Becoming Cousteau

So giddy to join the prolific Mridu Chandra to discuss her process for creating award-winning feature documentaries, such as Becoming Cousteau, at this weekend’s Pittsburgh Filmmaker Conference. Our conversation on “The Art of the Documentary” will be this Saturday, Nov. 20th, at noon. Congrats to her as her latest film continues to soak up the accolades. 

Link for more info on the conference, part of Film Pittsburgh’s cadre of awesome November events, is here. 

VCPGH | The Fall 2021 Gathering

Excited to help host the Rust Belt & Appalachia Documentary Film Festival this Saturday, November 6th, 6-9 PM at Carrie Furnace, part of our push to grow both connection our film community and a Pittsburgh chapter of Video Consortium. Come join us, eat, drink, socialize, and see work from the region all in the backdrop of one of my favorite places in the region, Carrie Furnace in Rankin. With work from Curren Sheldon & 100 Days in Appalachia, Carmen Gentile & Postindustrial, Mallory Brangan & Juliette Rihl, Amanda Page & David Bernabo, Lauren Elise Santucci, Christiana Botic, Daymon Long, David Zucker & Luke Terrrell, and a premiere from Braddock legend Tony Buba.

This one-night event hosted by The Video Consortium’s Pittsburgh chapter will screen selected short documentaries from Pittsburgh and the surrounding Rust Belt and Appalachian regions. There will be plenty of food, drinks, music, and some downtime to hang out with friends and colleagues. Come early to make new connections and demo some of the newest professional camera gear, like the Sony Fx9 and Canon C500, brought to you by our equipment sponsor, Resolution Rentals. Hope to see you there!

Honored to be nominated for a Mid-Atlantic Emmy for “Coverings” and always hoping that these things help nudge the work towards another person that needs to see it. See the project and videos here.

When we sat with Gary Fisher months before his own fatal OD, he foreshadowed the abandonment he would pass on from his own childhood to his daughter’s.

“Abandonment’s a big thing, it was a big thing for me. I was abandoned by one person that I didn’t think should ever abandon me. And I fear that for my daughter, that she’s going to wonder why dad left, why he’s not around, why he died. And she’s going to have questions and she’s never going to get answers. And that feeling that I live with on a daily basis, I don’t want anybody to go through. And I don’t want her to feel like I gave her up.”

We went back to Gary’s daughter’s house in McKeesport, Pa. as she struggles with the anxiety of the bullying and night terrors she is experiencing in the wake of her father’s death. Her story is part of the final chapter of Needle in the Family Tree, a yearlong look at how the opioid and overdose epidemic is impacting families in Western Pennsylvania. Head to the Post-Gazette here for more.