ANNOUNCING THE “CRAFT OF SPEED”MOONEYES PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK

“Craft of Speed” is an extensive multimedia project about MOONEYES, a historic American speed parts company that has grown into an enduring international brand. This project encompasses a feature documentary, videos, cinema events, a documentary photography series, and now a photography book.

The “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Photography Book documents the world of MOONEYES, which celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2025, from the famous MOONEYES headquarters in Santa Fe Springs, California to Shige Suganuma, the Owner of MOONEYES, conducting a test & tune of his MOONEYES Dragster at the beloved Irwindale Dragstrip in Irwindale, California to Chico Kodama, the President of MOONEYES USA, building and racing his new rear engine modified roadster at the epic Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah.

The photography is by photographer/filmmaker, Ming Lai, who spent four years documenting MOONEYES. The graphic design is by design director/graphic designer, Sven Igawa, who’s created brand identities and advertising campaigns for many national and international brands, including Crank Brothers, HBO, Icon Aircraft, Mountain Hardwear, PlayStation, Quiksilver, VF Corp, and Western Digital.

With 100 pages of timeless color and black-and-white photos*, the “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Photography Book is a luxurious slow read of the fast world of MOONEYES. The book is dedicated to MOONEYES fans, hot rodders, racers, car & motorcycle culture lovers, craftspeople, and this incredible international community.

We’re currently designing the photography book and will publish it under our imprint, Humanist Films X Igawa Design. We plan to officially release the photography book at the MOONEYES Hot Rod Custom Show in Yokohama, Japan on Sunday, 12/7/2025. However, we’ll be showing previews of the photograph book at our upcoming events.

We’ll be accepting pre-orders of the photograph book from now until the MOONEYES Hot Rod Custom Show. We’ll start shipping the books after the show. Be one of the first to receive a copy of “Craft of Speed.”

craftofspeed.com

Photography by Ming Lai
Design by Sven Igawa
Publisher: Humanist Films X Igawa Design

8 inches X 10 inches*
Hard Cover*
100 Pages*
100 Images*
Published in 2025
ISBN TBA

*The book is still being designed, and its dimensions, cover, paper, page count, image selection, and graphic design may change.

To pre-order the “Craft of Speed” Photography Book:
https://www.craftofspeed.com/store/photographybook

SAVE THE DATE: MOONEYES HAWAII OHANA WEEKEND 8/23/2025 - 8/24/2025 / “CRAFT OF SPEED” MOONEYES DOCUMENTARY SCREENING 8/24/2025 / OAHU, HAWAII

On Saturday, 8/23/2025, MOONEYES Hawaii will be exhibiting at SPOCOM Hawaii, the largest car show in the state. Pinstriper “Wildman” and Imagineer emi will be joining the celebration. On Sunday, 8/24/2025, “Wildman” will be doing an exciting pinstriping demo starting in the morning, and then, there will be a screening of the award-winning “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Documentary in the afternoon. Enjoy an entire weekend of family, community, and aloha. Stay tuned for more details.

To learn more about MOONEYES Hawaii Ohana Weekend 2025:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/719340744013832

To learn more about MOONEYES Hawaii:
mooneyeshawaii.com / @mooneyes_hawaii

To learn more about “Craft of Speed”:
craftofspeed.com
humanistfilms.com / @humanistfilms

“CRAFT OF SPEED” TO EXHIBIT AT THE 29TH ANNUAL ALL TOYOTAFEST

The “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Documentary will be exhibiting at the 29th Annual All Toyotafest on Saturday, 6/28/2025 at Marina Glen Park in Long Beach, California. Our booth is located next to the MOONEYES booth.

Learn more about our feature documentary about MOONEYES. Find out about our upcoming cinema events and multimedia projects. And celebrate with this incredible car community.

Because we love Toyotas, from classic to modern ones, we’re very excited to participate in the long-running All Toyotafest. The organizers also put on the popular Japanese Classic Car Show, which is about to celebrate their 20th anniversary on Saturday, 10/11/2025. To honor their important work in preserving automotive history and promoting international car culture, we featured them in our documentary.

We’ll be exhibiting with our friends at the Japanese American National Museum, who will be promoting their upcoming exhibit, “Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community.” This landmark exhibit will open on 7/31/2025 and run through 11/12/2025 at the beautiful ArtCenter College of Design / Peter & Merle Mullin Gallery in Pasadena, California.

Thank you so much to Terry & Koji Yamaguchi, All Toyotafest, the Toyota Owners & Restorers Club, and the Japanese Classic Car Show for this wonderful opportunity to participate in your exciting event. Thank you to our friends at the Japanese American National Museum for exhibiting with us.

29TH ANNUAL ALL TOYOTAFEST / ‘‘CRAFT OF SPEED” EXHIBITOR WITH JANM

ALL TOYOTAFEST
Long Beach, California

Saturday, 6/28/2025
9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Marina Green Park
386 E. Shoreline Dr.
Long Beach, CA 90802

Parking is across the street and surrounding lots.

