Earlier this term, I found and fell in love with the Holocaust Survivor Band video on NYT’s Op-Doc and blogged about it. The casting, poetic cinematography, and humor won me over. This video inspired me to explore more work by filmmaker Joshua Z Weinstein.
Josh is known for a style that combines gritty realism with a sense of humor and emotion. For a preview of his aesthetic, check out his reel.
Weinstein lives in New York, and has a long list of credits and accolades to his name as an award-winning cinematographer and director. He has worked across the fields of advertising and journalism; and has created branded content, shorts, feature length documentaries, and is currently working on his all Yiddish directorial fiction debut.
After viewing a number of his films, it’s clear to me that Josh is successful in building trust and relationships with his characters in order to bring out deeply intimate and honest moments.
Spider Drove a Taxi, another NYT’s Op-Doc, blends a charismatic narrator, vintage stills, and beautiful cinematography. My favorite sequence is a montage of video portraits from 1:22 – 1:54, which includes the use of side and rearview mirrors for different perspectives.
I Beat Mike Tyson is a 13 minute documentary about an Irish boxer who beat Mike Tyson in 2005 and then disappeared. Weinstein searched him out to tell his story, and created a stripped down, raw, realistic, and relatable multimedia story. You don’t need to know a thing about boxing to be touched by this piece.
I reached out to Josh and he generously responded with some insights and advice. I particularly appreciate his thoughts on world music and travel as being an integral part of the research and discovery process.
“I think the idea is to imitate what you love and through imitating you create your own voice. Make simple goals and follow through with them. Making mistakes happens all the time, learn from them and move on. I have started multiple films and thrown them away, its ok. Not every story should be a film, remember a film is a film for a reason. Take photos, listen to world music, and travel, this is the best research you have as a filmmaker.”
Weinstein is an Alumni of Boston University College of Communication Film department and the CPB/PBS Producers Academy at WGBH. He has lectured on film at many universities. Maybe we could persuade him to visit us on the West Coast one day.
From a 2012 Interview with Filmmaker magazine, where Weinstein answered questions about his film Drivers Wanted, I leave you with this sage advice:
“One of the golden rules of documentary is nothing good happens during the daytime.”
You can see more of Josh’s work at weinsteinfilm.com.
During the previous term I watched “Spider Drove a Taxi” on NYT videos before I saw your post and was elated to discover that you reached out to its creator Joshua Z Weinstein. After watching some of his other works and his reel I can tell that he is a very good storyteller.
Also, check his reel at 01:21 – isn’t it the best rack focus?? And along with the next shot it creates a story.
Weinstein’s quote “one of the golden rules of documentary is nothing good happens during the daytime” reminded me of Gay Talese’s story “New York Is a City of Things Unnoticed.” Have you read it? It is a short nonfiction piece in which Talese describes the city so vividly that it made me wonder how much time he should’ve spent observing. Especially I love the night part:
“[…]At 5 A.M. the Broadway regulars have gone home or to all-night coffee shops where, under the glaring light, you see their whiskers and wear. And on Fifty-first Street a radio press car is parked at the curb with a photographer who has nothing to do. So he just sits there for a few nights, looks through the windshield, and soon becomes a keen observer of life after midnight.
“At 1 A.M.,” he says, “Broadway is filled with wise guys and with kids coming out of the Astor Hotel in white dinner jackets-kids who drive to dances in their fathers’ cars. You also see cleaning ladies going home, always wearing kerchiefs. By 2 A.M., some of the drinkers are getting out of hand, and this is the hour for bar fights. At 3 A.M. the last show is over in the night clubs, and most of the tourists and out-of-town buyers are back in hotels. At 4 A.M., after the bars close, you see the drunks come out-and also the pimps and prostitutes who take advantage of drunks. At 5 A.M., though, it is mostly quiet. New York is an entirely different city at 5 A.M. […]”
From: http://www.worldcat.org/wcpa/servlet/DCARead?standardNo=0802776752&standardNoType=1&excerpt=true However, it is just an extract from the story, but I have his book and you can borrow it if you’re interested 🙂
Anyway, thanks for the inspiring post!