news

9.13.07

A Rubberband is an Unlikely Instrument was recently selected for the upcoming IFP Market in NY. The film will have an exclusive, industry only, screening at the Angelika Sept. 19th, 1:15pm in Theater 1.

7.20.07

Building a Broken Mousetrap is having its New York premiere Tuesday July 24 at the IFC Center. It will screen with two shorts by Jem Cohen. For more info:

Tuesday, July 24 at 7:30pm
at the IFC Center, 6th Ave. at 3rd st.
please come to the New York premiere of:

BUILDING A BROKEN MOUSETRAP
The Ex in New York
a film by Jem Cohen and Matt Boyd
16mm/dv 62 min.

Concert film. City film. Protest film.

Shown in An Evening with Jem Cohen
(Filmmaker Magazine and IFC Center present 'Dialogues on Film')

Screening will include recent short films and discussion; advance tickets recommended: http://www.ifccenter.com/event?eventid=999831

Furiously intense... the most poetic and unexpectedly political concert film I’ve seen in some time. Noah Cowan, co-director, Toronto Film Festival

5.31.07

Following a successful festival run across the globe, Building a Broken Mousetrap is screening at the upcoming Silverdocs Fest. The film will screen alongside two shorts by Jem Cohen on June 16 at 11:00pm.

FP is currently in post-production on a film portrait on indie songstress Rosie Thomas. Thomas recently released a record with friends and fellow songwriters, Denison Witmer and Sufjan Stevens. The film focuses on Thomas's balancing of art, humor and her personal life; it will include performances with both Witmer and Stevens during their recent tour of the Northeast. Stay tuned for more news, sneak peeks and a release date in the near future.

2.6.07

Congrats to Amir Bar-Lev on his recent success at Sundance with My Kid Could Paint That. Already garnering favorable reviews, the film has been bought by Sony Pictures Classics. Hopefully it will soon reside in a theater near you. Here's what the Hollywood Reporter had to say:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=8682

1.27.07

Upcoming screenings for Building a Broken Mousetrap, a film by Jem Cohen and Matt Boyd are as follows:

Rotterdam Film Festival
Lantaren 1 - 1.29.07 at 10:00 PM
Zaal De Unie - 1.31.07 at 12:00 PM

for more info:

http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
YBCA Screening Room - 2.22.07 at 7:30 PM
701 Mission St. at Third
San Francisco, CA

for more info:

http://www.ybca.org/tickets/production.aspx?performanceNumber=2703

1.11.07

If you happen to be in Park City for Sundance in the coming weeks check out Amir Bar-Lev's latest documentary feature:

"A 4-year-old girl whose paintings are compared to Kandinsky, Pollock and even Picasso, has sold $300,000 dollars worth of paintings. Is she a genius of abstract expressionism, a tiny charlatan, or an exploited child whose parents have sold her out for the glare of the media and the lure of the almighty dollar? Documentary filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev examines the young artist, her work and the controversy behind it in his film My Kid Could Paint That".

Producer : Amir Bar-Lev
Executive Producer : John Battsek
Coexecutive Producer : Andrew Ruhemann
Coproducer : Stephen Dunn
Cinematographers : Matt Boyd, Nelson Hume, Bill Turnley
Editors : John Walter, Michael Levine

Screening Times
-Sunday , Jan 21; 11:30 AM at Prospector Square Theatre
-Monday , Jan 22; 9:30 PM at Holiday Village Cinema IV
-Tuesday , Jan 23; 9:45 PM at Broadway Centre Cinemas V, SLC
-Thursday , Jan 25; 2:30 PM at Holiday Village Cinema II
-Friday , Jan 26; 10:00 AM at Holiday Village Cinema IV

For more info: http://festival.sundance.org/filmguide

Also of note:
Check out some recent Sonic Youth videos by fellow filmmaker Braden King here.

9.1.06

Upon finishing, Building a Broken Mousetrap: The Ex in New York has just been selected to screen at the Toronto International Film Fest. Building a Broken Mousetrap is a concert film by Jem Cohen and Matt Boyd that interweaves a live performance at NY's Knitting Factory with interstitial footage of both NYC and the band's homebase, Amsterdam. Cohen directed the film with shooting by Boyd, Cohen and NY filmmaker Pete Sillen. Boyd and Cohen edited the film at Truckstop Media with big thanks to fellow filmmaker Braden King. The film will screen in Toronto on Sept. 8th and 10th. Stay tuned for future screenings.

8.9.06

It's been a busy summer! Just finished another short documentary for publishing giant Hachette Filipacchi Media. Currently spread over multiple projects... editing duties on Braden King's tour film 1000 Miles: The Dirty Three Live; a meditation on time, space, landscape and the up / down process of touring. Also pitched in on the edit for King's Sonic Youth video for the song Reena from their latest release Rather Ripped. The video was cut from the recent shoot of the band's performance at the ill-fated CBGB's. Stay tuned for upcoming screenings / broadcasts.

