Delayed Reactionz

2012! The end is nigh! The apocalypse is coming...or at least thats what the rumor mill will have you believe. Though sometimes thats how I feel when I look at current trends in pop music, ridiculous hate politics and our obsessive culture of celebrity consumption that seems to be oversaturating our minds with lard-like stupidity. Then again I might be vicitim of this current epidemic as its taken me 3 months into the new year (March, my bday month!) to update my blog. Hopefully with the soon to be announced iPad 3, I'll do more blogging..and while I've been obsessed with Instagram and its uber cool social photography functionality, I've been churning away on my feature film script that I intend to get into pre-pro by the end of the year...TRACES...its happening people! 

Did I mention that earlier in the year I covered the 2012 Sundance film festival for the Film Stage? Had an amazing time covering a slew of movies including Queen of Versailles, Kid-Thing, Indie Game Movie, Room 237, Compliance, Bachelorette and Wrong while getting to interview talented people like Quentin Dupieux, Cliff Martinez, Leslye Headland and the Indie Game filmmakers! Let's also not forget all the partying with cool peeps like writer Jeanne Veillette Bowerman, editor Eric Brodeur, filmmaker Julie Keck (one half of the awesome King is a Fink duo!) and of course all of my fellow film bloggerati. I look forward to continuing my film critic capacades when I return to my favorite festival of the year in May, Cannes!

One final shoutout to my friends Christian and Woody, otherwise known as the musically gifted duo With Lions, for whom I directed their first official music video Leaving Me. It got re-posted on a bunch of music blogs and hopes to be one of many collobarations with this awesome band! So that's it for now and stay tuned for more big news (hopefully) before the world comes to an end!

Videogame Summer

It's been far too long since I've posted anything and it's a shame since I have so much new interesting stuff to share but I'm still catching up on it all. Throw in a new job working for National Geographic and you can partially understand why I've been short on time to update the site. That being said, I've been working with some friends for a soft redesign of ZAFFI to coincide with my first crowd funding project which will happen before the end of the year that I'm currently mapping out. Really excited to share all the cool new content I've been brewing up but in the meantime, here's a little video I did just to show you a slice of my summer.

I Cannes Do It

As you can tell from my previous post, it's been a big year for me and film festivals. Getting to attend two of the most prestigious cinematic congregations (Sundance and Cannes) in one year is truly an honor and I am grateful the knowledge and friendships gained. As I head to the shores of the south of France, I'm thrilled to be covering the films participating in the festival as coverage for The Film Stage. However in addition to my duties as movie critic, I'll also be doing some shameless self promotion and pitching for two feature length scripts I'm bringing to show producers, financiers, execs and people who own yachts.

I'll be launching two new micro sites for each feature concept in the weeks to come and hope to garner some interest with my endeavors at the festival. Since this would be my debut feature, I'm trying to keep costs for production low and thus appetizing for potential interest. When I return to NYC, the plan is to start filming a teaser for one of the projects and then begin crowd-funding for my first feature film. Today, as I embark to the airport, I'm releasing two teaser images for each film, Traces and Desolation. Big thanks to Jake Tapia and Lauren Turbowitz for helping make these look really awesome. So stay tuned for both reviews of the films at Cannes and news about my next major film project!

2011 Reel

It's been over five years since I've updated my reel, so it's safe to say this has been a long time coming. Hopefully you enjoy my work both as a writer, editor and director and continue to follow my foray into the future of filmmaking (alliteration FTW!). Feel free to check out my profile on LinkedIn for my resume and references and if you are interested in hiring me for anything, you can email me directly . Thanks and pump it up to 11!

Loli Lux Live

For the past several months, I've been trying to land music video gigs to further expand my work experience. I came into contact with a very talented muscian and DJ under the name DJ Loli who has just released an EP on iTunes called Batteries Not Included. I edited four live performance videos for her from footage that was taken from her debut performance in New York City. For all these videos, I only had one angle to work from yet I was able to make the most of the footage into what I consider as four highly entertaining music videos. So without further ado, check out Lifeocracy, Deepthroat, Wanna Be and Be Free.

I am currently in the works to help edit her first offical music video and direct her second one. Will keep you posted of any developments.

Stargazer

Awhile back I was slated to direct a music video for an up and coming band called Benzos. They were an amazing group that had a unique and distinctive sound with the perfect blend of rock, trip hop and electronica. Unfortunately, the band broke up over some artistic differences, but I remained close friends with the lead singer Christian who went on to form a new group called With Lions. Right now they specialize in providing original music for promos, commercials, TV shows and feature films but they are also creating some amazing songs which they intend to preform live in a cool audio visual fusion show.

Stargazer is the first video I created for them. Over the next several weeks I will be releasing three more With Lions videos to continue our artistic collaboration and help create their show. So stay tuned on the blog, check out the video and let me know what you think!