After over a decade in the corporate world as a filmmaker, documentarian Brandon Faris has returned to Erlanger to share some of his favorite kinds of stories: humanity in smaller narratives.
At the beginning of 2024 Faris’s son broke his phone, which led him to upgrade to the newest iPhone. After playing with the new camera features on it, Faris realized it was an amazing tool that fit right into his pocket. He immediately began to brainstorm what he could do with his new tech and created his YouTube channel Pocket Docs.
“I thought, man, this is a great tool, it’s right here in my pocket [and] I should do something with it and find small stories to tell,” he said. “ You know, I’ve got the big stories that I’m doing, and that’s all professional stuff, but what about small stories, small businesses, small opportunities, those types of things.”
After the birth of Pocket Docs, Faris started with stories across the country such as a VHS rental shop in Atlanta, Georgia and a tattoo shop in Portland, Maine. Faris said ultimately, the idea brought him back to his own city of Erlanger.
Faris soon reached out to Erlanger’s mayor Jessica Fette and her team, and from there, small business features began releasing monthly. Since then, the city and Faris have released videos featuring Ocho Loco and Putt Putt. While these films promote the city of Erlanger, it also connects people through “[the] humanity, the humor, and the dreams behind the business.”
“It’s about finding the story within the story,” said Faris.
“It’s not about [the] Mexican restaurant, Ocho Loco, it’s about following our dreams and going from where we started to where we are now, and what we’ve learned along the way… That creates a deeper connection, one that’s meaningful and gets beyond transactional. It gets into the heart of who we are as a community.”
By amplifying the stories within his community, Faris said he hopes to inspire community members to have an appreciation for the rich diversity within their community. To Faris, everyone has a story worth telling, and he wants to share that within his community through the connections his documentaries foster.
“I’ve had people cry, saying, ‘You see me, you understand me,’” he said. “These moments, he believes, are what make the work truly meaningful.”
To find some of Faris’ other works you can go to his website here or his YouTube channel Pocket Docs Project.