Role: Producer & Co-writer

Support: BritDoc PUMA, Norwegian Film Institute & NRK

Pitches, Workshops & Forums: Hot Docs Central Forum (2013), AIDC MeetMarket (2013), Rio Content Market (2013), DOK Leipzig Netlab (2012), Latin Side of the Doc – Winner of Best Pitch (2013)

In Production

www.unitednotionsfilm.com

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THE BOLIVIAN CASE is a character driven film that begins when three Norwegian teenagers are arrested in Bolivia carrying 22kg of cocaine in their luggage. A cocaine network is revealed in Norway and another five teenagers are arrested in connection to the smuggling attempt. As soon as word gets out Norwegian journalists descend upon Bolivia, creating the biggest media storm in Norwayʼs history, influencing the outcome of the case, and changing the lives of those involved forever.

From the beginning, two of the girls, StinaBrendemo and Christina Øygarden, are portrayed in the papers as naive Europeans, while Madelaine Rodriguez, also Norwegian but whose father originates from Uruguay, is branded the ʻLatintraffickerʼ. Three years later, two of the girls have jumped bail and illegally escaped back to Norway, Christina was helped by the Norwegian government, issuing her a passport in a different name, while a Norwegian menʼs magazine finances a Hollywood style escape for Stina in exchange for the exclusive rights to her story.

By the end of the film, Stina has become a celebrity, while Christina is acquitted in an Oslo court; now the two girls walk free. Meanwhile, Madelaine is stuck behind bars in Bolivia serving an eleven-year sentence. The only hard fact is that each girl was caught carrying 7kg of cocaine in her bag.

Filmed over two years, the project consists of a feature documentary, a TV hour, and an immersive online component. The online platform consists of a "webdoc" built around a Facebook page used for its timeline and network possibilities, in conjunction with a game/application. This will allow the characters to engage with the audience in a personal way to tell their own story without the media spin.

Role: Associate Producer

Support: Fonds Sud Cinema (Cannes), Tribeca Latin American Media & Arts, Jan Vrijman Fund (IDFA), Screen Australia’s Producer’s Equity, the Norwegian Film Institute, Strasbourg Film Fund, Screen NSW & Screen Australia

Pitches, Workshops & Forums: Good Pitch New York (2013), Film Independent (2012), Sheffield Meetmarket, Berlinale Talent Campus, IDFA Forum (2010)

In Production

www.unitednotionsfilm.com

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COCAINE PRISON begins inside notorious “San Sebastian,” a jail far from the western stereotype. The story follows three interlinked lives: Mario, a cocaine worker fighting for freedom; Hernan, a drug mule who wants to be a drug-boss; and his younger sister Daisy, who struggles to escape the lure to traffic cocaine. In a country where “the trade” isn’t ruled by violence and the anti-drug czar is caught trafficking cocaine, the three characters dispel the gun-totting ‘Narco’ myth, revealing the complex truth behind the War on Drugs.

In Bolivia —the second largest producer of cocaine in the world—a third of Bolivia’s workforce is employed in the cocaine industry, yet only the little fishfind themselves in prison, unable to escape a corrupt justice system. Shot over a three year period,

COCAINE PRISON will humanize those who produce cocaine and reveal that efforts to eradicate the coca-leaf and incarcerate cocaine workers doesn’t create tenable solutions, while cocaine consumption in the West continues to grow.

Role: Associate Producer

Support: Kickstarter & IFP Lab

In Post-Production

www.wfmuthemovie.com

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FREEFORM OR DEATH is a feature-length documentary directed by Tim K. Smith (KEVORKIAN). The film follows New Jersey’s beloved WFMU, the world’s longest-running freeform radio station, and one man’s attempt to keep it independent and alive in the face of a recession, the persistent threat of commercial media, and the challenges that come with keeping a rebellious group of outsiders together.

“Hands down, WFMU, is the greatest radio station on the planet.” – Jim Jarmusch

"There's nothing better late at night in this town than climbing into the car and turning on and tuning into WFMU cracklin' across the river with whatever weird shit they're playin' tonight." – Lee Ranaldo, Sonic Youth

Role: Associate Producer

In Development/Production

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Every summer forty women from around the world gather on the shore of Jamaica's Montego Bay to compete for the title of International Dancehall Queen. Part beauty pageant, part dance battle, the contest showcases the most irreverent choreography, music, and fashion pervading the ever-growing, underground subculture known as "dancehall."  Born from reggae, dancehall has made an impact on pop icons such as Rihanna, Snoop Lion and Beyoncé, as well as cultish favorites like Sean Paul and Major Lazer. While it is consistently criticized for its hyper-sexuality and violent nature, dancehall has become a worldwide phenomenon, appealing to women of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities for its embrace of boundless self-expression and female empowerment. 

Our film tells the story of 7 women, from cities as exotic as the dancers themselves—Brooklyn, Minneapolis, Stockholm, Valencia Venezuela, Warsaw, Tokyo, and Kingston—as they battle for the crown. In following these women over six months of intense preparation, we will venture behind-the-scenes to capture their radical transformations from students, mothers, and entrepreneurs, into nightlife superheroes. The film will then culminate on a hot summer night when—in front of 20,000 screaming fans—one fierce woman will finally be hailed as queen.

Role: Production Manager

Support: Keshet, Righteous Persons Foundation, Fohs Family Foundation, Gesher Fund, Foundation for Jewish Culture, Shine Global, Kickstarter

Pitches, Workshops & Forums: Hamptons International Film Festival’s “Pitch-In” (2012), Film Independent (2012), Good Pitch New York (2012), IFP’s “Project Forum” (2011)

In Festivals – Tribeca Film Festival Premiere, 2013

www.dancinginjaffa.com

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Renowned ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulaine, takes his belief that dance can overcome political and cultural differences and applies it to 11 year old Jewish and Palestinian Israelis. What occurs is magical and transformative.

Pierre is fulfilling a life-long dream when he takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back to his city of birth, Jaffa.  For generations, Jaffa has been a city divided by two communities that continue to grow increasingly apart. Over a ten-week period, Pierre teaches Jewish and Palestinian Israeli children to dance together and compete together. The film explores the complex stories of three children, all of whom who are forced to confront issues of identity, segregation and racial prejudice, as they dance with their enemy. We watch Pierre transform their lives over the course of four months, confirming his belief that dance can bridge hatred and provide the first steps towards real change.

Role: Production Manager

Support: Foundation for Jewish Culture, YES, Makor Foundation, Kickstarter

In Festivals – Chicago International Film Festival – Winner, Silver Hugo

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Screenings

Auschwitz prisoners, both Jewish or non-Jewish, were tattooed with serial numbers, first on their chests and then their left arms. An estimated 400,000 numbers were tattooed in Auschwitz and its sub-camps; only some several thousand survivors are still alive today. NUMBERED is an explosive, highly visual, and emotionally cinematic journey, guided by testimonies and portraits of these survivors. The film documents the dark time and setting during which these tattoos were assigned as well as the meaning they took on in the years following the war. In fact, the film’s protagonist is the number itself, as it evolves and becomes both a personal and collective symbol from 1940 to today. These scars, paradoxically unanimous and anonymous, reveal themselves to be diverse, enlightening, and full of life.

Role: Head of Digital Media

Support: Private Investors

Launched January 2013

www.doskywork.com

SKYWORK, a cross-continental education technology startup, is the best way for instructors to create, distribute, and evaluate their writing assignments — all online.