I've been working with director/photographer Chloë Ellingson on a short documentary called Raising the Words. It is a lyrical piece about a group of people in the Iroquois community who are working to revitalize the Mohawk (or Kanien'keha) language, which is on the verge of becoming extinct. The documentary follows six characters who speak about their personal connection to the language, about what it means to have one's ancestral language taken away and how language influences our identity.
Strange and Familiar // Trailer
The filmmakers of Site Media recently premiered a feature documentary called Strange & Familiar: Architecture on Fogo Island, which has been getting lots of accolades for its gorgeous cinematography. They asked me to put together a trailer for the film.
Vice Director's Canvas // Sturla Gunnarsson
I was approached by Vice to do some editing for a series of short documentary portrait videos of directors who are screening films at TIFF this year. One of the subjects was Sturla Gunnarsson (Beowulf & Grendel) who has a feature documentary at TIFF called Monsoon. While paddling serenely in a canoe on Lake Ontario, Gunnarsson speaks about his filmmaking process, his awe of nature and fascination with vast landscapes.
Canadian Tire // Ice Truck
Last winter, Canadian Tire released a car battery that will start in extremely cold temperatures. To illustrate this new technology they built a fully functional truck out of ice, froze the battery to -40°C and drove the truck through the streets of Hensall, Ontario.
Canova Media asked me to direct a short documentary capturing the truck-building process. We traveled to Ice Culture in Hensall to witness the conception, testing, and construction of the ice truck, and we captured the monumental 1.6 km drive as the ice truck set a world record.
This documentary video was part of a larger campaign by media agency Touché PHD, Taxi Canada, Fuse Marketing, North Strategic and Notch Video. The campaign has been shortlisted and won awards at numerous international advertising festivals including Cannes Lions, Marketing Magazine and Digi Awards.
DIRECTOR: Nadia Tan
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Colin Akoon
EDITOR: Chris Murphy (Relish Editing)
MUSIC: Dan Griffin
Spring and Arnaud // Trailer
I had the pleasure of working with Site Media directors Marcia Connolly and Katherine Knight on a trailer for their feature documentary Spring & Arnaud which is about to play at a series of festivals. It’s a gorgeous, poetic film about love and mortality with stunning shots of the sculpture and photography of Spring Hurlbut and Arnaud Maggs.
I’ve only edited a small handful of feature film trailers so it’s always an exciting challenge for me to narrow down a 1 hr+ film into a 2 minute piece while making sure to capture the essence of the story.
In The Kitchen // Spice Spoon
A few weeks ago, Shayma Saadat of Spice Spoon invited me and Brent Martin into her kitchen where we captured her making a saffron orange-scented bread pudding. We then went to the sound recording studio where she spoke nostalgically of her native country of Pakistan and recalled memories of standing by the stove as a child and watching her grandmother cook with oranges.
Baileys // Glass Dress
Toronto-based designer Lucian Matis recently teamed up with Baileys to create a glass dress inspired by their new bottle. Check out this behind-the-scenes video I shot and co-directed with Matt Greyson.
Arkells // Whistleblower BTS
I just finished editing this video created by myself and Maya Bankovic. It's a look at the making of Arkells' new music video for their song "Whistleblower". The music video was directed by Jared Raab, and you can watch it here.