Beard Club, the documentary

We are still accepting tax deductible donations: 

Visit our San Francisco Film Society donation page to make a tax deductible donation and have a chance to be in the film.  See more details on our website.

The Film 

BEARD CLUB is a journey to understand the social politics of facial hair.

Each day, every man must decide either to shave or not to shave. The act can be one of conformity, rebellion, laziness, or transition.

Visiting men in their various domains, from pubs to barbershops, filmmaker Laura J. Lukitsch opens a window into the way men think about relationships, work, religion, and identity. Turning her lens towards the sometimes humorous power dynamics of growing and shaving facial hair, her exploration takes us to six countries and twelve cities to view the contemporary influence of the West and find that in the area of beards, personal choice is not always what it appears to be.

Whether you wear a beard or not, you are invited to join the club…

Our Story

The making of this film has been a ten year journey and we’re finally ready to start the process of getting the film out into the world.  The idea for the film was born in 2003 when I was driving to New Mexico for my sister’s wedding.  At a Sedona rest stop I ran into a bus-load of German World Beard and Mustache competitors.  I had never seen such facial hair!  Before seeing these amazing styles I had never given facial hair much thought.  But I soon learned that many people had very STRONG opinions about those face follicles.

That original encounter led to a journey to over 12 cities in six countries to uncover the story behind sometimes extreme, love-hate relationship with facial hair. What I discovered is that facial hair has its own set of social politics and those politics have been alive and well for centuries. 

Next Steps! 

The final stretch! Raising funds to make the film broadcast ready!

Many talented people have helped make this film possible, editor, Jeff Springer, animators, Chelsea Walton and Heather Crank, and many folks who spent hours transcribing scripts, searching for images, and giving important feedback on rough edits.  And if it wasn’t for them the film couldn’t have gotten made.  Now we need help with finishing costs. 

We had a goal to raise $15,000 and are 1/3rd of the way there!  Now we need to raise the remaining $9,797 to complete the task.

Funds will go towards:

• the remaining archival rights.
• artists fees (beardy images and tunes used in the film).
• the technical work of getting the film ready for broadcast. 
• and getting the DVDs made, packaged and shipped!

What took so long to get to this stage, you ask?  Archival rights.  In August we learned that a potentially significant cost (over $10,000) associated with securing the rights to use certain news footage and other images, was cleared under fair use.  The film was vetted by Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society Fair Use Project Documentary Film Project, who went over each clip and made that determination.   We could have taken these images out to speed up the process, but then you’d have only been told half the story.

With that cost no longer a factor, we feel we can raise the remaining funds necessary to launch the film and we’re so excited to be able to get it out to you by Christmas!  And we’re really excited about the possibility of doing so!

Ways You Can Help

If you are a lover of beards or a bearded lover, help us out by contribute to this cause! And every bit counts!  If you have a dollar, we'll send you a virtual beard hug!  If you can contribute more, we have Beard Club buttons, posters, first run copies of the DVD and more.  And all donations are tax deductible.  

And help out by liking the video and sharing our campaign on Facebook and Twitter.  If your friends, colleagues or significant other loves beards, ask them if they can donate! Help us spread the word so we can get BEARD CLUB to a mailbox, computer or smartphone near you! 

PERKS