To learn more about All Toyotafest:
https://toyotaclub.org/

To buy tickets:
https://torc.ticketspice.com/29th-annual-all-toyotafest

To learn more about “Craft of Speed”:
craftofspeed.com

To learn more about the Japanese American National Museum’s “Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community” Exhibit:
https://www.janm.org/exhibits/cruising-j-town

EXPERIENCE THE CINEMAKINA: "CRAFT OF SPEED" MOONEYES DOCUMENTARY SCREENING / CAR SHOW / PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT

Thank you to everyone who participated in our CineMakina: “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Documentary / Car Show / Photography Exhibit, presented by Makina Drivers Club X Humanist Films! Check out a selection of photos from our cinema experience. This is what an event created by the community for the community looks like. Many thanks again!

Read our official Thank You:
https://www.humanistfilms.com/news/2025/3/3/thank-you-to-everyone-who-attended-our-cinemakina-craft-of-speed-mooneyes-documentary-screening

Learn more about CineMakina:
https://www.humanistfilms.com/news/2025/1/15/makina-drivers-club-x-humanist-films-present-cinemakina-craft-of-speed-mooneyes-documentary-screening-at-8th-amp-santa-fe

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ATTENDED OUR CINEMAKINA: “CRAFT OF SPEED” MOONEYES DOCUMENTARY SCREENING!

Thank you to everyone who attended the CineMakina: “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Documentary Screening, presented by Makina Drivers Club X Humanist Films! Our deepest gratitude to Shige Suganuma, Chico Kodama, and the entire MOONEYES family for allowing us to share your important story. Much love to Nick Tolosa of Makina Drivers Club and his family and Anthony Ngo of 8th & Santa Fe and his entire team for their great collaboration.

Many thanks to our featured speed shops and builders—Benton Performance, Bulletproof Restorations, Current Los Angeles, Manofield + Mobile Weld Specialist, Sleepers Speed Shop, The M Shop, Timeless Autoworks, Vintage Japanese Motor Union, and Vintage Vochos—and exhibiting photographers—Andy Bermudez @floral.nef, Andres Caceres @rflctve, Jacob Martinez @_kidsoftoday, Elias Omar @omarchived, TJ Roque @mr.mukatsuku, Tyler Rousseau @tyler_rousseau, and Justin Villanueva @justinrvillanueva—for the honor of showcasing your inspiring work. Much appreciation to our Special Guests—Oliver Wang and Chelsea Liu of the Japanese American National Museum’s upcoming exhibit, “Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community.”

Cheers to Amboy, Oinkster, Highland Cafe, and Set the Bar for expanding our cinema event into a culinary one. A shout out to our DJ, Vitaliano, for spinning records and turning our event into a party. We’re very grateful to John Pompa of Syndicate Press for handprinting our limited edition “Honor the Past. Build the Future.” posters for all of our guests. A special thank you to Gary Israelian for being our hero and a good friend. Thank you to all our family and friends for your hard work with event support.

Our utmost gratitude to Jon Dunn, Diane Dunn, and Jim Dunn of Jim Dunn Racing for your gracious support our film. Doumo arigatou gozaimashita to Terry, Koji, and Ty Yamaguchi of Japanese Classic Car Show for your kind help. Most of all, thank you to all our attendees, including Karen Brown of MotorTrend, Brian Kadorian of Hagerty, Rev. Hibiki Murakami of Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, and many respected companies, organizations, and individuals, who made CineMakina a unique and special cinema experience. Lastly, a heartfelt thank you to everyone for your generous assistance with L.A. wildfire recovery.

See event phots:
https://www.humanistfilms.com/news/2025/3/3/experience-the-cinemakina-craft-of-speed-mooneyes-documentary-screening-car-show-photography-exhibit

INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING IS ANYTHING BUT INDEPENDENT. IT'S CREATED IN COLLABORATION WITH OTHERS.

In documentary, you work closely with your subjects. We’ve had the joy of spending more than four years with MOONEYES on this multimedia project, which includes a feature documentary, documentary photography series, cinema events, and more. To create this expansive project, we’ve enlisted the help of gracious MOONEYES family, friends, and colleagues; respected experts; and talented crew.

During the pandemic, we received precious aid from the California Humanities CA Cares Relief Grant and Doc Society to survive during this challenging time. Our fiscal sponsor, the International Documentary Association, has provided invaluable filmmaking support. Through two crowdfunding campaigns, we were blessed by many generous donors from all over the world to help finish the film.

To independently distribute our film, we’ve partnered with many leading automotive museums, renowned industrial design colleges, respected automotive publications, and rising car culture brands. We’re honored to collaborate with Nick Tolosa of Makina Drivers Club and Anthony Ngo of 8th & Santa Fe.

To organize our CineMakina: “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Documentary Screening / Car Show / Photography Exhibit, presented by Makina Drivers Club and Humanist Films, we’re excited to work with many innovative speed shops, talented photographers, celebrated food & beverage vendors, and kind volunteers. Most of all, we’re grateful to all of the devoted MOONEYES fans and passionate automotive community, for whom we made this film.

