Crossing The Line Brochure

1. Crossing the Line & Calasanz Physical Arts 1

2. Crossing the Line C alasanz stars as Jose Fernandez, a hard hitting kick-boxer and martial arts instructor. Jose rises to stardom after winning the world championship. His popularity attracts the attention of Jimmy Scarfone, a local hoodlum and owner of some sleazy strip clubs, becomes obsessed with the fighter’s new celebrity Get Your DVD or VHS today! Run time: 1hr. 23 min. Genre: Action, Martial Arts Director: Marcello Bue Executive Producers: Calasanz & Stewart Press Producer: Nick Manning Music:Stephen Melillo Cast:Calasanz, Tom Ellis, Will Miller, Glen Rothenberger status, and begins to stalk him. Jose’s every move becomes the subject of Scarfone’s “America’s Most Violent Videos”. Soon Scarfone finds the ordinary life of a fighter is not exciting enough and sets about to change that. A series of violent encounters lead to the eventual kidnapping of the champion. Awesome fight scenes make Calasanz’ debut a must-see for the martial arts enthusiast. 2 3

3. W alk into Calasanz dojo or visit his website and you can’t help but notice the posters for his movie, Cross- ing the Line. Most students and visitors can’t resist picking up a copy of a movie that was made right here in Fairfield County. In the film, Calasanz stars as Jose Fernandez, a hard-hitting kick boxer and martial arts instructor. Jose rises to stardom after winning the world championship. His popularity attracts the attention of Jimmy Scarfone, a local hoodlum and owner of sleazy strip clubs, who becomes obsessed with the fighter’s new celebrity status, and begins to stalk him. Jose’s every move becomes the subject of Scar- fone’s Americas Most Violent Videos. Soon Scarfone finds the ordinary life of a fighter is not exciting enough and sets about to change that. A series of violent encounters, lead to the eventual kidnapping of the champion. What you may not know about the film is what led up to its making and why it was so important for Calasanz to put his neck on the line to produce an independent movie.   Calasanz was born in the Dominican Republic and like most boys his age, enjoyed action movies. In 1975, his fa- ther took him to see Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon and he was hooked. His mission in life from that day forward was to come to America, make a movie and become as famous as his matinee movie idol. While his father wanted him to become a competitive boxer, Calasanz wanted some- thing more than jumping into a ring and beating up on his opponent. There was a spiritual aspect to the martial arts that drew him to it. From that point on, he did everything he could do to make his dream come true. Calasanz went to the city to pursue his academic stud- ies and quickly found a tradi- tional martial arts school. He trained long, hard hours, studied and worked at a bank to support himself. All along, he kept his goal in sight. As a valued employee, the bank wanted to invest in his future, so they agreed to send him to the United States on a student visa to study English as a second language. Once he set foot on U.S. soil, Calasanz never cracked open a book, but instead jumped head first into the martial arts.   Calasanz made his desire to make a movie well known to anyone who was willing to listen. All his students and colleagues knew that his sole purpose for coming to Amer- ica was to make an independent martial arts movie without having to deal with the politics of the mainstream movie in- dustry. He’d heard about how Bruce Lee had to actually leave the United States and make movies in Hong Kong because the industry had a hard time respecting a foreign actor. But in order to do get this movie made, Calasanz needed money and time, two things that are in short supply for a martial arts teacher busy building a business from the bottom up. 4 5

