Open Doom Crescendo

12/04/2026

ecorsair.pensacolastate.edu/open-doom-crescendo-a-movie-99-of-readers-will-never-attempt-to-see

And an ode to the 1% who did

17/10/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P7lrsCKXqY

From the Genre Gems Film Festival press release:

Genre Gems is thrilled to present the definitive director's cut of our 2025 signal film. After a successful inaugural edition, Chiu's iconic 2-minute short film won over the hearts of Ottawa audiences during the sixteen-screening event. Today, we're honoured to present the complete vision of his project, in collaboration with the Montreal-based comic-book shop 1000000 Comix - Jean-Talon/MTL

Directed by Terry Chiu
Co-created by Henri Gillespi, Adam Honigman, Joshua Lai, Cole Paquet
Produced by David Cuevas

We’ve long admired Terry Chiu's underground filmography. After premiering his debut feature, Mangoshake, at the Vancouver International Film Festival, Chiu returned to do-it-yourself micro-budget filmmaking with his expansive three-hour opus Open Doom Crescendo. Since its release, the ambitious film has garnered a cult-audience at underground screenings and festivals around the globe.

“This marks an earlier-than-imagined return to filmmaking [along with a segment in Adam Thorn’s upcoming FARCES OF DEATH 2], told in a format closer to 2 minutes, rather than 2 hours 55 minutes," says Terry Chiu.

"I grew up around comic book shops and VHS rental stores. I was never an expert on any comics title or genre of cinema, but being a part of these spaces was palpably formative to my geek passion. 1000000 Comix has, since my childhood, been and still is to this day my most cherished pop culture space, and I’m grateful that the store and its owners, Frank and Emilio, are still going decades later. I hope to give back with this signal film, showcasing this iconic local business, and help bring new customers and fans to 1000000 Comix."

In an earlier press release, Terry touched upon why the signal film was so personal to him:

"These last few years have resulted in constant exposure to gatekeeping, alienation from my peers, and doubts about continuing creatively. I loathe edgelord complicity. I loathe hipster passivity. I loathe vogue cynicism. I loathe virtue signalling, hypocrisy, and the black hole where non-performative sincerity used to be. May this signal film be a calling to creative resistance.”

The first edition of Genre Gems ran from October 1st to 5th, 2025.

Genre Gems is thrilled to present the definitive director's cut of our 2025 signal film. After a successful inaugural edition, Chiu's iconic 2-minute short f...

16/10/2025

theseventhart.org/terry-chiu-interview

The boldest, most personal talk I’ll ever contribute to for Open Doom Crescendo sees the light of day thanks to Nikita Zhang and Lulu Liu ’s creative leadership, putting this all together, and persevering to find it publication. With Nikita and Lulu—the two coolest gals making real artistic change in Toronto—we bonded over Chinese diaspora pride in the face of Sinophobia, “Fancy Asian” bias, and the Western gaze. We discussed no-budget filmmaking’s potential if used as a non-narcissist's force of creative resistance. They listened to me get emo-honest about lifelong depression and alienation. And we deconstruct middle-aged hipster baristas cause they’re the worst.

Special thanks to The Seventh Art editor Christopher Heron!

Nikita Zhang and Lulu Liu talk with the Montréal-based filmmaker behind Mangoshake (2018) and Open DooM Crescendo (2022).

08/08/2025

https://crescendoangst.net/2025/08/04/defending-outsider-art/

At this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival, I took part as the supervillain on a directors’ panel ostensibly titled “Art Lives! Canadian Outsider Cinema vs. the Machine” – essentially abou…

01/07/2025

https://crescendoangst.net/2025/06/21/soon-enough-the-beginning/

I miss my stray cat Gigi. He’s been gone for two months now (four at the time of publication)—disappeared, the last previous record six days. The hard part of mourning him is gauging how much I sho…

10/06/2025

LOS ANGELES ✊🤘🫶

10/05/2025

Come for the existentialism, stay for the exits

Highlights from the Eastern Promises 4/20 screening moderated by Thomas Chan and recorded by They Might Be Movies and interactivity from Adam Riot Thorn

12/04/2025

It starts again

08/04/2025

https://www.splittoothmedia.com/place-beyond-the-pines/

Marketed as an A-lister thirst trap extravaganza, the cops-and-robbers drama unfolds into a tale of loss and heartbreak through generations.

17/03/2025

https://crescendoangst.net/2025/03/17/no-matter-what

I spent the midday afternoon at a friend’s art studio, the workshop building situated in the closed-off but simultaneously sprawling landscape of a working industrial neighborhood. The sun blazed i…

28/02/2025

DIY and interpersonal methodology

Open Doom Crescendo Gold Ninja Video blu-ray commentary with Justin Decloux Peter Kuplowsky Ethan Eng

https://goldninjavideo.com

15/02/2025

Excerpted from the Open Doom Crescendo blu-ray commentary

goldninjavideo.com