A feature-length documentary following three unlikely aspiring stand-up comedians – an ultra-Orthodox Jew, a couchsurfing custodian, and a personal injury lawyer – risking everything to find their voices on the cutthroat New York comedy scene.
Premiere: DOC NYC 2017
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures.
More information at www.staindingupmovie.com.
Roles: Director, Camera, Editor
Ultra-Orthodox Jew David Finklestein struggles to balance his love of stand-up comedy with his strict religious lifestyle, until he's forced to make a choice between his passion and his community. A 24-minute version of STANDING UP.
Awards: Best Doc Short at 2019 River Run International Film Festival, 2019 Nevada City Film Festival, 2020 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Selected for “Short of the Week.”
More information at www.standingupmovie.com/ajewwalksintoabar.
Roles: Director, Camera, Editor
For incarcerated people serving life sentences in New York State, the parole board is their only hope of release. But how do you convince a group of strangers that you are more than the worst thing you ever did? This documentary short forces viewers to confront their own feelings about justice and mercy, while revealing the heavy toll our current system takes on incarcerated people and their families.
Featured in The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-documentary/how-former-prisoners-view-the-parole-system
Played: Big Sky, AFI, DOC NYC, Palm Springs, and Florida IFF.
Distributed by: Condé Nast Entertainment
Roles: Director, Camera, Editor
The debut special of Haitian-born stand up comedian Tanael Joachim, filmed at Littlefield in Brooklyn, NY. Available now on Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B08FF9Z8JV/
Distributor: Comedy Dynamics
Role: Director
