Welcome! I decided to make this blog in lieu of a portfolio website because I don’t just want to present my completed work and accomplishments-on-paper with a slick background. I want to share old work, rough drafts, musings about my process, and thoughts about the culture(s) of making and watching movies from the perspective of a transgender communist with trash taste.

Here are some things I’ve been thinking about:

Filmmaking has historically been a very time- and resource- intensive medium. As technology has evolved, this is no longer necessarily the case but inertia still renders it the norm. What are some of the mechanisms holding these practices in place? What alternative approaches to cinema exist outside of Hollywood hegemony? Is it possible to make no-budget films without exploiting anyone’s labor? How might film or filmmaking be meaningfully political beyond a shallow liberal concept of Important Films With A Message?

Movie theaters are struggling to remain open internationally, but global interest in cinema hasn’t waned. Is it possible for artists to turn a profit on film distribution? In what contexts do people gather to watch movies collectively? How and why is film consumption different from that of other mediums?

Representation of historically marginalized people in mainstream media is at an all-time high, but earlier examples of self-representation by marginalized communities remain as obscure as ever. How are contemporary identity politics being used to reinforce the status quo? What are some of the artistic movements that laid the groundwork for our current moment and how have they been sanitized or sidelined in recent years? What is the relationship between aesthetics and historical materialism?

I’m not sure I have any answers, but my Jewish education has taught me to learn through the process of asking questions together. If you’d like to request a blog post about something in particular, please reach out via email or Twitter and I’ll consider writing about it depending on my personal capacity and familiarity with the topic.