Shot right here in San Diego’s backyard, the film “I Am Not A Hipster” brings the local indie music scene to the center stage.
Written and directed by Destin Cretton, originally from Maui, Hawaii, “I Am Not A Hipster” follows the apathetic young singer/songwriter Brook Hyde (Dominic Bogart) as he copes with the death of his mother while gaining a growing local following. After his father and three sisters appear from out of town to spread his mother’s ashes, Dominic explores self-realization through art and music.
Film producer Ron Najor explained that Cretton “came out here (to San Diego) to go to college…he sort of started hanging out with some of the local, San Diego independent artists. Him, I think, growing up his college years in San Diego, he really wanted to make it about San Diego and being a part of San Diego.”
“I Am Not A Hipster” toys with the question of “what is art?” Hyde’s perception conflicts with others’ ideas as he tries to differentiate what is and what isn’t true creativity. The audience witnesses this progression while simultaneously sampling the sounds and sights that make up the San Diego indie scene.
Najor expresses how local participation made this film personal for the city of San Diego:
“Doing the movie for so little money, we basically just said to all of our friends, ‘Can you help us?’. A lot of people in this movie, aside from the main cast, are all just San Diego friends and family. So it’s just getting all of our friends, all of our family to like, show up…This movie, specifically, was just us getting all of our friends together and trying to make the best art.”

For more information, go to http://www.iamnotahipster.com/