Writer & Director: Austin Tsung Fu Chang
Cast: Francisco Solorzano, Gil Ron, Sandra Berrios, Czarina Mada, Kim Rios Lin
Producers: Sydny Li, Daniel Wilson, Yusuke Sato
Executive Producer: Austin Tsung Fu Chang
Cinematography: Yusuke Sato
Script: Austin Tsung Fu Chang
Editor: Sarah Krusen
Hair & Makeup: Kai Stamps
Costume Design: Colby Kelly & Nicolette Jackson
Sound Post: Camille Thomas & Romain Sturma
Colorist: Anthony Hechanova
First Assistant Director: Lisa Burrascano
Austin wrote The Riverside Bench while processing many existential and spiritual questions after his father’s passing. He had shared a bench along Riverside Park on New York’s Upper West Side with his father in his final days. Austin wanted to find a way to connect with that memory by creating a film that was also a quiet celebration of urban life. The Riverside Bench captures the energy of New York in a way that is most personal to him. We observe a family returning to the bench and to Riverside Park after suffering a personal loss. But we also encounter— in short vignettes woven through the film—those who simply pause there for a moment during the course of their every-daily lives. Throughout all four seasons, we experience the life of one family and of a constellation of city dwellers who all find refuge in a natural urban space.
© Austin Tsung Fu Chang 2021