Cookie Queens to Premiere at Sundance
I’m overjoyed that Cookie Queens will have its debut at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival! I loved doing the sound design and mix for this gorgeous heartwarming documentary. Directed by Alysa Nahmias, whom I had the pleasure of working alongside a few years ago on the documentary Wildcat, and produced by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw who made the Truffle Hunters and Gaucho Gaucho. And executive produced by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The film is beautifully filmed and joyful, and we had such great production sound to work with from a team of very caring filmmakers, which gave us such amazing room to sound design and stylize the world of this film. I’m very excited for people to see it!
The Bend in the River Debuts at Telluride
In other very exciting premiere news, I’m so happy that The Bend in the River had its debut at the Telluride Film Festival in September. This was such a unique documentary film, shot over the course of 50 years, the film documents the lives of a group of friends who are bound together by river rafting trips down the Colorado River and the natural progressions of aging and time.
It was fascinating to work on a film that spanned five decades of filmmaking, and it enabled us to utilize sound as a way to guide the back and forth travels through time and eras. Directed by Robb Moss (Riverdogs), and masterfully edited by Jeff Malmberg (Marwencol, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?), the film was produced by Sundance alum Kristin Feely and an Academy Award winning team of Lisa Remington (The Only Girl in the Orchestra), Jeff Reichert (American Factory), Shane Boris (Navalny), and executive produced by Frances McDormand and Joel Coen.
Time was an ally to us on this film, and while we didn’t have five decades of post-production time, we did spend over a year and a half on the sound edit and mix, doing multiple mix passes that would be sent back to picture editorial so that sound and picture could shape the film together in an exceptionally collaborative way. I even got to mic-up a 13 ft long riverboat with a surround rig and contact mics to create an immersive library of sound recordings for use on the film!
Art and Science Collide Premieres on PBS
I also had the privilege of being able to sound edit and mix a fascinating 1-hr documentary for PBS called Art and Science Collide. A collaboration between PBS and the Getty Institute, the film weaves together stories of Southern California artists featured by the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time exhibition, showcasing artists who weave art and science and cultural commentary together in their diverse range of mediums.
Directed by Academy Award nominee Jessica Kingdon (Ascension), it was so fun and interesting to work on this film and learn all about the local artists here around greater Los Angeles. Plus it gave me a good excuse to do a lot of sound recording in my own neighborhood and along the LA river which some of the art projects involved!
Omnivore and Earnhardt nominated for Cinema Eye and IDA Awards
It was exciting to see two series I had worked on be nominated for awards in recent weeks. Omnivore was nominated for a Cinema Eye honor, and Earnhardt was nominated for an IDA Award
