BLACKSCRACKLE FILMS
MEMORIES OF A PENITENT HEART
Feature documentary (2016). TRT 72 minutes. Available on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Prime
Available for educational use from Good Docs
World Premiere, Tribeca Film Festival 2016 | POV broadcast 2017
Combining a wealth of recently discovered home movies, video, and written documents with artfully shot contemporary interviews and vérité footage, MEMORIES OF A PENITENT HEART is a documentary that cracks open a Pandora's box of unresolved family drama. Originating from filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo's suspicion that there was something ugly in her family's past, the film charts her excavation of the buried family conflict around her uncle Miguel's death, and her search for Miguel's partner Robert a generation later. After two years of dead ends, Robert turns up: but he's not the same man. He's reinvented himself as Father Aquin, a Franciscan monk with twenty-five years of pent-up grief and bitterness. For the first time, a member of Miguel's family wants to hear Aquin's side of the story—but is it too little, too late? A story about the mistakes of the past and the second chances of the present, MEMORIES OF A PENITENT HEART is a cautionary tale about the unresolved conflicts wrought by AIDS, and a nuanced exploration of how faith is used and abused in times of crisis.
PICKET LINE
Short documentary (2017). TRT 9 min
Commissioned by Field of Vision and Firelight Media for the series 'Our 100 Days' | World Premiere, AFI Docs 2017
Cinematography by Martin DiCicco
Edited by Iva Radivojević
One week before Donald Trump was elected, 700 workers—many of whom were Trump supporters—walked out of the Momentive chemical plant in Waterford, NY, sparking a 105-day strike. In the wake of his win, the striking workers reflect on the election and Trump's advocacy for union-busting legislation.
YOU WERE MY FIRST BOYFRIEND
A documentary for anyone who survived high school.
Supported by Sundance/A&E Brave Storytellers Award + HBO/IFP True Stories Initiative + Cinereach
Produced by Ines Hofmann Kanna
UNTITLED PUERTO RICO DOCUMENTARY
A kaleidoscopic examination of the aftermath of hurricane María in Puerto Rico.