To all of these people, families, companies, and organizations, we owe a debt of thanks. We’ve always thought independent filmmaking is about collaboration and gratitude.

To learn more about CineMakina on Saturday, 3/1/2025 at 8th & Santa Fe in Downtown, Los Angeles:
https://www.craftofspeed.com/newsarchive/makina-drivers-club-x-humanist-films-present-cinemakina-craft-of-speed-mooneyes-documentary-screening-at-8th-amp-santa-fe

To buy tickets:
craftofspeed.eventive.org

YOU WATCH A MOVIE. EVEN BETTER, YOU SEE SOMEONE REBUILD THEIR LIFE.

A PORTION OF THE PROCEEDS FROM CINEMAKINA WILL GO TO L.A. WILDFIRE RECOVERY.

As the news of the Los Angeles wildfires recede from the headlines, it becomes even more critical to assist those in need. Makina Drivers Club and Humanist Films are based in L.A. We couldn’t help but feel heartbroken by the wildfires in our great city. We have dear friends who have lost their homes. We’ve frequented thriving businesses that have been destroyed. We’ve enjoyed the beautiful natural surroundings that have been ravaged. Through our CineMakina: “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Documentary Screening, we hope we can help, even in a small way. A portion of the proceeds will go to L.A. wildfire recovery. We plan to donate it to the respected California Community Foundation. We deeply appreciate your support of CineMakina and our humble efforts to assist.

To learn more about CineMakina on Saturday, 3/1/2025 at 8th & Santa Fe in Downtown, Los Angeles:
https://www.craftofspeed.com/newsarchive/makina-drivers-club-x-humanist-films-present-cinemakina-craft-of-speed-mooneyes-documentary-screening-at-8th-amp-santa-fe

To learn more about California Community Foundation:
https://www.calfund.org/

To buy tickets to CineMakina:
craftofspeed.eventive.org

A CINEMA EXPERIENCE CREATED ESPECIALLY FOR YOU

Like independent filmmaking, independent film distribution is extremely tough. This is especially challenging with a niche feature documentary about hot rodding and car & motorcycle culture like our “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Documentary. Many, if not most, independent films can’t find distributors. Even films that are selected and even awarded by the major film festivals can have a difficult time securing them.

Even if the independent films do find distributors, the deals that they receive are usually not profitable or even fair. More often than not, they're preyed upon by predatory distributors, who demand all of their rights as well as their profits in exchange for elusive distribution. Any earnings are buried in their high marketing costs. So independent filmmakers aren’t able to survive, much less thrive.

Independent filmmakers have thus resorted to independent distribution. Sometimes, they work with “aggregators," a type of intermediary to get their films into the major streaming companies. Lately, despite paying expensive fees, they still aren’t able to get their films into the streaming companies.

Currently, streaming companies, which are actually tech companies, are in a state of contraction, downsizing and not acquiring independent films. Independent filmmakers are therefore left with no place to release their films.

So what are independent filmmakers to do? How can they distribute their films? How can they make a living? How can they have a long-term sustainable career? One way is to do what filmmakers, especially independent ones, do best—be creative. As Specialized, one of the leading bicycle manufacturers, said in their classic tagline, “Innovate or die.”

To be more specific, independent filmmakers may have to go outside of the traditional film distribution system. They may have to reach out to their audiences directly. Luckily, no one knows their audiences better than them. This independent distribution strategy helps shift the power from the distributors and streaming companies, who are profit driven, to the filmmakers, who are creative driven.

This isn’t a new idea. It’s actually an old one. Starting in the 1950s until his retirement in 1988, Warren Miller, one of the first skiing, snowboarding, and action sports filmmakers, pioneered independent distribution by renting his own theaters, doing his own marketing, and hosting his own screenings. He connected with his own niche audience of skiers, snowboarders, action sports enthusiasts, and outdoor lovers directly. Ultimately, he lived to 93 and had a prolific career, producing, writing, and directing hundreds of successful films.

This direct-to-consumer distribution model involves audience building or, more generally, community building. When we decided to distribute our film independently, we were honored to work with leading automotive museums, renowned industrial design colleges, respected automotive publications, and rising car culture brands to reach the widespread automotive community.

For our latest cinema event, the CineMakina: MOONEYES Documentary Screening on Saturday, 3/1/2025 at 8th & Santa Fe in Los Angeles, California, we’re thrilled to collaborate with Nick Tolosa of Makina Drivers Club, Anthony Ngo of 8th & Santa Fe, and all of the featured speed shops, exhibiting photographers, celebrated food & beverage vendors, and other talented folks involved with the event. In addition to being good people, they're great at building a strong community. Imagine a rich cinema experience created by your community specifically for you.

To learn more about CineMakina:
https://www.craftofspeed.com/newsarchive/makina-drivers-club-x-humanist-films-present-cinemakina-craft-of-speed-mooneyes-documentary-screening-at-8th-amp-santa-fe

To buy tickets to CineMakina:
craftofspeed.eventive.org