Every year, after ringing in the New Year I become introspective. Looking back at 2011 was different since I turned 40 and there was an acute awareness of being unable to achieve all that I wanted thus far in my life. I looked at my accomplishments, my failures and the lessons I learned with all the experiences I had last year.
Despite of some setbacks, 2011 turned out to be one of the most productive years of my life so far. But I think I was too ambitious and I put too much on my plate. Due to this I’m still editing some of the projects I was supposed to have finished by Dec.31, 2011.
I’m grateful for all the opportunities and for meeting and working with so many talented people in the Bay-area and beyond. I’ll list each project to acknowledge the talent of the individuals I collaborated with in 2011. All these videos were Filmed and Edited by yours truly with some of them Directed by other talented individuals.
1) Joseph Cozza Salon asked me to produce an infomercial and a commercial for Shu Uemura Spa, after they were selected by the cosmetic giant LOREAL to be one of the three exclusive Salons in the U.S. to have one. Directed by David Lassman:
2) Ari Gold Music Video featuring Sara Dash. Directed by Duane Cramer:
3) Con.tin.u.um- A Triptych of Short Films
Loving Them – Written & Directed by Gerrad Bohl.
Long Story – Written & Directed by yours truly.
The third short film starring Bebe Sweetbriar will go in to production Spring of 2012.
4) Director Jorg Fockele gave me the opportunity to do my first T.V. project for In The Life (PBS), featuring Oakland’s famous Gospel Choir, The Messengers, with Ernest Larkin and his wonderful family:
http://www.itlmedia.org/episodes/entry/a-message-of-hope
5) Background Visuals for Post:Ballet. Directed by Robert Dekkers:
6) It Gets Better – SF SPIKES video for the Trevor Project. Directed by Tim Kulikowski:
7) Bebe Sweetbriar returns with her 2nd Dance Single and an instant Hit: Free to be Me. I worked with Bebe on her first music video as well, but for the second we raised the bar:
8) One of Oakland’s most promising and talented Hip Hop artist that is a combination of Kanye West and Tupac Shakoor: Chose 1. I worked on his first music video throughout 2011, which will premiere on Jan.09, 2012 on his Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/chose1prod/videos
Here’s a Teaser:
9) I finished interviews for Allah’s Frontier – A Documentary on Pakistan – in 2011 with Veteran Journalist Ethan Casey, who lived in Pakistan for a while and has written two books on what Newsweek Magazine called “The Most Dangerous Place on Earth”. Here’s an intriguing trailer, especially if you’re in to Foreign Affairs and U.S. Foreign Policy:
10) Bleeding Heart (working title). Directed by Wolfgang Boeck. This short was inspired by Flamenco music in 2010 and we were fortunate to collaborate with the very talented Spanish Dancer and Choreographer, Danica Sena. I interviewed her in 2010 for one of Face to Face episodes. We filmed Bleeding Heart with Danica Sena and Michael Navarra in September 2011. This short will be in the festival circuit in 2012.
11) Face to Face – web interview show returned in 2011 with Season 3 featuring Cecilia Sterner: Production Designer, who attended the San Francisco International Film Festival:
12) [VIBE} returns in 2011 with an exclusive interview with the Director and Cast of the controversial play: 30 Days in September.
An episode of [VIBE] with Flamenco Dancer and Choreographer Danica Sena will be released soon.
13) Bebe Sweetbriar and I began work on a new on-line show focusing on the San Francisco Nightlife called SF Tonight Show. Episode 3 will be uploaded on Jan.11
14) Joseph Cozza Wedding Services Promo:
15) Rashmi’s Recipes – my first cooking show with actress Rashmi Rustagi. After creating a Blog with several mouth watering Indian Recipes, Rashmi collaborated with me to do a few videos. Six are currently uploaded and linked to her Blog. More are in production:
http://www.rashmisrecipes.com/p/videos_24.html
16) Love by Chance: a short film Directed by Darren Denison, Written by Zulfiqar Talpur and featuring Rashmi Rustagi and David Atwood.
(Trailer coming soon)
Synopsis:
In the hopes of finding a man and painting the town red on her 50th birthday, Reena (Rashmi Rustagi), a newly divorced Indian woman, decides to turn her back on tradition and take control of her own destiny.
Love by Chance will hit the festival circuit in 2012.
