Director David Holbrooke Discusses “The Diplomat”

With both the fight against ISIS and the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris on American’s minds both at home and abroad, a doc doesn’t deliver much more timely lessons than those of David Holbrooke’s “The Diplomat,” a thoroughly investigated portrait of legendary Ambassador Richard Holbrooke (which thankfully is finally available for streaming on HBO). Holbrooke may be best known for negotiating the Dayton Peace Accords, which put a stop to the war in Bosnia 20 years ago, but his dedication to public service actually covered an entire half century of foreign policy, starting all the way back with Vietnam.

The film itself, directed by Holbrooke’s oldest son, recently played at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen – site of that failed UN Climate Change Conference back in 2009 – with David Holbrooke in attendance. So as a politically curious journalist also visiting the festival (who happened to spot Holbrooke in line to see another doc) I immediately decided to reach out to the director to learn more about his father’s extraordinary life –and how that life has affected his own.



To read my interview visit Global Comment.

James Deen and the Myth of Concrete Consent

In the final months of a nearly six-year BDSM relationship — the most satisfying relationship of my life — a line was crossed. My Master (a stripper and porn star at the time) violated my safe word, and I knew in that instant that it was the beginning of the end. Without warning he had confiscated my magic passport, declaring it null and void, sending me back to reality.

To read the rest of my personal take on the porn star's takedown visit The Rumpus.

Talking Sex Work with The Red Umbrella Diaries Producer Audacia Ray

It was a little over half a decade ago that I read at one of Audacia Ray’s intimate Red Umbrella Diaries events on the Lower East Side. Since then this sex worker storytelling series founder – whose resume also includes stints as a bodyworker, escort, and executive editor of $pread magazine – has become one of the foremost voices of sex work advocacy through her Red Umbrella Project (RedUP), harnessing the media to de-stigmatize the oldest profession in the world. Now, after waging battle against violence and for the public health of those in a long-marginalized industry, she’s executive produced The Red Umbrella Diaries – a feature based on a Joe’s Pub performance from some standout Diaries alums – that’s having its New York City premiere at DOC NYC.

So what’s the journey been like from the Happy Ending Lounge to here? Filmmaker spoke with Ray about her crusade to not just change the conversation around sex work – but to put it firmly back in the hands of working girls and boys (and trans-girls and trans-boys).

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.

An Interactive Journey Through Solitary Confinement: “The Deeper They Bury Me: A Call from Herman Wallace”

It was back in 2013 that I first interviewed filmmaker Angad Singh Bhalla for this site. At the time Bhalla was trying to spread the word about his debut feature doc “Herman’s House,” which told the harrowing tale of Herman Wallace – better known as one of the “Angola 3” inmates who’d spent four decades in solitary confinement – through the eyes of Jackie Sumell, a NYC artist. Sumell’s correspondence with Wallace had led to the creation of “The House That Herman Built,” an art installation that toured internationally and, in turn, led to Sumell’s quest to build Wallace’s dream house full-scale.

Though we never see Wallace in “Herman’s House,” his powerful voice – recorded from prison phone conversations – nevertheless serves as our guide. Now Bhalla has teamed up with veteran digital media producer Ted Biggs to create “The Deeper They Bury Me: A Call from Herman Wallace,” a stunning “interactive encounter” with Wallace (who died in October 2013, a few days after his release) and his caged world that takes place in the span of 20 minutes, the time allotted for a single prison call. I was fortunate enough to again speak with Bhalla about this latest activist endeavor, which – fortunate for you – is available to be experienced here for free online.

To read my interview visit Global Comment.

Criminalizing Kink in the UK: The 50 Shades Effect

Last month I reached out to LA-based expat Anna Span, an English porn producer (and one-time Liberal Democrat candidate) who awhile back, fought the UK’s ban on showing female ejaculation in porn—and won! I was anxious to hear her take on the recent crackdown on sadomasochistic practices in adult films, specifically whether “BDSM-themed art porn” is technically even legal in the UK nowadays.

To find out more visit The Rumpus.

“Humor Is Always Butting Up Against Tragedy”: Sterlin Harjo on Mekko

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 13th, Sterlin Harjo’s latest narrative feature Mekko treads territory both familiar and new to this Oklahoma-based, Native American director. An ex-con-versus-thug thriller set in the world of Tulsa’s real-life Indian homeless community, the film stars Hollywood stuntman Rod Rondeaux and boasts an all-Native cast (many of whom are part of that aforementioned homeless community). Filmmaker caught up with Harjo prior to TIFF to talk about his fourth feature – as well as German Indian-philia, Herzog’s Stroszek, and Native humor.

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.

Building Trust with the Gringo Mariachi: Aaron I. Naar on Mateo

The story of Matthew Stoneman, “America’s first gringo mariachi singer,” at first sounds more like fodder for the next Will Ferrell vehicle. But in the hands of IFP Doc Lab alum Aaron I. Naar this weirder-than-fiction tale transforms into something far deeper. After a prison stint led to the New Hampshire native’s education in both the Spanish language and Cuban music, the unassuming Stoneman turned his life not just around, but upside-down. With both patience and compassion Naar follows this truly remarkable artist with the voice of an angel as he battles his demons, and ultimately sacrifices everything to realize his magnum opus: a Buena Vista Social Club-level album recorded in Havana.

Filmmaker spoke with the first-time feature director prior to the doc’s L.A. theatrical release at Hollywood’s Arena Cinema on August 21st (to be followed by its iTunes debut on August 25th).



To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.