featured projects
THE JAZZ AMBASSADORS
Director
Director
The Cold War and Civil Rights collide in this remarkable story of music, diplomacy and race. A PBS / BBC / Arte film. WINNER, Best Documentary Director, 2018 Harlem International Film Festival
Unknown Male Number 1
Director
Director
A murder, a body, a single piece of unknown DNA. A 4-part series following one of the most ambitious forensic investigations ever undertaken for Sky Italy / BBC Storyville.
LAND RUSH
Director
Director
Part of the global Why Poverty? series, this intimate film tells the story of a ambitious plan to build an industrial sugar plantation in rural Mali.
PEABODY BEST-SERIES AWARD WINNER 2013
PEABODY BEST-SERIES AWARD WINNER 2013
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a normal life
Director
Director
A feature documentary that follows 7 young friends over 3 years after the war in Kosovo.
TRIBECA FESTIVAL WINNER 2003
TRIBECA FESTIVAL WINNER 2003
YOUSSOU N’DOUR
Co-Producer
Co-Producer
Youssou N’dour: I Bring What I Love,’ is a music-infused cinematic journey about the power of one man’s voice to inspire change.
Miles Español
Director
Director
A groundbreaking collaboration between veterans of Miles Davis’s various bands and musicians from Spain, Morocco, and Latin America.
about
I’m drawn to intriguing characters and compromising situations, to stories that don’t reinforce our assumptions but that challenge us to see the world anew.
All of my films have followed strong characters navigating challenging personal journeys. In “The Jazz Ambassadors” (2018), America’s greatest Jazz musicians struggle with representing their country while it still practices racial segregation. Italian prosecutor Letizia Ruggeri confronts the limits of her role as both criminal investigator and mother in her hunt to identify the killer of a 13-year old girl in “Unknown Male Number 1” (2017). Ethiopian economist Eleni Ghabi-Madhin must accommodate the pressures of authoritarian leaders in her effort to end famine in "The Market Maker” (2009). And in “Land Rush” (2012), an American agro-developer cannot avoid the contradictions inherent in his desire to “do well by doing good” when struggling to build a massive sugar-cane business in Mali, West Africa.
My intention as a filmmaker is never to judge the people I film. I want to see the world through their eyes and, by building enough viewpoints into a film, let audiences decide whose vision to embrace.
All of my films have followed strong characters navigating challenging personal journeys. In “The Jazz Ambassadors” (2018), America’s greatest Jazz musicians struggle with representing their country while it still practices racial segregation. Italian prosecutor Letizia Ruggeri confronts the limits of her role as both criminal investigator and mother in her hunt to identify the killer of a 13-year old girl in “Unknown Male Number 1” (2017). Ethiopian economist Eleni Ghabi-Madhin must accommodate the pressures of authoritarian leaders in her effort to end famine in "The Market Maker” (2009). And in “Land Rush” (2012), an American agro-developer cannot avoid the contradictions inherent in his desire to “do well by doing good” when struggling to build a massive sugar-cane business in Mali, West Africa.
My intention as a filmmaker is never to judge the people I film. I want to see the world through their eyes and, by building enough viewpoints into a film, let audiences decide whose vision to embrace.
portfolio
awards
Director
coproducer
