Janus (2021)

Experimental Nonfiction

Producer / Director / Editor / Director of Photography  

Appropriating Walter Benjamin’s working method of collecting and archiving ideas through constellations built of fragments, Janus weaves together stories from the past and the present. In a poetic montage of images and sounds, the film features my own family’s escape from Germany in 1938 as well as excerpts of personal stories of crossing borders in the recent past. By juxtaposing these fragments of history and experience, the film emphasizes reverberations through time and across territories and communities. This film has been funded by the Minnesota State Arts Board and Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council.

Nonfiction | TRT: 80mins

Producer / Director / Editor / Director of Photography

Queens Of The Revolution is a portrait of Mejunje, a cultural center in Santa Clara that paved the road for LGBTQ+ rights in Cuba. Meandering through the streets of Santa Clara, into the homes of drag performers and on to the stage, the film tells the story of Mejunje through a chorus of voices. This community was violently persecuted but instead of fleeing, they chose to stay and fight for change in the country they love. 

Experimental Nonfiction | TRT: 14:33mins 

Producer / Director / Writer / Editor / Director of Photography

A personal essay film exploring pregnancy loss and a late-term abortion. Hand-drawn stop motion animation and live action scenes meditate on the physical and spiritual dimensions of loss and grief. Shot in both black and white 16mm film and HD color video, contrasting filmic media embody the duality inherent to states of both pregnancy and grief: a flickering between inner and outer, between the invisible and the visible.

Nonfiction | TRT: 77mins 

Producer

Robert Adanto's Pearls on the Ocean Floor is a thought-provoking, feature-length documentary examining the lives and works of Iranian female artists living and working in the diaspora. This unflinching and incisive study, featuring interviews with art luminaries Shadi Ghadirian, Shirin Neshat, Parastou Forouhar, Sara Rahbar and others, captures the uncertainty of this momentous time in Iran's history.