Two World Premieres (And an Award!) At SXSW
It’s an honor to have sound edited and mixed two new documentary features that both had their world premieres at this year’s SXSW film festival in Austin.
The first was a collaboration with Disney, Mickey: The Story of a Mouse is a wonderful deep dive into the history of Mickey Mouse, from his early days as a triumph of animation and synchronized sound achievement, through the growth of both Walt and his company, to pop culture recognizability and counterculture icon. Produced by Morgan Neville and directed by Jeff Malmberg, this film brims with joy and creativity, and I loved all the peeks behind the curtains into the incredible history of Disney animation. It was an absolute creative joy to work on, and it’ll be on its way to Disney+ soon!
The second film is called The Pez Outlaw, and it’s a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction tale of an international pez smuggler who made a fortune bringing back the colorful candy dispensers from Eastern Europe to sell to pez fanatics and collectors back home. Co-directed by Bryan and Amy Storkel, this film was full of stylized recreations, adventure, espionage, and lots and lots of plastic candy dispensers! At times playing like film noir, at other times playing like a crime caper, the film was creative and wacky to sound design and mix and I can’t wait for more audiences to get to experience this story!
And to top it all off, the film also picked up a Special Jury Award from SXSW!
Reading Rainbow Documentary to Premiere at Tribeca
In more great festival premiere news, the Reading Rainbow documentary Butterfly in the Sky will be having it’s debut at Tribeca! Co-directed by Brett Whitcomb and Bradford Thomason, this beautiful film speaks with LeVar Burton and the creators of the foundational children’s show that introduced millions of kids to the importance of books.
It’s been a heart-meltingly wonderful time to sound edit and mix this film, and I can’t wait for it’s joy to be brought to audiences at it’s premiere!
Procession and Changing the Game Nominated for Peabody Awards
It’s a tremendous honor to see that both Procession and Changing the Game were nominated for Peabody Awards. This prestigious award is the equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize for media, and the nominations honor excellence in storytelling that reflect the social issues and emerging voices of the present. It is deeply meaningful to see both Procession and Changing the Game on this year’s list of nominees.
CAS Nomination for Tina
And lastly, in awards roundup news, I was nominated for a CAS Award for Best Mixing for Tina! It’s been quite a ride as far as accolades for that film, but it’s always one of the most important honors to be nominated by a guild of sound mixing peers. It was my first CAS nomination, and I’m exceptionally proud of the work that our whole team did on the sound design and mix of that film.
