After the 2008 financial crisis, which started in the Us and sent shockwaves all over the world, the federal government pressed criminal charges for mortgage fraud against only one bank, Abacus Financial Savings. The documentary tells the story of the bank and its (judicial) struggle against the government.
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” screened at 7th Annual Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase
Abacus is a family business based in New York’s Chinatown. It was founded in 1984 by Thomas Sung, a man who left a successful practice as a lawyer in order to create an institution designed to cater to the specific needs of its constituents – in this case immigrants with little banking experience and unique cultural and communal ways of doing business. Currently at his 80’s, Thomas still plays a significant role in the running of the bank, along with his three daughters.
In 2010, the managers at Abacus alerted the...
“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” screened at 7th Annual Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase
Abacus is a family business based in New York’s Chinatown. It was founded in 1984 by Thomas Sung, a man who left a successful practice as a lawyer in order to create an institution designed to cater to the specific needs of its constituents – in this case immigrants with little banking experience and unique cultural and communal ways of doing business. Currently at his 80’s, Thomas still plays a significant role in the running of the bank, along with his three daughters.
In 2010, the managers at Abacus alerted the...
- 4/1/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Chicago – Oscar Week is upon us, and Chicago is represented with a nomination in the Best Documentary (Feature) category at the 90th Academy Awards on March 4th, 2018. “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail” is directed by Steve James of Chicago’s Kartemquin Films, and is one of five nominees for the prestigious award.
The film is about the Abacus Federal Savings Bank of Chinatown New York City, a financial house built through the sweat and toil of Thomas Sung, who opened the institution because he wanted to help his community… he was inspired to do that from the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the George Bailey character. His successful enterprise had one bad apple in it, which resulted in fraudulent mortgage applications, much like the “too big to fail” banks that did the same thing. The New York District Attorney, flanked by federal government officials, decided to make an example of this community bank.
The film is about the Abacus Federal Savings Bank of Chinatown New York City, a financial house built through the sweat and toil of Thomas Sung, who opened the institution because he wanted to help his community… he was inspired to do that from the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the George Bailey character. His successful enterprise had one bad apple in it, which resulted in fraudulent mortgage applications, much like the “too big to fail” banks that did the same thing. The New York District Attorney, flanked by federal government officials, decided to make an example of this community bank.
- 2/28/2018
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
An Oscar nominee for his editing on 1994’s Hoop Dreams, Steve James has been nominated again this year for his documentary Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, about a family bank’s legal struggles.
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis involving epic fraud and no indictments, Abacus was a fiscally responsible bank that had weathered the storm with a default rate one-twentieth the national average. In 2010, Thomas Sung, founder and chairman of Abacus, was alerted by daughters Jill (Abacus’ president and CEO) and Vera (the bank’s director) about irregularities in the loan division. They rooted out the cause and...
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis involving epic fraud and no indictments, Abacus was a fiscally responsible bank that had weathered the storm with a default rate one-twentieth the national average. In 2010, Thomas Sung, founder and chairman of Abacus, was alerted by daughters Jill (Abacus’ president and CEO) and Vera (the bank’s director) about irregularities in the loan division. They rooted out the cause and...
- 2/25/2018
- by Jordan Riefe
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Healing from past trauma, film preservation, Isis, libraries, chimps, rats, and cats — these were just a few of the subjects and stories that this year’s documentary offerings brought us. With 2017 wrapping up, we’ve selected 21 features in the field that left us most impressed, so check out our list below and, in the comments, let us know your favorites.
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (Steve James)
Steve James’ filmography has long been about finding entry into larger conversations through intimate portraits. The director’s landmark debut, Hoop Dreams, and latter-day efforts like 2014’s monument to critic Roger Ebert, Life Itself, don’t have much in common on the surface, but they both use their central characters to tell larger stories about big picture topics like structural dysfunction and the purpose of film criticism. That double purpose is the quiet genius of James’ latest documentary, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (Steve James)
Steve James’ filmography has long been about finding entry into larger conversations through intimate portraits. The director’s landmark debut, Hoop Dreams, and latter-day efforts like 2014’s monument to critic Roger Ebert, Life Itself, don’t have much in common on the surface, but they both use their central characters to tell larger stories about big picture topics like structural dysfunction and the purpose of film criticism. That double purpose is the quiet genius of James’ latest documentary, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.
- 12/19/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The nonfiction organization Cinema Eye and its nominations committee of top international documentary film programmers, curators, and filmmakers has picked their annual list of “Unforgettables” who helped to define documentary cinema in 2017. They selected 30 individuals from 15 different films to be in the running for this year’s Cinema Eye awards. Like the Doc NYC shortlist, many of the films on this curated list are in the running for the year’s top awards, including the Oscar. “Jane,” “Faces Places,” “City of Ghosts,” and “Strong Island” continue to lead the documentary awards pack.
