indieWIRE presents 'Meet the 2011 SXSW Filmmakers'

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Growing up in front of the camera…

I grew up with a super 8mm home movie camera shouting directions at me. In fact, for years I was convinced my father did not have a face. All I saw was a blinking green light (while I transformed into The Hulk or Spiderman) and a static red light while my father thought about the next shot. My mother was always concerned with the lens being too close, but I couldn’t get enough. I was able to wear a cape most of my childhood.

Once a month in our North East Philly apartment we had movie nights in our smoky living room. I have vivid memories of the loud motor from the projector and a silhouette of my father carefully setting up the screen. I watched our family become illuminated and immortalized, and this feeling of being a part of something truly magical. As a kid these images on the screen were hyper-real (and sort of psychedelic.) It was like some insane version of our lives, where we talked a lot faster and sometimes screamed for no reason. The muted colors, grainy texture and dramatic shifts from light to darkness were… shocking. But I think what made the strongest impression on me was this bizarre sense of time. I was flying around in my cape in one direction and suddenly I would enter the frame from another. Day would become night. Seasons would change. What the hell was going on here? This nightmarish collision of time and space made me sea sick, but it was so exciting!

From super 8mm to VHS…

Years later I began to experiment with my own home movies. Super 8mm became VHS. In-camera edits of my friends shoving cigarettes in their mouths and drinking black coffee in diners, became a Friday night ritual. I always had a camera with me. I was always looking for that hyper-realism I felt as a kid with those super 8mm home movies. And I guess I should thank that man with the blinking lights for eyes and the lens for a face, who lured me into this profession.

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TRUE/FALSE FILM FESTIVAL!

I was invited to the True/False film festival in Columbia, MO to present a series of kinetic art films
for a large, out door installation March 3rd to 6th.
The work is called: Cinema/Sculpture (a collaboration with Christiaan Zwanikken)
The films will screen every night of the festival from sunset to midnight.





More information about the festival: True/False Film Festival

OCEAN premieres at Baryshnikov Art Center

On Monday January 10th, Baryshnikov Art Center premiered the film Ocean (dir. Charles Atlas);
A 5 camera, 90 minute live performance dance/film with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
Ocean was staged in the bottom of a rock quarry in St. Cloud Minnesota, and performed in the round,
with the addition of a 150 member orchestra using quadrophonic sound.



I had the amazing opportunity to be hired as Director of Photography for this film- which celebrated 10 years
of filmmaking with Charles Atlas. We had 5 cameras and a dolly to cover this ambitious performance
which took place in the round, with a live audience. It was a lot of hard work, but we had a great crew.
After watching this film projected there is no doubt the reel stars are the editors.. Bravo.

CONVENTO TRAILER

Our first trailer is up!

MAG PIES UNITE

When I visited Amsterdam last winter it was very overwhelming.
I managed to shoot a lot of material,but never had the chance to
actually construct any stories out of the raw footage.
Sometimes you just need some distance between you and the "event"
in order to gain some perspective on it.
(Of course, being a procrastinator with my own work also helps.)

"The Magpie Chapel" is a short film about public art + vandalism.
Well, its not that deep actually- It is only a moment in time.
I was staying with Christiaan in Amsterdam, and he needed
to check out his commissioned public art piece, The Mag Pie Chapel,
that had been vandalized in the middle of the night.
This has never happened to him before.
And at the time, I was barely aware of the severity of the situation;
This is a small, peaceful town in the country, who has an art-criminal on their hands.

The newly restored Magpie Chapel opens this weekend, but here is a look back with the artist,
witnessing the damage for the first time.

THE MAG PIE CHAPEL

SHOCK CONDUCTOR

During the filming of my documentary film, Convento, we took a day off to film this sculpture called SHOCK CONDUCTOR. The previous night, after many glasses of red wine.. I had the idea of filming underneath the sculpture. With the help of Evan Meszaros, Tita Aaftink, Christiaan & Louis Zwanikken, we constructed a scaffolding, where the sculpture sits on huge piece of glass. The camera is on a cam-tram system underneath. I wanted to cover the sculpture from above as well so the viewer would have a simultaneous experience of visual/sound disorientation. Make sure to play this loud:

Art Amsterdam..The Installation!

Art Amsterdam was amazing. I had the opportunity to meet a lot of artists, and check out some amazing art.
Here is a little recap video, for those who missed it. Don't worry, this is just the beginning.
Stay tuned for more events in NYC or Amsterdam this summer!