Businesses and residents of Venice were hoping to bounce back after 2019’s historic flooding, but then came the coronavirus outbreak. What does the future hold now? I produced, edited and directed this short documentary, “In Venice, hopes for another rebirth after the coronavirus outbreak,” with freelance videographer Michelangelo Ruzzene for The Washington Post. We started the project in March 2020 and published two months later in May. The video got more than 100,000 views on The Washington Post’s site and more than 150,000 views on its YouTube channel. 

After Silvia Ortiz’s daughter, Silvia Stephanie “Fanny” Sánchez, went missing in 2004, she and other mothers with missing children in Mexico came together to search for them and formed a collective called Grupo Vida. I worked with three freelance videographers on this short documentary, “In Mexico, parents won’t quit search for daughter 16 years after her disappearance,” by providing them with shot lists and interview questions, and they captured powerful footage that I edited into the final piece. 

Just a couple months before graduating from college in 2016, I worked with a nonprofit called the Pan American Development Foundation to document the work they were doing to prevent crime in Trinidad. I met with and interviewed several locals to the country to learn about what life was like there and the challenges they face. The story is told through the eyes of a teenage boy who is a part of the program PADF has introduced to the Port of Spain community to help combat crime. In addition to setting up the shots and filming, I edited the teaser above along with the full video, which can be watched here.

A few months after I finished the short documentary I did for PADF in Trinidad, they sent me to Belize to document the work they were doing focused on environmental challenges unique to the Central American country. Like how I did in Trinidad, I was the sole videographer and editor on the project.