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
- 10/18/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The nonfiction organization Cinema Eye and its nominations committee of top international documentary film programmers, curators, and filmmakers has picked their annual list of “Unforgettables” who helped to define documentary cinema in 2017. They selected 30 individuals from 15 different films to be in the running for this year’s Cinema Eye awards. Like the Doc NYC shortlist, many of the films on this curated list are in the running for the year’s top awards, including the Oscar. “Jane,” “Faces Places,” “City of Ghosts,” and “Strong Island” continue to lead the documentary awards pack.
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
The full slate of Cinema Eye nominations for nonfiction feature, short, and broadcast films/series will be be announced on Friday, November 3 in San Francisco at Sffilm’s Doc Stories event. Awards will be presented in New York City at the Museum of the Moving Image on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Read More:doc NYC Announces Its Awards Short List, Including ‘Icarus,...
- 10/18/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Chicago – The documentary maker Steve James, one of the best in the history of cinema, has a resume of quality reporting through feature film that is stunning in its context. The director of “Hoop Dreams,” “Stevie,” “The Interrupters,” “Head Games” and the Roger Ebert biography “Life Itself” has a new doc, focusing on one repercussion of the financial crisis of 2008, subtly entitled “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.
The film is about the Abacus Federal Savings Bank of Chinatown New York City, a financial house built through the sweat and toil of Thomas Sung, who opened the institution because he wanted to help his community… he was inspired to do that from the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the George Bailey character. His successful enterprise had one bad apple in it, which resulted in fraudulent mortgage applications, much like the “too big to fail” banks that did the same thing.
The film is about the Abacus Federal Savings Bank of Chinatown New York City, a financial house built through the sweat and toil of Thomas Sung, who opened the institution because he wanted to help his community… he was inspired to do that from the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the George Bailey character. His successful enterprise had one bad apple in it, which resulted in fraudulent mortgage applications, much like the “too big to fail” banks that did the same thing.
- 6/16/2017
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Few documentarians have made an impact quite like Steve James. Be it his masterpiece Hoop Dreams or the cavalcade of great documentaries he has made following that seminal 1994 picture (a film like The Interrupters only grows in one’s estimation with each passing year), James has become a titan of non-fiction cinema. And his latest is no different.
Despite having a rather on the nose title, Abacus: Small Enough To Jail is yet another superb documentary from James, this time shining a light on the economic crisis of nearly one decade ago. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, where various major banks (the same banks that played a major role in causing that collapse) were deemed “too big to fail,” there was one bank that saw legal action taken against them. Morgan Stanley? No. Lehman Brothers? Lol. The sole bank to see legal action taken against them was not one of the major players,...
Despite having a rather on the nose title, Abacus: Small Enough To Jail is yet another superb documentary from James, this time shining a light on the economic crisis of nearly one decade ago. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, where various major banks (the same banks that played a major role in causing that collapse) were deemed “too big to fail,” there was one bank that saw legal action taken against them. Morgan Stanley? No. Lehman Brothers? Lol. The sole bank to see legal action taken against them was not one of the major players,...
- 6/9/2017
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
Legendary documentary filmmaker Steve James has a gift for effortless empathy. His films have a pre-natural ease with their subjects, chronicling the ordinary and extraordinary with equal levels of awe, and regularly showcasing an ability to enter his subjects’ inner most sanctums without feeling intrusive. James’ films are primarily observational with a few exceptions, but there’s never a sense that James’ camera is anything less than an old friend.
His latest film, Abacus: Small Enough To Jail, is a formal and tonal departure, but also a reiteration of some of James’ most prevailing thematic interests – namely underexposed communities and their mistreatment. A procedural probing into the stranger than fiction court saga of Abacus, a Chinatown bank plagued with wide-scale fraud, it’s anything but a pedestrian court film.
Embracing the disadvantages of recounting an ongoing court case — James and his crew were barred from filming the trial, and were...
His latest film, Abacus: Small Enough To Jail, is a formal and tonal departure, but also a reiteration of some of James’ most prevailing thematic interests – namely underexposed communities and their mistreatment. A procedural probing into the stranger than fiction court saga of Abacus, a Chinatown bank plagued with wide-scale fraud, it’s anything but a pedestrian court film.
Embracing the disadvantages of recounting an ongoing court case — James and his crew were barred from filming the trial, and were...
- 6/7/2017
- by Michael Snydel
- The Film Stage
Lauded documentarian Steve James (best known for his seminal “Hoop Dreams”) returns to the documentary arena with his festival hit, “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail,” another incredible true story that’s almost too cinematic to be believed. But “Abacus” is very real indeed, and it comes complete with complex commentary on such topics as the financial crisis, the more byzantine side of the legal system, and even the necessity of family in tough times. It’s got a little bit of everything, compellingly told as only James could.
The film tells the bizarre and strange story of the Chinese immigrant Sung family, owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York. After the 2008 financial crisis, Abacus was accused of mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and it became the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges.
