A documentary six years within the making, ALUMINATION tells the story of an American icon. Carrying deep data of the Airstream story after finishing the movie, filmmaker Eric Bricker and his household set off on an Airstream journey of their very own, discovering new horizons within the lengthy and eventful Airstream story.
ALUMINATION is an independently produced documentary characteristic movie about Airstream and people who journey with them. It makes its world premier on the 2021 Freep Film Festival in Detroit, Michigan.
Once we started the journey to make ALUMINATION, a movie about Airstream Journey Trailers and the individuals who use them, we didn’t know when or if we’d ever go on our personal precise Airstream journey. Making the movie, we have been hyper-focused on the story elements, the taking pictures schedule, modifying, rating, and attending to a accomplished movie end line – we figured that an Airstream journey would finally current itself. True to the welcoming nature of the Airstream neighborhood, doorways to shiny silver trailers opened to us right here and there, and we sometimes stayed for an evening in another person’s trailer.
However did we ever take one on the highway ourselves? No. Did we dream about sometime having the chance to just do that? Sure. Because the world started to open up after the primary wave of the pandemic, that chance got here knocking – an opportunity for us to dive into the center of the Airstream expertise. Eight years after the undertaking’s begin date, we lastly embarked upon the journey of a lifetime in an Airstream Worldwide 27FB Twin.
An Train in Fashionable Minimalism
First, we obtained ourselves and three children from two completely different originating cities (Austin and St. Louis) to our launching level, in San Gabriel, CA. We knew the journey earlier than us held huge quantities of naivete, ambition, and flying blind. So pre-trip, we watched as many how-to videos as attainable and scoured posts in just a few common Airstream Fb teams to try to obtain a operating begin.
Attributable to logistics, we needed to pre-plan methods to outfit the trailer with what we might match into our baggage. No matter else we wanted, we must purchase on the highway. It was an train in minimalism and, on the similar time, reminded us of what it was like to maneuver into a brand new home two years in the past (which one in all us swore we’d by no means do once more). There was multiple second after we questioned if we had bitten off greater than we might chew. Like these first few moments whenever you’re holding a new child, questioning what have I obtained myself into and how am I going to do that? It’s daunting, however you then do not forget that hundreds of different folks have carried out this and lived to inform the story. Possibly it’s not as laborious as we predict.
And we did it! We made it to our first vacation spot: A sweltering 112-degree Palm Springs, the place we closed down the Desert Sizzling Springs Walmart shopping for provides, drove via our first desert mud storm, and felt our first dash of trailer sway. We met our first fellow Airstreamers at our campsite – a household of 4 on Day 16 of their first Airstream journey. They have been newbies like us, but 15 days wiser. “If they’ll do it, we will do it,” we instructed ourselves.
Coming Collectively on a Rising Tide of Teamwork
Designating our youngsters as our assistant first mates on the Airstream ship was a game-changer. We put them to work immediately, studying all of the ins and outs of hitching, water and sewer hookups, storage compartments, and some sensible options on the within of the trailer like changing the eating desk to a mattress so zero youngsters needed to sleep on the ground. We referenced the Airstream support web site and the Fb teams to assist perceive the extra difficult options just like the propane tanks, fridge, and the A/C. It was an incredible progress alternative for the youngsters (and us). All of us benefited from the rising tide: The extra we labored collectively, the faster we might get to what we actually wished to do. The troubleshooting and teamwork fostered creativity, curiosity and opened up components of our personas we didn’t know existed.
There have been many ups and downs in figuring issues out. After just a few days, our brains righted themselves into new methods of considering, and we had no alternative however to amp up our resourcefulness. We’re positive we made errors that will make different Airstreamers cringe. However, we took coronary heart that they’d as soon as been in our place as nicely.
Exploring Out There – and In Right here
After spending eight years making a documentary movie about this unimaginable way of life and the individuals who make it their actuality, it was thrilling to hit the highway and expertise that freedom firsthand. Like many Individuals nowadays, we hit the highway and instantaneously realized the facility of journey to open our eyes – to show new worlds each on the market and inside ourselves.
Lastly, on the highway, we have been extra excited than ever to discover every thing these new worlds needed to supply.
