Small is Beautiful (working title)

I am currently in pre-production on a documentary based on the ideas of E.F. Schumacher's book "Small is Beautiful," a collection of essays touting the virtues of smallness. He argued that we were too focused on increasing GDP and producing more goods, and in the process stomping on the environment, not to mention our own best interests. Though Schumacher's ideas were largely discarded during the boom-times of the 90s and 00s, the combined effects of the great recession and our increased environmental awareness seem to be bringing Schumacher's ideas back to the forefront.

I originally hatched this idea in early 2010, which resulted in this CHS post, and I have recently re-started the project.  Stay Tuned for updated over on the blog!

 

 Hope Art (2009)

Run time: 8 min. | Seattle, USA

By the time Barack Obama was sworn in as president, the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle was covered in Obama Art. 'Hope Art,' takes a look at this phenomenon from the perspective of the artists, but also digs deeper to ask what this proliferation of Obama art means about the neighborhood. Are they merely displaying their support for their candidate, or are they being too quick to memorialize a president who hasn't even had the chance to prove himself?

OFFICIAL SELECTION:

Seattle True Independent Film Festival 2009

NW Projections Film Festival 2009

 

SMELLS LIKE MONEY (2006)

Run time: 44 min. | Bellingham, USA

The pulp mill on Bellingham's waterfront was more than just a pulp mill to it's employees, for whom the plant represented stability, innovation and many close freindships.  This film tells the story of the pulp mill using a combination of interviews, images, historic film clips, newspaper articles and television reports, to show the human side of a place and people that many have labeled the enemy.

OFFICIAL SELECTION:

NW Projections Film Fesitval 2007

Port Townsend Film Festival 2007

"Smells Like Money: the Story of Bellingham's Georgia Pacific Plant" is available for purchase at Village Books, in Bellingham WA.  All research materials are archived at the Washington State Archives, Northwest Regional Branch.

If you are not in the Bellingham area but are interested in ordering a copy, you can contact me directly via the contage page.

PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH: Western Washington University & The Northwest Film School & The Waterfront Oral History Project.

ARTICLES

"Student's Georgia Pacific Documentary Wins Award" -- The Western Front

An article I wrote on the process of making the film, in the International Oral History Association Newsletter -- starts on p.28.