Directed by: Araque Blanco

Genre: Documentary

Year; 2022

Running Time: 10′

Country: Usa, Spain

IMDb

Logline:

The Other 700 Club is an ephemeral ode dedicated to an unofficial community of delivery workers in Brooklyn, NY.

Synopsis:

At the intersection of Broadway and Thornton St in Brooklyn, a loose community of delivery workers gathers every day to hang out and share their experiences while waiting for their next job. The Other 700 Club opens the door to a microcosm of street philosophers that discuss about their own beliefs, goals and motivations. A poetic reflection on the reality of the high speed capitalist system in which we are trapped, but at the same time keeps us moving in order to survive.

Director’s Statement:

The (Other) 700 Club has been the beginning of a trip into questioning the theories that shaped my late teenage years and early 20s intense search for identity. A process of opening to an organic sense of self based in the community that you choose to surround yourself with and the way you decide to experience those relationships. It has also been a reassertion that there are ways to cope with the system that we live in -from the inside, but close to the edge- where you can almost see the end of it.

Back in early December 2021 I was running some camera tests for a short film that was partially set around the Brooklyn Triangle area. One of those days, I was with the cinematographer shooting under the train tracks on Broadway, close to Flushing Av. A delivery worker all dressed up in Polo Ralph Lauren riding a powerful dirt-bike approached me to say “hi” and ask “what are you guys filming?”. I was fascinated by his looks and got his phone number for a potential collaboration on the project I was working on.

The following day, that project got cancelled because of some COVID infections in the crew. However, I was feeling the urge to continue shooting on those vibrant streets between Williamsburg, Bushwick and Bedstuy. I had only been to New York for a little over a year -a quite weird one-, and that little corner felt unique and stimulating, I almost felt its call. Hours later I decided to go back and I found Polo again, with Moto, Bah, Alex… and that’s how I got to meet the guys from The 700 Club.

As the weeks went by and I spent more and more time with them, I realized that I had somehow become a part of the community. What once seemed exotic or even weird, now made total sense or was actually familiar. Despite having a very different personal background, I felt that our connections were way stronger than our differences, and that the guys from the club were facing obstacles that were very similar to mine, and also their happiness came from the same sources.

 – Araque Blanco