Video Packages, Documentaries, TV Appearances, 360...
Ballet in El Salvador Is Alcira Alonso
I directed and co-shot the short doc, Ballet in El Salvador Is Alcira Alonso, as part of Compass Light Productions’ Reel Earth series.
The legendary ballet dancer, choreographer, and director Alcira Alonso arrived in El Salvador from Argentina in 1961. In her time living here, political instability, revolution, war, and gang violence have reigned dominant in the country’s narrative. Alcira’s San Salvador story is different - one of community, art, and love. In this ReelEarth collection film by Cady Voge, we peek behind the wings and enter the rehearsal studios of the Compañía Ballet de El Salvador. The energy is frenetic as final preparations are being made for the opening of Swan Lake. We look on as the tiny 91-year-old Alcira provides final direction to this principal dancer, Lucia Figueroa. How does woman-to-woman mentoring happen in the dance world, here in El Salvador? The young dancer Lucia moves. The mentor Alcira moves, cane in hand. The younger dancer moves again. Ballet lives on.
EPPY-nominated Short Doc: In Search of Asylum: A Journey On The Migrant Caravan [Part One in a series for NBC]
I shot, produced, reported this piece.
For Magdiel Lopez, Mirna Aldana, and their 18-month-old son Joshua, the perilous journey on the migrant caravan through Mexico presented dangers and risks, but also a chance at a new life in America. "
Waiting in Juárez: Women and LGBTI asylum seekers stuck in a dangerous limbo
I shot and co-produced this piece for The New Humanitarian. Full article here.
Potential loss of Title X funding means uncertainty for Utah's Planned Parenthood and its clients
I shot, produced and reported this piece for NBC Digital.
Venezuela: Crossing the Border into Colombia - 360 Video for Al Jazeera Contrast
I shot, produced and reported this piece.
El Cristo Negro
I directed and co-shot the short doc, El Cristo Negro, part of CLP’s Reel Earth series.
Hundreds of thousands of people hike the Camino trails through Europe each year to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Most walk with a simple backpack, trying to clear their heads with the air of the mountains and plains. The religious gratefully embrace the landscapes of their God’s Creation as they head to the tomb of St. James. In Central America, people also seek penance via a pilgrimage hike, but with a much higher intensity of suffering. This hike is to Portobelo, Panama, to the statue of El Nazareno, a black christ figure known as “the saint of the thugs.” Hardened criminals embark on this pilgrimage to seek forgiveness from the statue by walking, crawling, and even slithering like a reptile in the dirt... while supportive compadres move alongside with a heavy lit candle, dripping hot molten wax onto the penitents’ bare backs. The down-and-out are not the only ones on the eight-hour pilgrimage to Portobelo. Filmmaker Cady Voge introduces us to Dario Rio Espinoza, a married man who desperately hopes the walk will grant his wife Wendy and him the blessing to conceive and give birth to a child. He has reason for his hope. His previous pilgrimages ended his suffering with asthma! As we near the Portobelo church, we feel the desperation of the men and women with much at stake.
In Search of Asylum: A Family Separated At The Border [Part Two in a series for NBC]
I shot, produced and reported this piece.
Magdiel Lopez came to the U.S. with his wife and young child as a part of the migrant caravan. After crossing the border, he was separated from them in immigration detention.
Paradise Fire Residents Still Struggle in Their New Reality - Short Doc for NBC
I shot, produced, and reported this piece.
Brandon Salez and his family lost everything in the wildfire that swept through Paradise, California. Now, they are homeless and hopeful to one day go back to the place they once called home.
‘Peace has a lot of enemies here’: Colombia’s female activists in the firing line
I shot, co-produced, & edited this video for The New Humanitarian. Full article here.
Short Doc for NBC News Digital: Leaving Venezuela: Walking To Find A Better Life
I shot, produced and reported this piece for NBC Digital.
From Central America to the US, follow the journey of asylum seekers - 360 Video for Al Jazeera Contrast
I shot, produced, reported this piece.
