In Venice, hopes for another rebirth after the coronavirus outbreak

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 with freelance videographer Michelangelo Ruzzene. 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. 

In Mexico, parents won’t quit search for daughter 16 years after her disappearance

After Silvia Ortiz’s daughter, Silvia Stephanie “Fanny” Sánchez, went missing in 2004, she and other mothers with missing children came together to search for them and formed a collective called Grupo Vida. 

I worked with three freelance videographers on this short documentary out of Mexico. I provided them with shot lists and interview questions, and they captured powerful footage in return that I edited into the final piece you see above. 

Coronavirus researchers in Germany invited thousands to a concert. For science.

The Washington Post’s Rick Noack attended a concert in Germany co-organized by one of the country’s university hospitals in the name of science. Researchers want to understand what happens when a large crowd of people meets in the middle of a pandemic. All concert attendees were required to take a coronavirus test with a negative result before the concert.
I pitched this story idea to The Washington Post and worked on it with Rick Noack, a Post correspondent based in Germany. Noack and freelance videographer Stefan Czimmek attended the concert on Aug. 22, 2020. They sent me the footage and I had it edited and published on Aug. 24, 2020. I pitched this story idea because I liked that it was looking at finding a solution.

Visit to Beirut’s port shows devastation from explosion

Washington Post correspondent Sarah Dadouch visited the port in Beirut one week after a massive explosion killed more than 170 people. Dadouch was in her apartment at the time of the blast on Aug. 4, 2020, just half a mile away.

The Beirut blast was a breaking news story that captured the attention of the world. I collaborated with Dadouch to cover this tragic event through video. 

 

Social Crime Prevention in Trinidad

My first time out of the United States was to film this project about the work a nonprofit called the Pan American Development Foundation is doing to decrease 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 story, which can be watched here.

 

PADF Belize: Community preparedness & resilience to environmental challenges

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 there about environmental challenges unique to the Central American country. Like how I did in Trinidad, I setup and filmed the shots and I edited the story together.