at lunchtime for a chicken fried steak, drops by the arcade on the way home, watches the Spurs game and never forgets to call his girlfriend before bed.

1999 was a pivotal year for him because his world changed completely. Everything he’d grown accustomed to was suddenly yanked away and he was forced to adapt to a society that isn’t sure it has a place for him. Most people graduate and never want to see the halls of their high school again. Rene wanted to go back. While shooting, I wanted to make it clear that nothing much had changed in ten years. We’re the same kids making a movie now, just a decade older and with a better camera. Rene might talk about a loved one that passed away one minute, and the next we’re doing a wacky skit.

POST-PRODUCTION

Production wrapped on New Years Day 2000 after rolling my fiftieth hour of footage. I moved to Austin four days later to start a new semester of film courses at the University of Texas and to begin editing. I found it dangerously easy to drown myself in the material, so I spent a good amount of time logging and organizing my tapes. Editing was done on a PC with Adobe Premiere over a six month process.

Once I had a rough cut on mini-DV, I gathered a handful of friends to comprise a "test" audience and had my first screening. I knew Rene would be difficult to understand in parts, but I was surprised when the audience reported they were certain of only 50% of the dialogue. The last thing I wanted were subtitles distracting from the images, but the general consensus was they were needed for the documentary to work. Most of the music was composed by Rene himself. I drew from several hours of his guitar, harmonica, and piano music as well as a number of tracks from a talented San Antonio band The Raintree.

On a whim, I sent tapes out to a handful of film festivals. The first to contact me was the Temecula Valley International Film Festival near Los Angeles. Up Syndrome went on to win the Best Documentary jury prize there and had a great review printed in the Californian. An individual from the American Film Institute (who remained anonymous) called the wonderful people at the Austin Heart of Film Festival and recommended Up Syndrome be included in their lineup. The Austin screenings were an amazing success and generated several more positive reviews. It also screened in the Fort Worth International Film Festival and won a Best Documentary nod there as well.

If there’s one thing I want people to get out of the movie, I hope they leave wishing they had a friend like Rene. Many times people are unsure how to interact with him. They’re uncomfortable because his speech is unclear and they’re worried about phrasing the conversation in a way he’ll understand. Their responses are canned, and they tend to address him like a small child and it frustrates him. I hope Up Syndrome puts that whole uneasiness through some sort of transformation and people come out with a different viewpoint. At least shifted one way or another.