Currently in final stages of post on the concert film, Building a Broken Mousetrap on the Dutch band, The Ex, with filmmaker Jem Cohen. More news to follow.

In addition to recent collaborations, currently in production, shooting / directing the feature film A Rubberband is An Unlikely Instrument, about an eccentric musician in Brooklyn, NY.

3.17.06

The recent Josh Rouse video Quiet Town is premiering this Sunday, March 19th on MTV2's Subterranean at 12 midnight ET. The new record is due in stores Tuesday, March 21st worldwide.

2.27.06

The site has been neglected for quite some time due to a very busy schedule, but working towards renovations in the coming months giving the film + video page more attention. Lots of news to report in the meantime:

Recently tapped by Nettwerk Records and the Weinstein Company to direct a lip sync video for Dolly Parton's Oscar nominated song Travelin Thru. The song was cut specifically for the soundtrack to the Weinstein's indie hit film Transamerica featuring Felicity Huffman. The video was shot in Nashville where local production house RuckusFilm teamed with Found Pictures to co-produce the video with DP Roger Pistole behind the lens. Now airing on various networks.

Added another Josh Rouse project to the list this fall after travelling to Spain to shoot a video for Quiet Town, the first single to his upcoming record Subtitulo out sometime in March. Finishing touches were done at Truckstop Media NYC. Airplay should start in the coming weeks in both Europe and the Americas. For more info on Rouse check out the link above or go to Nettwerk. Stay tuned as there might be a film to follow based on the time spent in Spain; Rouse may appear as a character though don't expect the usual music documentary.

The Rocket Fuel guys are busy putting final touches on the DVD package for their ode to D. Boon and The Minutemen We Jam Econo. I pitched in and grabbed a couple more interviews for the project here in NY including multifaceted artist and longstanding Sonic Youth member Lee Ranaldo and filmmaker Jem Cohen (Chain, Benjamin Smoke, Instrument).

Currently in post-production at Truckstop on a live film of the Amsterdam band The Ex with filmmaker Jem Cohen.

Filmmaker Braden King (Dutch Harbor) recently directed a music video for Great Waves, the new single from The Dirty Three's recent release Cinder. The video features an appearance and vocals by Chan Marshall (Cat Power) along with live footage myself, Jem Cohen and King shot of the band's performance at the Bowery Ballroom. Check it out here.

Tapped by The Molecule in NYC to lens a live performance video for up and coming emocore band The Autumn LIfe in a quaint little Deerhunter kinda town in central Pennsylvania.

Filmmaker Matt Kohn (Call it Democracy) wrote an improvisational short film around the massive peace protests in D.C back in September and brought me on to assume DP duties. Currently in post-production.

Director Jeffrey Winograd came to NY in early fall to finish his documentary on multi-talented playwright, screenwriter, guitarist, performer and singer-songwriter Stew. We finished shooting with interviews including Public Enemy's Chuck D and LIving Color's Vernon Reed. Currently in post-production.

6.2.05

The Minutemen doc We Jam Econo is getting lots of great press including a recent blurb in the New Yorker. It's now playing in selected theatres across the states so check out the site theminutemen.com for news, updates and screenings near you.

Check out friend and fellow artist/poet Andrea Baker's new book of poetry like wind loves a window . I was pleased to be asked to have one of my photos grace the cover. It's a great collection... For more info go to: slopeeditions.com

Baker avows that sight is visionary and that Vision is transformative. This is her "massive simplicity," a Blake-like virtue surely, in which the disruption of the eye by light, of words by breath (and by the breath-taking line breaks that are Andrea Baker's most beautiful signature) is a chaos becoming, quite simply, cosmic and wide.
-Donald Revell, from his introduction

3.1.05

I was fortunate to be a part of this project contributing video / interview of Kurt Wagner (Lambchop).

Looking for a Thrill DVD out now on Thrill Jockey:
Directed by Braden King, Edited by Ian Wiliams, Concept: Bettina Richards.

Looking for a Thrill is a collection of personal stories about defining musical moments of inspiration (a record, a show, a musician, etc) for 112 musicians who themselves have inspired so many. The interviews on the DVD include recollections by Mike Watt, Thurston Moore, Hamid Drake, Bjork, Yo La Tengo, Tortoise, the Butchies, Jon Spencer, Vic Chesnutt, Kurt Wagner, Fred Anderson, and Giant Sand - as well as members of the Urinals, Califone, Jesus Lizard, the Boredoms, Mekons, Slint, the Sea and Cake, and Calexico (just to name a few). Over five hours of inspiration in total!

