I just came across this old article about our 2005 film, "Code 33". This piece focuses on how the film isn't "about" media but has a strong subtext that deals with it. Our goal is often to follow a story that plays out in the media, from behind the scenes. Through this process one is able to discern on some...
This morning I woke to a voice message from a friend in Prague. He was terrified that something terrible had happened at Occupy Wall Street because all of the live streams he had followed the day before, during the massive protests, were shut down. He thought that either everyone had been arrested, or that all of the cell service had...
If one were to judge the Occupy Wall Street movement based on my friends' facebook feeds, it would be clear that the revolution was over and that we had won. Creative people would forever be free to be creative and the tyranny and corruption of "efficency" would be banished from the land. As such I might have an irrationally exuberant...
I stayed up late last night looking at footage from the occupy wall street protest. For the most part it’s pretty mild stuff. There are very few truncheons swinging. Yet the tone of dismissal and power is overwhelming. There’s a palpable anger among the officers even as the protesters remain non-violent. What’s even more disturbing is that the white shirts...
I haven’t been down to Wall Street yet. I almost went today with my 5 year old after we biked to Chinatown, but it felt wrong. I am in full support of raising questions and I am appalled by both the press and the police brutality. Part of the reason I haven’t gone is that I have a very hard time...
We locked picture (at least on the first reel) and the sound mixer, Alex at Resoundpost, is hard at work on the sound mix. In a couple of days filmmaker Greg King (Our House) will start doing finish work on the picture. This morning we have been working with our indispensable composer David Reid, who along with Derek Bermel, has been...
When I was a freshman in high school, I became somewhat obsessed with photography. I was "that guy" who took most of the pictures for the school paper and the yearbook. I knew that I wanted to be a photographer, but I didn't want to go to art school, or journalism school for that matter. I intuitively knew that it...
This fall, as the pace of education"reform" in New York cranked up, I started to pay more attention to what was going on. With two children in my local public school, I quickly realized that the more I looked, the less I liked what I saw. I began to write about the subject to try to get my head around...
Today is the 5th anniversary of my father's death. My mom seems to be trying to join him. Yesterday she fell on some steps and cut her head badly enough to require staples. After poking, prodding, and some cat scans it was determined that she had suffered no long term damage. I wasn't around - she's in NC and I...
If you’ve been to a protest in the last 10 years, you’ve likely heard the chant, “The people, united, will never be defeated.” The opposite is true as well. When the government pits community against community, as it is now doing in the process of promoting charter schools designed to compete with community schools, it's important to...
The internet is a terrible place to discuss ideas and work out complex feelings. Yet, in our hyper busy culture we seem to fall back on it more and more. It's difficult to make time for a community meeting, but we end up having our days taken over by comment wars. Over the last couple of years I have followed...
I have been extremely busy with finishing the Battle of Brooklyn- as well as taking care of my kids, so I haven't had much time to focus on Donor 67. However, today an old friend, who i hadn't seen in years stopped by. He was a donor in college and introduced me to the lab. A couple of years ago...