4.   Eight years had passed since Calasanz came to the U.S. to make his movie and it seemed that that time was slipping away. His students goaded him constantly, asking him, “Hey Calasanz, when will we ever see this film?” Even though the time and circumstances were not ideal, Calasanz felt com- pelled to act and realize his dream. The price tag quickly escalated from a budget of $350,000 to almost a million dollars. Calasanz did whatever he could to raise the funds to make the movie, including borrowing from friends and students. When the movie did not pro- duce the financial rewards expected, Calasanz was left with a pile of debt. Advised by many to discharge these debts in bankruptcy, Calasanz refused, and made it his mission to pay back all his investors with cash, memberships, or a combination of both.   In the eyes of the world, Calasanz may have failed because his movie wasn’t a blockbuster. In fact, Calasanz doesn’t look at it this way. The making of the movie had many suc- cesses beyond what you see on the screen. Calasanz was a pioneer in making movies in the State of Connecticut. Now in 2009, Connecticut is one of the premiere locations in the country for moviemakers. Calasanz made his vision come true in the 80’s and saw the potential for creative works in this state. Calasanz also used the making of the movie and the publicity surrounding it to promote his name, which has proved to be invaluable as far as promoting the goodwill of his martial arts business. He also learned there were many people who believed in him. That’s why it was so important for Calasanz not to file for bankruptcy.   Not many people out there can say that they actually made their own movie and paid for it. The movie played in the- aters on the East Coast and also in the Dominican Republic, where Calasanz is a national hero. In the end, Crossing the Line was a great success. It all really depends on how you measure it. One of Calasanz private students, an aspiring filmmaker who we’ll call Mike, wanted to help Calasanz with the film. So the team started by making a few commercials and eventually turned its attention to producing an independent film. One of the first things they needed was a good script. Calasanz had been developing his version of the perfect script for over 10 years, but needed his ideas to be formalized by a professional. Another stu- dent who was a Hollywood scriptwriter gave Calasanz some good ideas, but it needed more work. Mike agreed to get the script in working order. This would require many revisions and Calasanz was assured that it would be ready.   Sounds good up until this point, but many obstacles got in the way. Calasanz suffered a shin injury in a bizarre situ- ation that hampered his ability to train as well as keep his business afloat. On the day that production was supposed to start, the script was nowhere near completion. Frustrated, Calasanz took his original script out of the director’s hands and from that point on; the movie became an improvised production.   Financial problems also plagued the movie. The first version of the film was not up to Calasanz standards and the only way to improve it was to invest more money into its produc- tion. While many involved in the making of the movie were well intentioned, inexperience proved to be very costly. 6 7

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6. W hen I first came to the United States I wanted to make my mark, I wanted to make a name for myself. Upon entering this country I had a goal in mind and I said it over and over again, “I came here to make a movie.” I heard what Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and others had to go through in Hollywood with the politics involved in making it big and I did not want to follow that path. Even Bruce Lee went back to China because of those same politics. I kept going and would not falter on my decision, I wanted to make this movie in the U.S., not my home coun- try of the Dominican Republic. Besides, I was only training artist and I never abused that gift. Most of my fights were won without fighting, anyone that wanted to discuss martial arts with me understood my skills and knew that I required and deserved respect. There were some cases where I won a fight but I was fortunate that it was not too serious a fight because even though I was in good shape maybe my diet was not so good, maybe I worked too hard, put too much pressure on myself, or made too many mistakes. When you are training hard and put that amount of pressure on your- self, regardless of how good a shape you are in, you would not be at your strongest with all that stress.   When I was eight years old it was when I taught my four year old brother how to hurt another kid who was bullying him. Between eight and 12 years old I knew how to take a big step forward and deliver the hardest kick to a cow that connected on its belly. There is an empty space that this animal has, I would love to know the name of that specific muscle, you hit it hard and they go down for at least one minute! I used to do that all the time, until one day I got caught, before the cow got up my father came and knew exactly what happened.   As I start training in martial arts, all my friends realized that I had a talent for what I was doing. They realized that no one on the farms in the Dominican Republic could trade kicking with me including his elders. I could easily win a fight just by kicking. Fighting was something came easy to me, I could look at a person and immediately knew in martial arts in the Dominican Republic part time. I was respected the first time I entered a martial arts school because of my nat- ural ability and most of all I never slacked off. You should also understand that I was a bit of a show off, if someone wanted to take a photo with me or asked me to do a full split, I did it immediately. All that showing off surprises me when I look back at it but I enjoyed showing off my skills and I do have a strong respect for martial arts and the in- structors that had a hand in my training, especially Tamey- oshi Sakamoto. I gained the trust and heart of Sakamoto because I possessed a gift to be a naturally gifted martial 10 10 11

