Producer
Kindness in America (working title) is a feature documentary about what might be our most underestimated instinct. Popular notions about human behavior insist that we are hardwired for win-at-all-costs competition, but are we built only to seek out our own self-interest or is our collective success based on something quite different? Directed by six-time Emmy Award-winner John Hoffman and Academy Award-nominee Kahane Cooperman, Kindness in America aims to drive a national discussion about the role of kindness in a civilized, democratic society. Intended for wide release in Spring 2020.
Studio: Radical Media
Status: Post-production
Producer, Writer
A feature film and a TV series are in development.
Inspired by Nella Larsen’s acclaimed novel.
Two childhood friends reconnect during the Harlem Renaissance with new adult identities and play a deadly game of passing for white women in high society New York.
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Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Writer, Executive Producer
The Memory of Fish is a documentary portrait of one man, the wild salmon he loves, and his fight to free a river.
Funding provided by:
The Heinz Endowments
Patagonia
Theodore Gordon Flyfishers
NY Community Trust
Sunlight Time Fund
Story Editor
Inspired by her late friend’s passion for Bushcraft, a filmmaker heads back to the land and back to the people who knew him to discover how learning wilderness living skills can transform us.
A film by Brianne Nettelfield
Status: Post-production
Associate Producer
Unfinished Sentences is a moving story from Trinidad & Tobago about family, race, love and loss.
A film by Mariel Brown
Producer
Eight years after a terrible accident, a series of extraordinary events send a former polo champion in India on a journey to the American West.
Screenplay by Caitlin Fitzgerald
Status: In development
Producer
A Haitian girl boards a boat to reunite with her mother in Miami, but her life is chartered for a different course.
Heading North’s production plan is an innovative venture with at least 75% of shooting planned on location in Haiti and with the goal of helping to establish The Haiti Film Commission.
Screenplay by Gustavius Smith
Status: In development
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Ocean Editor, Content Curator
This was the very first time Origin Magazine, or any magazine like it, dedicated a large platform to promote ocean issues and initiatives.
Origin Magazine brings together artists, organizations, actors, and musicians to promote humanitarianism, endangered species, sustainability, and social good initiatives.
Origin Magazine
Jan/Feb 2014 Edition
Writer, Producer, Cinematographer
A multimedia ad campaign for Alternative Insurance Company, Haiti's first insurance company based in Port-au-Prince. Included TV, radio, web, print, and billboard spots.
Production plan was structured to support AIC as a Haitian entrepreneurial initiative and to hire Cine Institute students, Haiti’s only film school.
Directed and written by Gustavius Smith
More about AIC: Forbes.com
Cameraperson
Early Recruit profiles the top lacrosse coaches and female student-athletes who have "committed" to one of the most accelerated early recruiting processes in college sports today. Enabled by loopholes in the NCAA rules, prospective student-athletes can verbally commit at any age to a college coach, but with no guarantee of future admissions.
A documentary by Leigh Ernst Friestedt
Status: In production
Writer, Producer
Every Shooting Is A Mass Shooting public service, poster and web campaign was designed to raise awareness about the unaddressed trauma associated with gun violence.
One bullet shatters more lives than you think. Following massacres like Sandy Hook, groups of social workers and psychologists descended to help residents cope with their grief. Yet thousands of Americans live with the scarring effects of everyday gun violence and lack access to similar support.
Created during Re3 Story Hack for Persuasive, Justice-Based Storytelling with Team Gun Violence in support of The Fortune Society.
Cameraperson
Tribes on the Edge travels with Celine Cousteau deep into the Vale do Javari to uncover the public health crisis in the Brazilian Amazon.
A documentary by Celine Cousteau
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Writer, Producer
A multimedia ad campaign for Alternative Insurance Company, Haiti's first insurance company based in Port-au-Prince. Included TV, radio, web, print, and billboard spots.
Production plan was structured to support AIC as a Haitian entrepreneurial initiative and to hire Cine Institute students, Haiti’s only film school.
Directed and written by Gustavius Smith
Original music by Beken
More about AIC: Forbes.com
Producer, Executive Producer
On a remote and isolated farm, a man (Tim Wersan) passes his days with only his animals for company. His idyllic life quickly takes a turn for the unexpected when he realizes that he is not alone.
