Strong Grandma
95-year-old Catherine Kuehn is a world record-winning powerlifter. As she prepares for her last competition, she reflects on the love and the loss that brought her to this moment. Strong Grandma premiered at the DC Shorts Film Festival and is currently playing at festivals across the US.
Production Company: Sideyard Studios
Directors: Cecilia Brown & Winslow Crane-Murdoch
You Are the Subject: Richard Serra at Glenstone
You Are the Subject: Richard Serra at Glenstone documents the installation and unveiling of a new major sculpture by American artist Richard Serra at the Glenstone Museum in Maryland, highlighting the relationship between nature, art, and humanity. Composed specifically for the final scene of the film, the music is evocative and atmospheric featuring chamber strings and classical guitar. You Are the Subject premiered March 17 at Le FIFA in Montreal and is available to stream at Design Boom.
Production Company: Rava Films
Director & Cinematographer: Rafael Salazar Moreno
Co-director & Producer: Ava Wiland
Editor: Russell Yaffe
Art21 Extended Play: What the Camera Cannot See
I’ve worked closely with Art21 scoring several past seasons of their award winning show Art in the Twenty-First Century. This clip is from their recent film “Richard Mosse: What the Camera Cannot See” as part of their ongoing digital film series, Extended Play. This scene jumps between visuals from his recent gallery exhibition as well as behind the scenes footage about the making of his latest film.
The Weekly
The Weekly was a half-hour documentary series produced by the NYTimes for Hulu and FX. Each episode followed a different breaking news story and the Times journalists who covered it.
Working collaboratively with the NYTimes, production company LeftRight, and the design studio Afternoon Inc., I developed The Weekly’s sound design, theme song, and created episodic music.
To promote the program, I expanded this body of work into a sound toolkit that could be used for trailers and other promotional videos.
Show Open - Creative Direction, Design, Animation, Edit: Afternoon Inc.
Trailer and promotional spots - Creative Direction, Design, Edit: FX, Ultrabland and Afternoon Inc.
Client - NYTimes, FX
Art21: Art in the Twenty First Century
Art21 produces award-winning documentary films about the world’s most groundbreaking contemporary artists. In its signature style, Art21 captures the artist’s voice without narration through its flagship PBS-broadcast series, Art in the Twenty-First Century, and digital short film series’ Extended Play and New York Close Up. I worked with the producer and directors of seasons 8-10, scoring all episodes as well as writing music for the trailers and promotional material.
Deidre and Laney Rob A Train
With their mother in jail and bills piling up, ambitious small-town teens Deidra and Laney plot a series of train robberies to keep themselves afloat.
Dir. Sydney Freeland 2017 - Feature
co-scored with Mark Orton
Premiered at Sundance 2017
Harvest
Harvest captures one week in the life of a woman named Jenni, exploring the simple patterns that define her life. As we get to know her, we also come to understand the extent to which her seemingly ordinary life is of great interest to people she has never met.
Dir. Kevin Byrnes 2016 - Documentary Short
Premiered at Aspen Shorts Fest 2017
Of Minor Prophets
In the rural Midwest, a lonely, bachelor farmer befriends a sex worker whose intentions aren't what they appear. Desire, deceit and doubt combine to create an explosive mix that forces both sides to discover just how far they're willing to go to get what they want.
Dir. Joe Hubers 2014 - Feature
Premiered Landlocked Film Fest 2014
Winner Best Feature Narrative Landlocked Film Fest. Winner of World Cinema Screenwriting Award at the 2015 Amsterdam Intl Film Festival.
Heart of Wilderness
Travis and his wife Aimee are struggling to stay afloat financially and keep their marriage in tact. Travis risks everything and becomes entangled in a drug deal that goes south. Under false pretenses, he convinces Aimee to join him on a canoe trip in northern Minnesota where they find themselves paddling through icy waters. While there, he tells Aimee they cannot return home and she and their six-year old daughter must come with him to start a new life somewhere else. On the journey, Travis discovers Aimee has her own secrets as well.
Dir. Towle Neu 2015 - Feature
Premiered at River Run Intl Film Festival 2015
Winner, Grand Jury Prize, Duluth Film Festival 2015
Best of Fest, Mpls/St. Paul Intl Film Festival 2015
The Birch Grove
Caught between love and death, two brothers wrestle with their past in a dance towards reconciliation. A poetic film about the power of family ties, inspired by the novella of the same name by the Polish author, Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz.
Dir. Gabrielle Lansner 2015 - Short
Best Original Score at the Santa Barbara International Fine Arts Film Festival 2021
Grand Jury Prize & Best Experimental Film at Underexposed Film Festival 2015
Cinedans, Amsterdam 2015
Cannes Short Film Corner 2015
San Francisco Dance Film Festival 2015
Drunktown's Finest
The tough upbringing on a reservation pushes three young Native Americans to try and escape from their troubles.
Dir. Sydney Freeland 2014 - Feature
Executive Producer Robert Redford
Premiered at Sundance 2014
Winner Jury Grand and Audience award Outfest 2014
The Joneses
The Joneses explores the story of Jheri Jones, a lively 74-year-old transgender divorcee and her family who live in Bible Belt Mississippi. Though she’s reconciled with the family after years of estrangement, and now lives with two of her sons in a trailer park home, Jheri embarks on a new journey to reveal her identity to her grandchildren, resolve old resentments and reconcile thorny questions from the past.
Dir. Moby Longinotto 2016 - Documentary
Premiered at San Francisco Intl Film Festival 2016
The Stronger
The Stronger is a film that evokes the interior conflicts of two women grappling with love, betrayal, and shame and is inspired by August Strindberg’s play of the same name. An emotional and psychological journey unfolds as we are drawn into the interior worlds of two women who are in love with the same man. Without dialogue, the story is told entirely through subtle, but emotionally charged choreography juxtaposed with realistic vignettes.
Dir. Gabrielle Lansner 2012 - Short
Nominated Best Experimental Film, Female Eye Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
Best Artistic Directors Award, Lady Filmmakers Festival, LA, USA
Award of Distinction, Open Stage Film Festival, Tarnow, Poland
W.L. Dow: Architect
W.L. Dow, Architect is a documentary about a prairie architect who came to Dakota Territory in 1880 and built a number of symbolic structures. Wallace Dow has been referred to as the "Builder on the Prairie" and was considered the premier architect of South Dakota in the late 19th century.
Dir. Brad Dumke 2013 - Documentary
Premiered on PBS