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8. the idea I had long ago to make a movie would finally be reality.   In 1987, two students came to my door and signed as private students, their names are John and Marcello and a friendship between us started immediately. Marcello who later became a director of commercials, wanted to do the same for me and he did. This is where Marcello got his start, he did not charge too much money because he needed the experience. He knew that it was my dream to make this movie and we started to collaborate. Marcello and I went to restaurants to talk about the movie, we always talked about the movie, I told him of my dream to make a successful film. I told him countless times that if this movie failed that it would shatter that dream. My father always believed in preventing a bad thing from happening and those words stuck with me. Marcello never had a finished script but I trusted him and he always convinced me by saying some- thing like “Don’t worry, I know what I am doing.”  I thought about this movie for eight years and asked myself all the time, can this young guy direct it? Over the years I when to strike, bite, punch, or kick them. I would take ex- amples from today’s self defense techniques like MMA and Wing Chun Chi Sau and I would know where to strike just by looking at a person‘s body. I loved martial arts but my father begged me to get into boxing but I wanted more than just beating someone as a sport.    In 1975 my father and I went to see a movie made famous by Bruce Lee titled “Enter the Dragon.” I knew right away that I wanted to make a film. I started planning a trip to the U.S. I knew that I could make a business out of movies and acting. I did not want to just teach anymore, I knew that I wanted to be on the big screen. I wanted to do exactly what Bruce was did. At this point I already had a diploma and a job at a bank. I was able to convince my job to let me take a break to go to the U.S. to study. I applied for a visa and got accepted to the University of Bridgeport. When I got to the university I didn’t open a book, I was more focused on any- thing and everything to do with martial arts. This journey to get to the U.S. and make something of myself was real- ized when I opened my school. After opening the school, and Marcello on that account. The first budget for the movie was gone after two weeks so this was the reason for opening another account. Within two weeks the money was gone. There were checks written to buy products that I never knew about. Two years later, somebody close to the pro- ducer came and told me that over $100,000 was taken and I was so trusting and sincere that I believed that these people were just human. Even without knowing the producer, I trusted him, he was Marcello‘s friend. One thing I noticed that when the first budget was gone, the producer felt so bad that he gave me his credit card for to charge $10,000 which I paid him as he finished shooting the movie. That should have told me that something was not right because people do not do that. Did the producer feel bad or did he just not want me to look into where the money had gone?   Two years before the movie process, Marcello started writing the script and Richard Venture, a script writer from Hollywood, trained with me. Venture was the first to write this movie for me, he got busy and still gave me a good draft but not enough to make a movie., That is had always spent lots of time with various people to discuss business deals to prevent those bad things from happening if I could. I don’t believe in contracts but instead in mutual agreements. I did everything I could in those eight years to prevent any mistakes and I know now that everything I did was taken for granted. “Marcello,” I said time and time again, “This movie determines my success and my career.” We were best friends, such good friends that when he moved to the city he sent me letters to tell me what he was doing, how his life was, and how hard and how much skill he was going to put into my movie.   What I did not know about Marcello was that he was working for one thing, to make a trailer for himself in order to sell himself as a movie director. So much money was wasted on the first attempt at making this movie and Marcello wanted a second attempt at it. I did everything to get more money and gave Marcello a second chance like I always do because I don’t believe in giving up on people. As we started the movie, I opened an account where the money to make the movie would be deposited with the producer 14 15

