The 'boro 'bucks story

A star, bucking the system

By Sherry F. Pruitt

Sun staff writer

JONESBORO -- Making the documentary film, "Starbucking," was the goal that a 1991 Nettleton High School graduate wanted to accomplish before law school.

"For me, making this documentary was the realization of a goal that I set for myself more than 10 years before," said Bill TANGEMAN, whose parents, Richard TANGEMAN and Jane Comstock, have lived in Jonesboro for more than 30 years.

"I worked for a few years in broadcast journalism," TANGEMAN said. "When I left that for law school, I created the goal of making a documentary as a way to continue using my journalistic and video production skills. It was great fun to create."

TANGEMAN said he is especially proud the film was good enough for a distribution deal.

"Starbucking" tells the story of a man named Winter, who for 10 years has been spending all of his money on a mission to visit every Starbucks coffee house in the world, TANGEMAN explained in an e-mail interview.

"He sleeps in his car and is continually on the road traveling to new Starbucks. He has been to more than 7,000 stores worldwide," the filmmaker said. "'Starbucking' is an examination of an extremely bizarre and obsessed individual who leads an insane lifestyle."

Winter, TANGEMAN said, is a native of Houston whose given name is Rafael Antonio Lozano, but he legally changed it to "Winter."

"Starbucking" is just under an hour and a half. The DVD also contains some bonus footage and a full-length director's commentary track, TANGEMAN said.

"The name is descriptive of the lifestyle of the subject of the documentary," he added.

The film was screened at a number of film festivals around the country and may screen at a festival in Sweden in October. It also played at theaters in Nashville and New Mexico.

Northeast Arkansas residents also can view the local man's work. In Jonesboro the DVD is available at Barnes & Noble, Hastings and Circuit City. Hollywood Video and Netflix also have it for rental.

"I read an article in the Washington Post about Winter in 2004 and knew right away that he was an individual who would make a fascinating subject for a documentary," TANGEMAN said. "I contacted him right away and he agreed to let me make the film. I shot the first footage in November 2004 in New York City."

He said he began working on "Starbucking" in the summer of 2004 and finished editing a rough cut in December of the following year. The final version was released on DVD a few weeks ago, the Jonesboro native said.

TANGEMAN said his high school journalism teacher, Debbie Findley, was a great inspiration for his work, but added that the main character of the documentary also was inspiring.

"[Winter] is willing to go against the norms of society to pursue his own goal," TANGEMAN said. "He shows amazing tenacity in the face of enormous criticism by people who simply label him as insane."

Though film projects take lots of time and are very involved, TANGEMAN also balances other tasks.

"I'm studying Spanish and am in the process of becoming certified to teach high school Spanish through a post-baccalaureate teachers certification program at the University of Nebraska," TANGEMAN said. He plans to start teaching Spanish at a high school near Lincoln, Neb., in August.

TANGEMAN graduated from the University of Kansas in Lawrence with a journalism degree in 1995 and earned a law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law in Lincoln in 2000.

"With release of 'Starbucking,' I'm finally free to begin dedicating time to new projects," TANGEMAN said. "I've already started working on another documentary project about a man obsessed with reality TV."