Super 8 Film

Super 8 Film By Ian Rosenberg & Matt Webster from Ian Rosenberg on Vimeo.

A short film shot using super8mm film. The film was shot by both Ian Rosenberg & Matt Webster. The concept for this piece was to pick from the same pool of footage that we had both shot over the span of about 8 months and create our own visions of how the shots should be arranged. Both of us edited the footage to the same soundtrack, created by Zak Fine. After completing our separate versions of the film, mind you that neither of us had seen each others version, we placed the two separate edits side by side. It is best viewed in full screen as it was originally intended to be project on a large wall. Left side by Ian Rosenberg, right side by Matt Webster.

"Dudley, where is he?" "Who?"

Roman on "The Today Show"

My dear friend Roman Safiullian, while on a visit to Haiti shooting for his thesis film project as part of the Documentary Film Institute at the University of Florida, found himself experiencing an earthquake.  Being a filmmaker, he naturally picked up his camera.  Below is Roman's appearance on "The Today Show" with some of his footage.

untitled.

"Magnificent" Variety reviews Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags

An HBO release of a Blowback production. Produced by Daphne Pinkerson,Marc Levin. Executive producer, Sheila Nevins. Co-producer, Richard Lowe. Directed by Marc Levin.
 

Opening to the lilting strains of "Rhapsody in Blue," "Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags" is a loving and sobering look at the demise of New York's garment industry, where the loss of manufacturing jobs to nations with cheaper labor represents "a microcosm of everything that's going on in this country." Filmmaker Marc Levin does a magnificent job of widening the documentary's lens -- providing a glimpse of a disappearing way of life that speaks to the larger issue of where an entire stratum of U.S. blue-collar jobs has gone.

The sons and daughters of those who made a living in the garment industry, it's noted, went on to become doctors and Supreme Court justices. Yet the gains won by labor in the latter half of the 20th century were circumvented by businesses that uprooted their factories and took the work elsewhere, prompting one cutter to say flatly, "I'm a fossil."

Levin neatly frames the story not just with the bustling streets of Manhattan but with the Triangle Factory fire of 1911, in which women working on the eighth through 10th floors -- locked inside when the building erupted in flames -- died horrifically, with some leaping to the street below. Coming full circle, the docu zeroes in on a similar tragedy that occurred decades later in Bangladesh, as well as the controversy over Kathie Lee Gifford allowing her clothing line to be produced in sweatshops overseas.

As perhaps only HBO can -- given the fascination with the fashion industry and kowtowing to its big-name designers in cable's many fashion-oriented programs -- "Schmatta" also zeroes in on the role those labels have played in pursuing lower costs, and the toll that has exacted on those whose careers have died the death of a thousand cuts.

Premiering in Toronto, "Schmatta" will air Oct. 19 on HBO. As a footnote, the project has a personal connection for HBO documentary czar Sheila Nevins, whose great-aunt died in the Triangle fire.

More than one option

• (Person) Marc Levin
  Director, Supervising Producer, Executive Producer
• (Person) Marc Levin
  Producer
• (Person) Marc Levin
  Special Thanks

More than one option

• (Person) Richard Lowe
• (Person) Richard C Lowe

Camera, Daniel Levin; editor, Richard Lowe; music, John Zorn; music supervisor, Michael Halatyn; supervising producer, Nancy Abraham; line producer, Kara Rozansky. Reviewed on DVD, Los Angeles, Aug. 23, 2009. (In Toronto Film Festival -- Real to Reel.) Running time: 74 MIN.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117941044.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags - Teaser

I had the opportunity to cut a teaser for the upcoming feature documentary Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags in which I assistant edited and did research for. If anyone has the privilege to enter the tents at Bryant Park for this weeks September Fashion Week, you will see a promo I also cut specifically for the tents, but who gets into these things anyways?

(CLICK THE LINK IN THE VIDEO TO SEE THE FULL FRAME)

SCHMATTA to premier at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Many of you know I have been working as an assistant editor on a documentary; that documentary is entitled Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags.

"The Garment Center is the heart and soul of Midtown Manhattan and the backbone of the fashion industry. It was the gateway for many immigrants to the American Dream. Now, it’s in danger of disappearing. This HBO feature documentary explores the rise and fall of New York's fabled schmatta (rag) trade as a microcosm for the economic shocks that have changed our lives."

The Toronto International Film Festival will take place September 10 - 19th as one of the leading film festivals in the world. Stay tuned for more festival announcements and check out Blowback Productions on the web (website, facebook).