A montage of projects created from footage I have filmed throughout the world, since I bought my first camera in 2000. For slower paced work, take a look at some of the projects below or email and I can refer you to links for works that aren't available here, or send you a DVD.
videos
trouble finds you
"The opening soulful lament of the lyrics, "Some say I have devils, Some say I have angels" sets
a stage for the video. Glimpses of experience cross the
screen. Stormy skies in sepia tones, temples, large
Buddha statues, prayer bowls, abstract colors all convey a picture of the world. These images filmed in
Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia engage natural beauty,
spiritual power, mystery, creativity and the changing
sense of our emotional lives. The name of the trouble that finds you is life."
Donald Fineberg, MD.
k-hole
I was inspired to create a video for Cocorosie while visiting Japan. They were the soundtrack to my travels as I ventured through Tokyo's streets, subways, and shopping complexes. In Kyoto, their sounds guided my wandering feet through the multitude of temples and gardens. It was during one of these days that I decided I had to cut something to their music. When I returned home, I sat down and this is the rather experimental result.
experimental
i am a visitor &
i am a visitor revisited
This piece was made in collaboration with Kori Alexander Girard. The one thousand, three hundred and twenty nine still photographs were taken with a Nikon D200 over the period of about half an hour. The project was spur-of-the-moment as Mr. Girard and I sat in his gallery space a few days after his art opening. He decided to paint part of the wall that had nothing hanging on it and I asked him where his camera was...The result is seen here in I am a Visitor. I imported the stills into Final Cut at various frame lengths, choosing .4 frames per second. After listening to about five songs I chose The Postal Service's, The District Sleeps Alone Tonight to edit to. Both created a dynamic pace to demonstrate the artist’s development of the painting.
I never felt the project to be fully complete so months later I made I am a Visitor Revisited by adding layers of filters to create a cartoon like effect. This slowly reveals the painter and the painting resulting in a more interesting and mysterious film. However, I still feel there is something missing: perhaps a third installment to come...
untitled feelings
This is how I sometimes feel when I'm editing.
shorts
the days between
"The Days Between uses engaging visual images and the compelling beat of its soundtrack to expose an ordinary day in the life. Each cut displays the mundane events that create our days: from opening our eyes, to showering, getting dressed, eating, working, and drinking coffee: all parts of our lives we hardly notice. Yet, shown at a fast pace, the film reminds us that these events are in fact life. The film entertains and leaves us with a powerful message. Modern life pushes us to pay attention to what we have to do and robs us of the essential experience of what we are doing."
Donald Fineberg, MD.
documentary
This film presents a postcolonial African version of George Frideric Handel’s Hallelujah chorus, as staged and performed by Ghanaba, the legendary Ghanaian drummer who introduced the talking drum to American jazz musicians in the 1950s, together with the Winneba Youth Choir, a leading choir in Ghana and Africa at large. Their unique approach to the Hallelujah chorus mixes elements of African, Christian, and Islamic ritual together with formal European concert performance and Ghanaian ceremony.
Hallelujah! is the first in a trilogy of films about jazz and cosmopolitanism in Accra, Ghana. The other films concern AccraTrane Station and the African legacy of John Coltrane, featuring Nii Noi Nortey and Nii Otoo Annan, and, Por Por, the honk horn music performed by the La Trotro Drivers Union for driver funerals, in the style of the New Orleans jazz funeral.