Read More: ‘Hoop Dreams’ Filmmaker Steve James Producing Unscripted...
The film tells the bizarre and strange story of the Chinese immigrant Sung family, owners of Abacus Federal Savings of Chinatown, New York. After the 2008 financial crisis, Abacus was accused of mortgage fraud by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and it became the only U.S. bank to face criminal charges.
Read More: ‘Hoop Dreams’ Filmmaker Steve James Producing Unscripted...
- 5/9/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Throughout his career, director Steve James has excelled in taking person stories of struggles (in many forms) and conveying them in a relatable, but no less comprehensive fashion. The Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters, and Life Itself director is now back with Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, which follows a family-owned Chinatown bank — the only one indicted in the aftermath of the 2008 American financial crisis. Ahead of a release in a few weeks, the first trailer has now arrived.
We said in our review from Tiff, “That double purpose is the quiet genius of James’ latest documentary, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. The central story recounts the stranger-than-fiction courtroom saga of Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a family-owned Chinatown bank that is still the only bank indicted in the aftermath of the 2008 American financial crisis. But James’ priorities are less about the courtroom minutiae than the case’s reverberations through the owner Thomas Sung,...
We said in our review from Tiff, “That double purpose is the quiet genius of James’ latest documentary, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. The central story recounts the stranger-than-fiction courtroom saga of Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a family-owned Chinatown bank that is still the only bank indicted in the aftermath of the 2008 American financial crisis. But James’ priorities are less about the courtroom minutiae than the case’s reverberations through the owner Thomas Sung,...
- 5/1/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail PBS Distribution Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B+ Director: Steve James Cast: Thomas Sung, Vera Sung, Jill Sung, Heather Sung, Hwei Lin Sung, Matt Taibbi, Cyrus Vance Jr. Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 4/26/17 Opens: May 19, 2017 Early in April 2017, Dr. David Dao was flying home where […]
The post Abacus: Small Enough to Jail Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Abacus: Small Enough to Jail Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 4/28/2017
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker and Oscar nominee Steve James (Hoop Dreams, Life Itself) is at it again, bringing us another worldly, incredibly human story to chew on. Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, a David vs Goliath tale at heart, finds the director accompanying a real life George Bailey as he confronts injustice.
Thomas Sung is the founder of the only domestic bank (Abacus Federal Savings Bank) to be plastered with charges relating to the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, and he spearheaded the battle to save his family-operated institution against Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., as well as criminal indictment. Not considered “too big to fail” but fittingly “small enough to jail,” Sung and three of his four daughters fight to clear their family name and avoid becoming the country’s scapegoat.
As we said in our review, “In telling the story of one family, he’s opened up a new understanding...
Thomas Sung is the founder of the only domestic bank (Abacus Federal Savings Bank) to be plastered with charges relating to the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, and he spearheaded the battle to save his family-operated institution against Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., as well as criminal indictment. Not considered “too big to fail” but fittingly “small enough to jail,” Sung and three of his four daughters fight to clear their family name and avoid becoming the country’s scapegoat.
As we said in our review, “In telling the story of one family, he’s opened up a new understanding...
- 10/18/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Steve James’ filmography has long been about finding entry into larger conversations through intimate portraits. The director’s landmark debut, Hoop Dreams, and latter-day efforts like 2014’s monument to critic Roger Ebert, Life Itself, don’t have much in common on the surface, but they both use their central characters to tell larger stories about big picture topics like structural dysfunction and the purpose of film criticism.
That double purpose is the quiet genius of James’ latest documentary, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. The central story recounts the stranger-than-fiction courtroom saga of Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a family-owned Chinatown bank that is still the only bank indicted in the aftermath of the 2008 American financial crisis. But James’ priorities are less about the courtroom minutiae than the case’s reverberations through the owner Thomas Sung, his family, and their misunderstood immigrant community.
What’s compelling about the case is not whether Abacus is innocent or guilty,...
That double purpose is the quiet genius of James’ latest documentary, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail. The central story recounts the stranger-than-fiction courtroom saga of Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a family-owned Chinatown bank that is still the only bank indicted in the aftermath of the 2008 American financial crisis. But James’ priorities are less about the courtroom minutiae than the case’s reverberations through the owner Thomas Sung, his family, and their misunderstood immigrant community.
What’s compelling about the case is not whether Abacus is innocent or guilty,...
- 9/16/2016
- by Michael Snydel
- The Film Stage
After the financial collapse of 2008, a number of big banks received government bailouts, but only one bank faced criminal changes. It was a small, family-owned bank in New York’s Chinatown — and the story of how one small institution fought the government in court while the biggest culprits walked away with taxpayer money is the subject of Steve James‘ new documentary, “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail.” The bank, Abacus Federal Savings Bank, was founded by Thomas Sung in 1984 to serve the Chinese immigrant community in New York. After the financial meltdown, Abacus itself found evidence of low-level mortgage...
- 9/7/2016
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
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