As a maker, I use the moving image to explore ideas, often looking at ways American mythologies have been reshaped by contemporary life. My feature essay/documentary, developed at MacDowell, Cowboy Song explores the American West through the relationship between two middle-aged brothers, one of whom is profoundly brain damaged and responds only to cowboy music. My narrative Traveler is a constrained road movie. My current narrative project, I Can’t Sleep, uses sleeplessness to explore New York City’s increasing economic stratification. My public projection with sculptor Carrie Gleason, The Para-chute Project, was provoked by the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. I created a city symphony for the Museum of Sound and Image (MIS) in Sao Paolo, Brazil and am editing experimental work from footage shot in military-influenced playgrounds in Kyrgyzstan. I recently produced Deniz Tortum’s feature narrative, Zaiyat, which premiered at SXSW.
My work has screened and won awards at national and international film festivals including the Zinebi International Festival, Bilbao and the São Paulo International Short Film Festival. It has shown on television in France, Japan, and the United States (Sundance Channel). I have also led discussions and panels on film and video practice for BAM, the 92Y Tribeca, and have lectured on innovative narrative at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. I am based in Paris and also work in Brooklyn.
