Amazon 2019 – Food Truck Chefs
The reality of owning a food truck is not as glorious as it may seem. The owners of three separate food trucks share their inspiring stories of standing up to the daily challenges of running a food truck.
Interview with Director/Producer/Editor Nathan Agin
Watch Food Truck Chefs on Tubi and Prime Video
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I’ve always found food trucks fascinating. I would often wonder to myself, “What was it that made these people want to start a food truck?” I also felt like food truck owners had some crazy stories to tell, so I went to find out for myself and decided to create a documentary on it. However, what started out as a little curious side project turned into something much bigger and more impactful to my life and affected how I view the world.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
This film is filled with inspiring stories of overcoming adversity. It's so much more than food trucks. I believe there are a lot of valuable life lessons told by the people we interviewed. It's positively affected my life personally, and I know it will affect your life as well.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Each person in our film has very different backgrounds and upbringings. You have Viveca, a woman from Sweden who used to be a professional drag racer and bodybuilder. Her theme is all about persistence and adapting constantly to succeed in anything she does. Then, you have Brenton and Tara, owners of the Bleu Barn Bistro food truck. They're all about quality and giving back to the community.
All these people teach us different life lessons, but they all connect in their optimism and drive to become better.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Just like any documentary, this film's story evolved quite a bit in the post-production phase. When you're filming a documentary, you can only really take an educated guess at what the story is. As you go, you start to see new themes and important issues rise to the surface and it changes the original structure idea.
For this project, I thought this was just a film about the food truck industry and why it's harder than people might think. But, halfway through editing, I realized this was more about the inspiring stories of these food truck owners and how they overcome the struggles in the industry. I actually went and shot more footage with two new subjects after that realization.
Documentary filmmaking is a process. You grow along with the story.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I've received a lot of great feedback so far. Everyone I've talked to about it loves the way we portrayed the hardships of the food truck industry. This was important to us.
When we first started pre-production, we reached out to the community on the subreddit for food trucks. We asked them what they would like to see in this food truck documentary. Despite some unique answers every now and then, the main consensus was they wanted to see a film debunk the glamour that is often portrayed in food trucks and just cooking in general. They would claim that TV shows and other documentaries made it look so "easy".
We knew we wanted to convey that message for them.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I'm actually surprised that everyone is easily understanding the main theme of the documentary. That's not to serve as an insult though, the audience is always much smarter than we imagine. I'm just surprised that the film was structured properly enough so that the theme is clear and effective. It's not as easy as you would imagine.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We Are Moving Stories is known for its impactful stories. I would like to spread the word about the incredible stories told through the people interviewed in our film.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Producers and journalists.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would love for this film to help inspire the audience through the stories of our subjects and shed some light on how extremely difficult it is to actually run and maintain a food truck. Hopefully, it'll assist in giving a new perspective.
Would you like to add anything else?
I would like to thank you for providing this platform for filmmakers trying to tell a story! Thank you for inviting me back on and I look forward to speaking with you again.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Currently, I've started planning for a new documentary that I'm extremely excited for. This documentary will be intended to be submitted to the Sundance Ignite Fellowship challenge for 2020.
Interview: October 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Food Truck Chefs
The reality of owning a food truck is not as glorious as it may seem. The owners of three separate food trucks share their inspiring stories of standing up to the daily challenges of running a food truck.
Length: 24:57
Director: Nathan Agin
Producer: Nathan Agin
Writer: Nathan Agin
About the writer, director and producer:
NATHAN AGIN is a young, 20-year-old director based out of Columbus, Ohio. His prior short documentary, Made with Love featuring renowned artist Lipstick Lex, amassed over 100,000 views on Facebook, multiple interviews and landed a spot in the 2019 Tryon Film Festival. Moving forward with this project, he took a leap and directed Food Truck Chefs, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime. Nathan started making documentaries in 2018, with his first-ever documentary, ENA. In only one year, he has shown drastic improvement in his craft with his first film on Amazon Prime and proves to be a director to stay on the lookout for in the future.
Key cast: Tara Ebersold (Subject), Brenton Ebersold (Subject), Viveca Averstedt (Subject), Jimmy Nguyen (Subject), Chau Vo (Subject), Dustin Williams (Subject), Michael Blasco (Subject)
Looking for: producers, journalists, film festival directors
Facebook: Moribund Studios
Instagram: @aginvisuals
Website: foodtruckchefsfilm.com
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: Moribund Studios
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Food Truck Chefs will be streaming on Amazon on September 29th, 2019