You might notice that this final installment of Substack on Film runs a bit longer than usual—and with good reason. At 90 years old,
has no shortage of stories to tell. We only shot twelve minutes of film, but more than half of it made the final cut (a rarity in documentaries, where the typical ratio is closer to 20:1).Lloyd is a pioneer of the green building movement and a writer, editor, photographer, and publisher. There’s a lot to admire about Lloyd, but we especially love his deep curiosity and compulsion to share what he learns. That curiosity extends to publishing platforms; he joined Substack just last year, at the age of eighty-nine.
In the film, we followed him through the Bay Area he knows so well: tending his garden in Bolinas, biking the neighborhood, swimming at Aquatic Park, and savoring an Irish coffee at The Buena Vista Cafe. When we suggested ending with a shot of Lloyd leaving The Buena Vista, he asked, “Can I keep going?” so we let him get on with his day in the city. Realizing we probably should’ve said goodbye, we tried to catch up, but couldn’t—he’s impressively quick.
This marks the final film in our first season of Substack on Film, all shot on 16mm in the Bay Area by director
. You can check out the previous editions, featuring Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, Jasmine Sun, Violet Witchel, and Viv Chen.Have strong feelings on what city we should film next? Let us know in the comments.
