Embedded Files
Alongside my writing-based academic work has been a parallel practice within film and other media. Across all projects, I explore narrative innovation, cross-cultural exchange, and the interplay between theory and practice in contemporary cinema.
Academic Work
I wrote, produced, and directed the nine short films in my academic film catalogue, distributed by Alexander Street. These works bridge scholarly analysis and visual storytelling.
One of my most recent works, From Radaʿa to Rome (2025), uses AI-enhanced image direction to bring Yemen’s early modern courtly world into visual focus. These approaches are documented and explored in my Substack blog, which is dedicated to experimental uses of AI in research and the humanities.
Pilot Lecture: The History of the Arch - Shaping Space through Strength
Pilot Lecture: The History of the Arch - Shaping Space through Strength
I wrote and filmed this lecture on the history of the arch with The Great Courses in Summer 2025.
Now available to stream on The Great Courses Plus!
Creative Work
My work in film and media spans academic, creative, and translational practice, shaped by early experience working in the U.S. and Italian film industries, where I learned firsthand how cinematic form shapes meaning and representation. This foundation informs my academic research and creative practice, leading me to develop methods for critically reframing historical visual material. See my acting resume.
As a writer and director of independent short films, I make brief, intense works that explore the boundaries of attraction vs. the grotesque, tracing the contours of the uncanny along the way. My two independent horror shorts, Club Dread and Audubon Dark, combine genre convention with experimental storytelling to provoke visceral as well as intellectual responses. Audubon Dark premiered in Venice in 2015 and screened internationally, including at the Monaco Charity Film Festival, while Club Dread was selected for Spasmofest 2025 in Modena. These films reflect my lifelong love affair with Italian cinema, indebted to Fellini, Sorrentino, Monicelli, and other greats, as well as my interest in how film can sculpt mood, subvert expectation, and probe the cultural dynamics of horror.
Watch the Audubon Dark Director's Interview (Italian language, 2015)
Read the press about Audubon Dark in LA FILM & Video Magazine (2013)
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