Written by Bill Politis

In July 2014, I had the opportunity to go to Beijing, China for free. A wealthy Boston University alumni was sending a group of kids from BU to Beijing to create short documentaries about Chinese culture. To get into the program, I had to write an essay about what I wanted to film. So, I wrote a short paper in which I explained how I wanted to document scooters and bicycles trafficking through the city. I knew this wasn’t what I wanted to film, but I needed to get into the program so I wrote what I thought they’d like to hear. It worked!

What I really wanted to film was guys who were crazy about Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Beijing has about a million scooters and small motorcycles riding on the streets, but it took me three days to finally see a Harley. It was parked in a popular shopping district, but the owner was nowhere in sight. Lei Lei, my translator and producer in Beijing, helped me write a note for the bike's owner.

We walked away and about twenty minutes later, I heard the bike start. I ran back to the street and saw a slick young guy riding with a girl on the back. I jumped into the middle of the street like a madman and stopped him. He was pretty confused and I was so excited that Lei Lei couldn’t translate quick enough, so he told us he’d think about it and rode off.

Later that night, we got a text message with a location and a time. We hopped into a cab and drove an hour into a sketchy part of Beijing. Lei Lei had never been here before, and we couldn’t figure out exactly where they were. Then, we saw a very expensive Mercedes with tinted windows. A young guy motioned for us to get in, and we did. After a few tense moments, the guy showed me a picture of himself snowboarding. We started a conversation with Lei Lei translating for us. This guy ended up being TT, the first guy you'll see in the film.

TT welcomed me into his group. For two weeks, I was just one of the guys. Here is the complete film I put together while in Beijing, “To Be Free.”