2008
The Winter of the Beard 99 minutes (Trailer)
In the fall of 2005, two filmmakers invited six men across America to join them in an experiment. They would stop shaving for six months. No trimming allowed. Each was provided a video camera and weekly interview questions to document his own experience. The resulting 600 hours of intimate footage revealed a group of men traversing the same rite of passage from disparate vantage points. Throughout the process, the men told stories from their pasts, shared likes and dislikes, and confessed personal fears and aspirations. They laughed and cried, hid and came alive behind their beards. The tireless taping captured bad days and good ones, and it is in this framework that the individual stories stand out and the beards fade into the background. From a son dealing with his father's descent into Alzheimer's, to financial and marital struggles, to the birth of a child, THE WINTER OF THE BEARD reveals the trials and tribulations of what it means to drastically alter one's appearance and otherwise go on living life.
2007
The Shape of the Voyage 20 minutes
(coming soon)
Through the collection of 600 hours of footage during which nine men grow
their first beard over the course of six months, (see above) this looks
to examine rites of passage, everyday life, and masculinity in North America.
This short film is intended as a looping 3 channel video installation, the
content of which questions the repetition in our gestures, modes of expression,
and ultimately
our cultural and self awareness.
2006
North is What Matters 11 minutes (watch)
North is What Matters examines the effect of nature, in this case a harsh
winter, on one’s daily life.
Combining film with the text of Jim Harrison, this quiet, contemplative
piece seeks to explore the
degree to which we do or do not take the natural environment for granted.
2005
The Winter of the Dance 10 minutes (watch)
The Winter of the Dance is an examination of societal expectations of public
behavior proposing ways in which we might dismantle and reinvent the parameters
that inhibit our sense of community and ultimately our daily existence.
Extending Guy Debord’s ideas of ‘detournment,’ this video
documents the potential absurdity of everyday life via one repeated act
of derrivee: a season spent dancing on street corners in a heavy Canadian
winter.