9. also persuaded me to do this demo at the restaurant, all I was really there for was to convince someone to train at my school, but the people with me wanted to see me in action. I am sure they wanted me to prove myself, which was the last thing I needed, by this time I proved myself enough. Someday I will get into the rest of what went on that day at the restaurant.   This injury caused a delay in the making of the movie and lots of money but not compared to the money that Marcello cost me. The day we started filming the movie we did not follow a script, I took my story away from him and he came up with something that was done at the spot. The script was no more and it was mostly improvised. The movie was supposed to be a low budget film and already $350,000 was spent during the first two weeks. By the time the movie was finished over $1 million dollars had been spent and we owed money to everyone. I knew that I would pay up, but the toughest part to take was all the people that we let down, including grocery store owner Stew Leonard who helped us the most. But Coast Entertainment Corporation did not have to file bankruptcy. Everyone, one way or the other got paid. Some were compensated with a membership to my school, some of them received a membership and a cash settlement. Many of the investors came to me and asked why I did that, or that I should close the company. I did not close, but I paid everyone personally.   You should know that in order to pay everyone faster, I came with these ideas. Every time something has gone wrong, I have proved that I can come up with some source of idea or advertisement in order to recover. I have never been wrong, but 95% of the time, those that I have dealt with let me down. It does not mean that those people did it purposely. Those that know me are aware of my strong personality and loud voice, sometimes I make people angry. Those two things have cost me a great deal. Today, I understand that I overwhelmed some of those that worked with me, including my students that I have always done business with since day one. where Marcello came in. Marcello wrote many drafts but none could be used. He said, “Calasanz, the China Town script was redone more than 30 times and that was why it became the best.” He convinced me that nothing was wrong. Many obstacles happened even before starting the movie. For example, I got hurt; it was one of the biggest blows to my career because the injury did not have to happen. It could have been prevented by these people who convinced me that I was safe in the place they brought me to, but they could not help me escape from a demonstration with someone who almost cost me my life and my dream. I built my name by doing demonstrations for people. I never had to hurt anyone and no one hurt me. But on this day my skill was so beyond my opponent’s. I got pushed to stand up and do a demonstration with a chef who was a Thai boxer. I hu- miliated him so much that he could not take it. The people with me knew that I did not want to participate in any more demos, not until I finished my movie. I built my name by humiliating people, especially street fighters, without hurting them.   As I got to this restaurant, the only thing that I could think of was that I did not want to participate in any demos until after the movie. I already knew that many people were jeal- ous of my skills plus, I had a popular show on Cablevision’s public access channel. The chef was following the Calasanz Show for a long time and recognized me and planned for a demo. His intentions were to humiliate me. In the end he was the one who became the victim of humility without me having to hurt him. The chef set his mind to wanting to hurt me no matter what. He was cooking for us and as I go to sit down, this guy, at close range, delivered a kick so hard to my ankle that I injured my tibia. I tried not to go to any bars or restaurants until the movie was complete and I did anyway. These people who convinced me to go had the 16 17

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11. chose not to. I could have just as easily gone back to my coun- try, taken a great job, and lived the “good life,” but I chose to stay and do what I know and love and that is teaching martial arts. I knew that 3-4 years down the line, this movie would promote my name regardless if it failed in the past.   Marcello ran the master trailer which was the best part of the movie and a box of the most memorable pictures of me. Even when Marcello tried to hire someone to work with him on the movie, when interviewing this prospective employee, this man named Andrew had a dog bite him on the ear in Marcello’s apartment. Even Andrew tried to get money from us. That was just another speed bump during this whole movie process. Nothing went the way it was supposed to go. I know now that Marcello did nothing wrong, he felt sad and ashamed that he let me and many others down. I never wanted to blame Marcello because he did so much work on this movie to try to get it right but he lacked the experience. Marcello felt that he made all the mistakes but I feel that the mistakes were all my fault and not his. Marcello’s issues were not having a solid plan and not taking the time to learn his craft.   So many people who believed in what I was doing were let down. I did nothing wrong other than trust those that were my friends, and that is why I believe that I deserve the blame for all that happened during the making of this film. Crossing The Line was a nightmare for me. Marcello has since van- ished and we have not heard from him. I would like to thank all my students that stuck by me and showed their support during this time. My vow to make a movie in the U.S. caused me to go this far with this film. I should have known to back out when the director could not come up with a script. I never stopped say- ing to all my students, “I am making a movie.” I gave myself a timetable that by 1994 I must finish this goal in order to move on, otherwise I cannot start anything. I remember Stew Leonard telling me more than asking, “Why you don’t take that money and open another school?” I said, “Stew I must do it, I have spoken too much, now I am forced to do it, it is just ego, but everyone is starting to make faces like Hahn!” I have come to the conclusion that I do not blame anyone other than myself. It makes me angry that I will never forget as part of this process that we owe a person $105,000. This man was not working, he was sick, and owed creditors hundreds of thousands of dollars. He came to work for me on the film and even when I paid him, he still would have had to file bankruptcy and later did. A few years after he filed, he was rebuilding his home in Greenwich. To this day I still find that hard to believe. What makes me the angriest is that his wife of this person told her husband that he would lose money and talks bad about me still. She failed to be an honest person as I paid everyone. Some of the people that received checks asked, “What for? “You lost out with this movie, dummy.“ I kept my word that everyone would be compensated.   This movie turned into the biggest humiliation of my career. This low budget movie went from costing around $250,000 to over $1 million. I could have taken the easy way out and just filed bankruptcy but I 20 21

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13. Calasanz 507 Westport Avenue, Norwalk CT www.calasanz.com 1-800-414-9544