Alumnus Alex Carig (B.A., ’82) spent more than three decades working in broadcast and film, mostly in special effects, but it wasn’t until he was 67 years old that he got his dream job. He helped adapt the screenplay and later directed the award-winning feature film “A Long Road to Tao.” 

Now available to rent on Amazon Prime, Storietv.com and Tubi, the film has another special connection to Carig. The screenplay is based on the1997 Pulitzer Prize-nominated memoir “The Tao of Surfing: Finding Depth at Low Tide,” written by his brother-in-law Michael Allen. Allen’s book chronicles his relationship with his childhood friend and surfing buddy. Later in life, Allen learned his best friend was gay and dying of AIDS. Allen also attended SFSU as a graduate student in Philosophy before completing his graduate degree in Philosophy at California State University, Long Beach. In his book, he applies a philosophical lens — dipping into Taoism and spirituality — to his experience of grief and loss. 

The story is both personal and educational, Carig says. “We realized that this was a story that could teach generations of today what life was like back then, because today, as we know, the HIV virus can now be controlled by medical advances that we didn’t have in the ’80s and ’90s,” Carig said. Allen’s friend went into hiding because there was a lot of misunderstanding about AIDS, as well as broad discrimination against the LGBTQ community. The film turned Carig into a bit of a social activist, he says. He’s screened the film at LGBTQ organizations and events.

Carig plans to screen the film at small independent theatres. The movie, 20 years in the making, nearly had a different kind of theatrical run. Originally, a Hollywood production company signed on to the project with a different director, and actor Eric Balfour was hired to star. Allen didn’t like the direction the film was taking and took over the project himself, tapping his brother-in-law Carig for screenplay and directorial assistance. 

“I knew there is no one better to direct this film than Alex Carig, as he has the deeper understanding of what this film is really about and what it was meant to achieve,” Allen said.

Instead of a Hollywood-trained crew, Carig turned to students at New Mexico State University to make their version of “A Long Road to Tao.” The movie, which was filmed on location in New Mexico, became the focus of a semester-long undergraduate class on full-length films. Their professor Sherwin Lau also became the director of photography and the colorist for the film. 

In terms of a 90-minute, full-length feature, that’s a lot of eyes, ears, legs and arms moving about. At times what seems chaotic is really a ballet of movement that can only work when everyone has the same dream in mind,” Carig said. “Thankfully I was able to find the proper faculty and the student body to make this all work.” 

Signing on to the project meant Carig was finally doing what he set out to do at SFSU nearly 45 years ago. He poured everything he learned from his directing courses at SFSU into the production. “San Francisco State taught me how to communicate through film, through image, sound and really reach out to a larger audience out there,” he added. 

Recently, he was rewarded for his work.  Over the summer, the film received top recognition from the Marina Del Rey Film Festival — the grand prize for Best Feature Film. Hopefully there’s more to come, he adds. 

“It’s the kind of story that I’ve always wanted to make that can be seen over and over again,” he said. “I’ve had many people come up to me that told me that [the film] reminded them of their brother or sister that died of the disease. I’ve had men cry in the audience, which is a testament to what I learned at San Francisco State and in life in general. With the proper opportunity and obviously with the right people that you are surrounded by, you can make some very special magic that will resonate with a larger society.” 

Interested in a film career? SFSU’s School of Cinema can turn that dream into reality.