Shifting Paths

I recently worked as Co-Producer, Researcher, and Editor on the short documentary Shifting Paths, directed by Charles Abelmann. The film explores the impact of the 1933 boycott of Jewish businesses in Frankfurt, Germany, through the story of one family’s loss and resilience. This short film follows the Aryanization of a beloved family owned pharmaceutical company, forcing the family to change paths. Remarkably, one of the company’s products, a chamomile-based remedy called Kamillosan, which was banned in 1933, has survived to this day—though few know its powerful history.

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Credit to Abelmann Films

Mount Desert Island – A Home Movie

I worked as the Editor and Archival Researcher for Mount Desert Island – A Home Movie. This film, directed by Mount Desert Island native Jeremy Lunt, is composed entirely of home movie footage from families who have lived, worked, or visited the island. Lunt has gathered these films from archives, attics, eBay auctions, and yard sales to tell the story of life on the island over the past century.

To learn more, you can visit the film’s Facebook page.

Credit to Gemini Entertainment Group

A Pocketful of Miracles: A Tale of Two Siblings

I was the Editor, Co-Writer, and Archival Researcher on the feature documentary A Pocketful of Miracles: A Tale of Two Siblings directed by the award-winning Aviva Kempner.

Based on their Shoah Foundation testimonies, Berlin born filmmaker Aviva Kempner chronicles her mother Hanka and uncle Dudek Ciesla’s lives before and during World War II. From their idyllic Jewish upbringing in Poland through their survival of the Holocaust, to their tearful reunion after the war, this moving documentary follows the incredible story of these loving siblings and the successful lives they built in America as painter Helen Ciesla Covensky and businessman and philanthropist David Chase.

The film had its world premiere at the JxJ DC Jewish Film and Music Festival where it won the Audience Prize for Best Documentary. The film had its European premiere at the Berlin Jewish Film Festival in June 2023 with Aviva and I in attendance. It was rated 3 out of 4 stars by the Washington Post and included in their list of Best Movies of 2023.

Credit to The Ciesla Foundation

Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting

I was an Assistant Editor on the film Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting, directed by Aviva Kempner and Ben West. This award-winning documentary explores the movement to end the use of Native American names, logos, and mascots in sports and beyond. It highlights the national reckoning on racial injustice, which led to the removal of Confederate symbols, toppling of statues, and corporate pressure on Washington’s NFL team to change its offensive name. Imagining the Indian examines the origins and impact of stereotypes, chronicling the long struggle to eliminate the misappropriation of Native culture.

The film made the Washington Post’s Best Films of 2023, was a finalist for the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, and was awarded Best Documentary at the Boston International Film Festival. It was also reviewed in The Guardian, and is currently streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

Credit to The Ciesla Foundation