Projects
As I continue to grow in experience and ability with my craft, my goal is to also expand the scope and quality of my creative work as well.
Fentanyl epidemic documentary
WATCH IT HERE: FENTANYL
This is a massive crisis in The United States. Drug-related deaths claimed 107,941 American lives in 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are responsible for approximately 70% of lives lost, while methamphetamine and other synthetic stimulants are responsible for approximately 30% of deaths.
Fentanyl is the nation’s greatest and most urgent drug threat. Two milligrams (mg) of fentanyl is considered a potentially fatal dose. Pills tested in DEA laboratories average 2.4 mg of fentanyl, but have ranged from 0.2 mg to as high as 9 mg. The advent of fentanyl mixtures to include other synthetic opioids, such as nitazenes, or the veterinary sedative xylazine have increased the harms associated with fentanyl.
My goal is to do a hard-hitting documentary focused on what is happening within the metro-Boston area and this epidemic's impact on our local communities and what our local officials and politicians are doing about it. In addition to creating a much needed local documentary treatment on this issue, I want to create a video that can be used for local state-level political advocacy to effect positive change to benefit those in need and our struggling communities.
Additional concepts I want to explore
1. Animal sentience. For me, it is without a doubt that animals are sentient beings able to experience their own lives and make intentional decisions that inform and direct what they do and how they feel and respond to the environment around them.
It fascinates me that in the face of living with animals (dogs, cats etc) many people still do not believe that animals possess the ability to think and comprehend at some level. I would like to explore this issue and ask these questions and see where the journey takes me and the film.
Are they thinking self-actualized beings much like ourselves or are they just a combination of pre-programed protocols (instincts) like what we would find in a calculator or machine?
WATCH HERE:
2. Milarepa. This is a Tibetan Buddhist saint who achieved total liberation from samsara and suffering in one-lifetime. It's a fantastic story full of mystery, the supernatural, heartfelt-sorrow and unbelievable determination.
I would like to make a one-hour treatment based on just one segment of his life story and see where the journey takes me. This project would require me to travel to Nepal several times to do this film justice.
Fortunately the surviving historical and religious texts that are available to us are very well written, detailed and accessible.
I am thinking of starting the film where Milarepa's mother sends him off on a journey to find a master who will teach him powerful black magic so he can take wrathful vengeance against his uncle's family for stealing their home and all their wealth. Milarepa's uncle took everything after his father died leaving him and his family destitute living in mud and totally helpless.
She gives Milarepa her very last turquoise gem to offer to the master so he will accept Milarepa and tells him that if he refuses to go she will kill herself in front of him, leaving him little choice...