A film by Terence Bernardo
Featured Photographer
A benefit exhibition in New York featuring the work of seven international media makers whose work shows visual awareness about the human condition.
Supervising Producer
During an opening reception at an art gallery in New York City, curator Lydia (Maria Deasy) has a one-night stand with janitor Prince (Hisham Tawfiq). Even though they are coworkers, Lydia doesn't recognize Prince until the following morning at work.
A film by Gustavius Smith
Director, Writer, Producer, Executive Producer, Cinematographer
Eating The Ocean, narrated by Celine Cousteau, is a journey to the heart of Oceania where an international research team studies the rapidly changing diet of French Polynesians.
Through the scientists' investigation and by spending time with families, fishermen, and school children we discover that the pressures of the tourism industry, the importation of fast food, and the overfishing and pollution of the Polynesians' backyard lagoons have created a public health crisis. In only two generations we see the cultural shift caused by globalization and environmental degradation. Above and below the water we learn how essential fishing practices are threatened, leaving all viewers with the question: how in the future will we be able to eat from the ocean?
Funding provided by:
Laval University, Lepercq Foundation, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Quebec (CHUQ), Institut Louis Malarde (ILM), Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD), Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR), and Ministere de la Sante Charge de la Prevention.
Co-producer, Cinematographer
La Transition was an adaptation of Eating The Ocean for educational outreach to community members, science communicators, academics, and medical practitioners in France, Canada, and French Polynesia.
Directed by Blaise Carrier-Chouinard + Vincent Boulet
Funding by:
Eric Dewaily, Lepercq Foundation
Director, Writer, Producer, Executive Producer, Cinematographer
Free Swim is a documentary about the paradox of islanders not knowing how to swim.
Taking place on Eleuthera in The Bahamas, we follow a group of local kids as they overcome their fears, gain confidence, and reconnect with their environment by learning to swim in open waters.
With fresh memories of a friend drowning and the conflicts of growing tourism, for these kids it’s not just about floating, but gaining new skills for their future.
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HOST A SCREENING
Producer, Editor
We, Sea: Photographs and Words from the Children of South Eleuthera captures Eleuthera, an island of the Bahamas, through the eyes of the children who call it home.
This book is an exploration of the ocean's impact on their lives, as illustrated by their own photographs and illuminated by their own words. We, Sea is a companion project to the documentary Free Swim.
Co-director, Co-producer, Cinematographer
Caguayo was made for Dr. Luis Diaz, curator of herpetology at the Cuban National Museum of Natural History. From the forests of Soroa to the streets of Havana, this short video explores the great diversity of lizards in Cuba.
While discovering the range of habitats, behaviors and colors of lizards, the film brings a message about people being connected to nature.
Caguayo was made during the Pan Caribbean Project for Environmental Film and Wildlife Documentaries residency held at Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión (EICTV).
Scientific Advisor
Once Upon A Tide is a 10-minute film that reconnects its audience to the importance of the marine environment for all life on Earth, including human life.
Unlike conventional natural history documentaries, Once Upon A Tide, narrated by Linda Hunt, is a fictional narrative that blends the moral and visual elements of a fairy tale to inspire us to recognize the importance of ocean conservation.
Produced by the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, in collaboration with the media team at Sea Studios and the animation studio LAIKA/house. Official Selection in 40 film festivals.
Co-director, Co-writer, Photographer
All life on Earth, including our own, depends on the ocean. Narrated by Meryl Streep, Healthy Ocean, Healthy Humans explores three themes: The Ocean Heals, Nourishes and Protects.
The first of its kind, this educational video brings a new approach for how people view the ocean to bolster conservation choices and public health awareness.
This video was originally envisioned as a promotional trailer for a traveling exhibit. However, with its beautiful images and compelling message, Healthy Ocean, Healthy Humans gained recognition worldwide, screening at international film festivals and educational conferences, winning awards, and even being selected to show in Patagonia retail stores.
With the video's success, Healthy Ocean, Healthy Humans grew to become an integral program at the Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHGE) at Harvard Medical School.
