SkinJob in Trashtown (2024; 24 min.)

My most recent work is a no-budget experimental b-movie art film about class divide and waste in New York City. For this project I did all aspects aside from the score, which was done by NYC-based composer Leah Asher. The film played at 12 film festivals and won one award for Best Editing.

Drinking Water (2018; 82 min.)

My most recent feature-length film was a bummer of an art film about two estranged best friends who reunite when things get tough. I wrote this film with help from lead actor Sean Smith, whom I think gives a great performance in the film. I play the co-lead in a perforamnce I struggled with, as I was also directing, producing, shooting, editing and lighting the film. The edit is ambitous, I think, and the scenery is gorgeous. And I like the style of the film. I remember feeling like I was being both brave and uncharacteristically strategic with the edit.

Forever Into Space (2015; 110 min.)

I usually call this one "my big movie." When I first moved to New York City I put together a 30-page project pitch for a film I hadn't written yet. I figured out a rough outline and started doing casting calls. If I liked an actor I would give them a copy of the manifesto I'd written and ask them to read it twice and get back to me. This became a three-year project that took a group of seven of us to film festivals all over the world. For this project I worked as Director, Writer, Editor, Cinematographer, and Producer. I was really, really going for it. We didn't win any awards or make any money with this film, but it sure was a fun project. Also, this is my only project to get major press attention, which was very weird and almost led to some interested sliding doors for me, career-wise.

Holler and the Moan (2011; 93 min.)

Around 2009 it was suddenly possible for me to get my hands on a camera that I felt I could make look like a movie. I started playing around, teaching myself everything slowly, and fell manically in love with filmmaking. This documentary, about a brilliant singer/songwriter with a mysterious illness, is as pure of an expression of filmmaking as I think I could offer. For this film I followed Lee Miles and his musician friends around the northern Midwest. I shot, edited, directed and produced this film. While making this film I was the most-published music and film journalist in Fort Wayne, and was able to use that leverage to get a lot of beautiful community support while making it. The film played at five festivals and won no awards.

Below you'll find a mix of short films I've made over the years. These films are all low- or no-budget and could be considered passion projects. All together, my short films have played at over 100 film festivals.