Dissonance and Harmony

PBS from the series America at a Crossroads

PRODUCER - DIRECTOR

American Bellydancer was a journey into the unknown with music impresario Miles Copeland, the former manager of The Police and Sting. Having grown up in the Middle East with a CIA dad, he knew the cultures of the Middle East and went into the business of importing Arabic music into the United States. This documentary chronicles his attempt to form a traveling bellydance spectacular, like a Middle Eastern Riverdance, as a way of defanging and feminizing his Arabic music for a post 9/11 American audience. In the end, we traveled from LA to Kentucky to San Juan to Bali and  tapped into a surprising array of issues; feminism, misogyny, the fall of the music business, America’s relationship with the Middle East and the combat between art and commerce. The film was selected for 3 American film festivals, had a limited theatrical release, aired on The Documentary Channel and throughout South America and lives on as a DVD.

American Bellydancer

Independent Feature

PRODUCER - DIRECTOR - EDITOR

In the summer of 1969, two businessmen and two hippies combined forces to put on a concert out in the country. They sold 100,000 tickets, but just weeks before the concert, the locals panicked and revoked their permit for the site. Enter Max Yasgur, who offered up his farm, entered American folklore and saved the day. When that day arrived, a half-million young people tore down the fences and converged into one of the most significant cultural events of the century. Meanwhile two of the promoters took acid and merged into the crowd while the other two courted nervous breakdowns as they ran out of money to pay the acts and at one point, almost electrocuted hundreds of happy concertgoers. This 90 minute film was the 3rd season premiere of the BTM series.

Woodstock

VH-1 Behind The Music

PRODUCER - DIRECTOR - WRITER - EDITOR

Studio 54

VH-1 Behind The Music

PRODUCER - DIRECTOR - WRITER - EDITOR

The 70’s began with Vietnam and Watergate and progressed to the Iran hostage crisis. At a certain point, this exhausted decade needed a break. Studio 54 was an outrageous escape valve from the turmoil of both the 70’s and the 60’s. It pushed every social boundary that was available in western culture, until it simply imploded from its own excess, marking the start of another turn in our culture, the 80’s. This documentary, the first 90 minute effort in the BTM series, tells the story of Studio’s founders, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, from their humble roots in Brooklyn to the top of the world, and then to jail. Other memorable characters include the infamous Roy Cohn, Grace Jones, Jerry Hall and much of the original Studio staff.

People Magazine Show of the Week.

2 weeks spent with the IRA during the 1981 hunger strikes in Belfast. The crew arrived the night Bobby Sands died in prison and followed various key individuals as their neighborhoods erupted in violence. We lived on the Falls Road and detailed how the IRA operates among their own people, inspiring

remarkable cooperation, passion and fear.

Inside the Irish Republican Army

WOR-TV What’s Happening America?

CAMERAMAN

Since September 11th, our relationships to the countries of the Middle East have become increasingly strained and confusing. But there is a difference between politics and culture. Where politics is often dedicated to objectives, culture goes deeper, and defines real, everyday experience. Dissonance and Harmony presents a rare portal into a vital world shared by both cultures, the world of music. The film examines the struggles and successes of five very different and gifted Middle Eastern artists in their homelands during the latest Israeli-Lebanese war, and then tracks their experiences coming to the United States to collaborate with accomplished Western musicians. In the end, much needed images of Arabs are presented, not as threats, but as citizens and neighbors.

Replacements  Currently in Production

Brandeis Productions

WRITER - PRODUCER - DIRECTOR - EDITOR

An independent feature documentary about the growing international drama surrounding organ transplant. Topics include cultural issues effecting supply and demand, the movement to legalize private organ sales, the medical definition of death, donors as heroes, issues of identity and controversies surrounding the future of organ replacement. All told through personal stories.