NEWS

Just announced! "Louder Than Guns" the feature documentary I've been directing this last year about gun violence and gun rights in America will have its world premiere as the "Centerpiece Gala Selection" at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival on October 22! The film features Ketch Secor, his band Old Crow Medicine Show and Public Radio's David Greene (host of "Left, Right & Center"). Through the power of music and the art of actually listening to all sides of this polarizing issue, the film seeks to start a radically sane conversation about how to create safer communities and a better future for this country.

In 2024, filmmaker Laura Gabbert and I completed our 6-part television series "The Power of Film" with legendary UCLA film professor Howard Suber. It premiered on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) in January, and is now streaming on Max (formerly HBO-Max, on their TCM Hub). It is also available for the educational market via Good Docs. The series interweaves dramatic scenes from the most popular and memorable American films with Professor Suber’s brilliant teachings about how and why they work. Laura and I were students and TA's for Professor Suber back when we were at UCLA's graduate film school. "The Power of Film" is an independent, labor-of-love project which took many years to make. I hope you'll be inspired by it and help us share it with filmmakers, students, writers, and anyone who loves cinema.

If you're interested in the backstory of my career and the making of "The Power of Film," check out this new, in-depth interview with me by Steve Cuden on his prolific collection: "STORYBEAT: A Podcast for the Creative Mind."

"Perfect Sweat" is a 7-part series created and hosted by Mikkel Aaland, who wrote the definitive book about global sauna, steam and sweat culture throughout history, Sweat (1978). A decade ago, I worked closely with Mikkel and Producer Greg Moga to help develop this series. It's now finished and available at the "Perfect Sweat" website. This highly unique health/travel show visits the most amazing saunas around the world. I directed the 7th and final episode at Burning Man in 2019.