In less than a week, we are leaving for two months in Southeast Asia. Among the myriad of preparations for the trip, packing our film gear lightly and efficiently is most important.  We will be traveling through four countries and moving often, so light and compact is key. Here’s what […]

I got an email solicitation the other day from a composer looking for work. At present, I have no need for music composition, but I filed his email away in a folder marked “contractors”, thanked him for contacting us and let him know that I would keep him in mind […]

I love art that finds beauty in the ugly. That’s exactly what Juliana Santacruz Herrera did on Parisian streets with her crochet pothole art. How colorful!  See more images on her Flickr Photostream.  

A couple of months ago, I blogged about great documentaries streaming on Netflix.  Since then, Netflix has added a few more of my favorite non-fiction flicks: October Country: October Country is a beautifully rendered portrait of an American family struggling for stability while haunted by the ghosts of war, teen […]

This week we had two new toys to play with:  the Kessler Crane Phillip Bloom signature pocket dolly and the PMD 661 Marantz audio recorder.  While it’s always exciting for us to try out a new piece of technology, it’s tricky to figure out how to integrate the tools into […]

It took over 300 hours of video filmed over the course of a year to produce The Interrupters, Steve James‘ latest documentary study of urban America. While James’ celebrated Hoop Dreams captures the rise of inner-city kids to college basketball fame, his latest flick studies the pervasive violence that plagues […]

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know who Bob Forrest is, or recognize his alt-rock band Thelonious Monster. His is the story of ’80s and ’90s rock in America. Silverdocs selection Bob & The Monster is a throwback to that time, including both the sublime and the ugly, and it’s all […]

During a vintage store shopping trip down U Street this Sunday, I came across this “Gagged Washington” on the side of a building owned by DC Vote founder and board member Daniel Solomon.

We’re regulars at DC’s Basecamp, a local printing and shipping shop.  It’s where we buy reams of recycled paper, drop off left over shipping boxes to be reused and send hundreds of DVD screeners to film festivals and distributors.  But the main reason we frequent Basecamp is the owner Raj, […]

It’s that time of year again.  It’s hot and sticky and the best relief in town is to sit in a beautiful air conditioned movie theater watching documentary films. That’s right, it’s time for Silverdocs, the annual week-long documentary festival sponsored by AFI & Discovery. As a contributor to the […]

Have you seen Boston Globe’s Big Picture photo blog? If not, you should.  It’s a series of photos organized by recent news subject: immigration, conflict in the Middle East, natural disasters.  The photography needs no caption; the stories are told instead through powerful images.  A lot of people can take […]