Grand Re-Opening for the website/interactive archive for my 1500 Stories project

1500 Stories is a digital storytelling and collaborative art project about economic inequality in the U.S. I first conceived of the project back in 2015 and in the last 5 years, over 700 stories have been contributed to the project. Thank to support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and beautiful work by the Design Action Cooperative, a worker owned design and communications firm, the project has a gorgeous new website designed to give you a sense of widening economic inequality and to humanize that gap through stories. The website features just a few of those 700 stories, in audio, video, text and visual arts formats (with many more to come!) and is a wonderful resource for exploring what it’s like to live at different economic positions in the U.S. In this time of isolation and polarization, this is an opportunity to connect with lives very different than your own!

Watch Berning Love and Go Vote!

In honor of the upcoming election, the collaborative team behind Berning Love, a romantic tragicomedy about the search for love during the waning days of the Bernie Sanders 2016 primary campaign, decided to release the film publicly one year after its television debut on PBS in Vermont. We the makers hope that it inspires you to increase your civic engagement, get involved in your community and also, next week—GO VOTE! For information about what’s on your ballot, check out Ballotpedia.

Come on out on May 24 to learn about the historical documentary I'm working on

I'll be showing some very preliminary footage and sharing lots of archival materials from my historical documentary about Jane Addams and the U.S. government's propaganda and surveillance campaign against feminist peace activists in the wake of the First Red Scare.  The talk is on the De Anza College campus--the talk is free but daily parking at De Anza is $3.  Also my colleague David Howard-Pitney is bringing his guitar to play a piece of music from the time period, so it should be good times all around as we learn about a period in U.S. history marked by xenophobia, anti-feminism, and violations of civil liberties by the surveillance state. ;) This talk is sponsored by the California History Center.

I've just begun post-production on my next documentary short

This spring I wrapped up most of the research and development on my next documentary short, called The Spider Web, about the U.S. War Department's surveillance and propaganda campaign against feminist pacifists in the early 1920s.  I visited archives in Chicago IL, Swarthmore PA, Ramapo NJ, and Washington DC.  I also filmed interviews with Louise Knight, Jane Addams' biographer, and Dr. Kim Nielsen, who wrote an excellent book about anti-feminism during the First Red Scare.  In the process of working on what will be my first historical documentary, I have discovered that I am a secret historian and archive nerd.  Who knew?!

Fresh off its Overall Best Documentary Short Award at Rincon, Berning Love screens in San Francisco on April 13

Audiences and directors at the Rincon Film Festival in Puerto Rico chose Berning Love as Overall Best Documentary Short.  I had the great fortune of wearing many hats on the film--working as a co-editor, associate producer, occasional camera operator, and director of research for the film.  Now, Berning Love is on to its next screening--at the Bay Area Women in Film and Media International Shorts Showcase in San Francisco CA, from 6-9pm on Thursday April 13th.  You can get tickets to that event here: http://bawifm.org/event-2485003.  You can see a trailer for the film here: http://www.berninglovethefilm.com/

Caribbean Premiere of Berning Love on March 30!

Berning Love's festival run continues! Visit http://www.rinconfilm.com to get tickets or more information.  Visit http://www.berninglovethefilm.com to see the trailer for Berning Love.

In the Vermont area? Check out the U.S. premiere of Berning Love on March 19!

Berning Love will be screening at the Green Mountain Film Festival as part of their Vermont Shorts slate.  Join some of the crew for a Q&A after the screening.  You can buy tickets at https://gmffestival.showare.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=259

Berning Love European premiere at the Berlin Independent Film Festival on February 9

A few members of the Berning Love crew (myself included) will be visiting Berlin this week for our screening as part of Shorts Block 2 on Thursday February 9.  We are insanely excited about this! Learn more about the festival here.  Berning Love is a sweet and funny documentary short about love and politics during the waning days in Washington DC of the Bernie Sanders primary presidential campaign.  You can learn more about the film, for which I was co-editor, associate producer and director of research, here.

Berning Love, the Film, Is On a Roll

Berning Love, a documentary short about the search for love during the waning days of the Bernie Sanders primary campaign, was accepted into the Berlin Independent Film Festival. I filled many roles on this film, including director of research, co-writer, assistant producer, co-editor and occasionally second camera. :) If you happen to be in Berlin from February 9-15, 2017, check it out! :)