"Inspiring, moving and funny." - Rolling Stone

"Remarkable... It appeals to anyone who has fallen under the spell of
music... not to be missed."
- Entertainment Weekly

"Invaluable, inspiring and supercool." - Filter

All profits from the sale of the DVD will go to Greenpeace.

2.14.05

Stew, What's the Problem?

I've been a collaborator on director Jeff Winograd's documentary for the past year. The film chronicles Stew's emergence as an unlikely American icon, examining the sound and vision of this charming chameleon and the path he's taken in order to remain true to his calling.

Check out stewfilm.com

2.10.05

Fresh from two great screenings at The Palm Springs Film Festival and just accepted at The Chicago International Documentary Film Festival, Matt Kohn's Call It Democracy is on a roll!

A Seventh Art release of a Tractor-Beam presentation of a Grace Court Picture Co. production. Produced by Matt Kohn, Dan Efram, Joan Linder. Executive producers, Udy Epstein, Brian McNelis, Dan Efram, Eddy Gilbert
Hersh. Directed by Matt Kohn.

Camera (color, video), Kohn, Matt Boyd, Laurel Greenberg, Yervant Der Partough, Sylvia Stoyanova; editors, Kohn, Chris Boscardin; motion graphics, David Murray, Brian McNelis. Reviewed at Palm Springs Film Festival, Jan. 16, 2005. Running time: 74 MIN.

Variety review (Feb. 9, 2005):
http://www.variety.com/story.asp?|=story&r=VE1117926146&c=31
http://www.callitdemocracy.com

1.21.05

The Smooth Sounds... charts in the top ten at number eight on UNCUT'S top 40 best music DVD's of 2004. New Year's Eve 2003 and Josh Rouse is wowing a hometown Nashville crowd.... As a concert DVD, it's worth at least four stars. Then it earns an extra one for the splendid "Many Moods Of..." documentary. A fascinating insight into the world of one of the unsung heros of modern American music.

Slowly updating the film + video page... look for new quicktimes and stills soon.

10.29.04

Finally new work in the photography section.

10.12.04

More photography to come very soon!

Largely been cooped up in Brooklyn with a couple of projects in development... Recently contributed camera operating to filmmaker Jem Cohen's (Chain, Benjamin Smoke, Fugazi - Instrument) live coverage of seminal politcal punks, The EX, at the Knitting Factory. GO SEE THIS BAND!

6.28.04

FIVE-STAR PRAISE FOR THE NEW JOSH ROUSE DVD FROM UNCUT MAGAZINE [June 25, 2004]

Josh Rouse: The Smooth Sounds of Josh Rouse DVD

It's New Year's Eve 2003, and Josh Rouse is wowing a hometown Nashville crowd with an Isley-tastic version of "Under Cold Blue Stars" that virtually melts into Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour." An excellent concert DVD in its own right, this gets five stars for the added Many Moods Of... documentary in which we see the BBC's Janice Long being visibly moved to tears. Watch and weep with her.

From Uncut Magazine.

In other news, been busy contributing to fellow filmmakers various projects. Of note, recently shot b-roll on filmmaker Braden King's brilliant interpretation of Will Oldham's Horses for his Drag City release, Bonnie "Prince" Billy sings Greatest Palace Music. For more info keep your eye on dragcity.com and truckstopmedia.com.

Other contributions include interviews and b-roll to three new documentaries slated to emerge later this year. Recently interviewed New York City punk icon, Richard Hell (of Television and The Voidoids) for the upcoming Minutemen doc We Jam Econo produced by Rocket Fuel Films. Also worth noting is recent work with Portland filmmaker Jeff Winograd and his upcoming film on singer-songwriter / spoken-word artist, Stew, titled What's the Problem? For more info on both of these projects go to theminutemen.com and stewsongs.com.

At last, look for the political doc on the controversial state of our country's electronic voting machines in the upcoming doc Everywhere But Florida by filmmaker Matt Kohn. Recently roadtripped to D.C. with Kohn to help finish production on his in-depth look at the progress or lack thereof in America's electronic voting process. For more info check out everywherebutflorida.com.

3.5.04

A live performance video for Comeback (Light Therapy) from the upcoming The Smooth Sounds of Josh Rouse DVD is currently getting airtime in Europe. The DVD, including the feature-length documentary The Many Moods of Josh Rouse, is slated for a late spring release by rykodisc.

2.1.04

Currently in post-production on a new DVD for Josh Rouse. The DVD will include a multi-cam live performance, filmed this past New Year's in Nashville, in addition to an extended documentary combining elements of Fact / Fiction and new material from 1972. For more info on a release date go to joshrouse.com or rykodisc.com.