Hour-long documentaries for broadcast on CGTN America’s Big Story
TITLE: The Red Line: Violence and redemption in an American city divided (trailer above)
PUBLICATION: Big Story: CGTN America
ROLE: Co-Director | Director of Photography | Editor
DESCRIPTION: St. Louis was once one of the largest cities in the United States, but today the city is in decline. The city that was once home to a population nearing a million and a healthy industry is now ravaged by poverty, crime, and violence.
Further complicating the city’s decay is endemic segregation created by the Delmar Divide. Delmar Boulevard splits the city in two, with the city’s wealth, resources, and White population predominantly living to its South.
The Red Line takes an in-depth look into the violence, poverty and discrimination dividing St. Louis and examines what some locals are doing to improve the situation in the city.
Co-Directed with Jason Motlagh
See full documentary at: https://america.cgtn.com/2019/11/01/big-story-the-red-line
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TITLE: Overdose: America’s opioid crisis
PUBLICATION: Big Story: CGTN America
ROLE: Co-Director | Director of Photography | Editor
DESCRIPTION: It has been declared a public health emergency in the U.S., one that claims over 130 lives every day. With more than 11.4 million people misusing prescription opioids, and hundreds of thousands turning to heroin for the first time, Overdose goes to the heart of a crisis that is grappling an entire nation.
Exploring the devastating consequences opioid misuse and heroin addiction is having on communities large and small in the United States, Overdose explores how law enforcement officials and public health professionals are fighting to curtail an epidemic that has no clear end.
Through intimate encounters with drug users, addicts, paramedics, police officers and family members all entangled in the opioid crisis, Overdose reveals what life is like for those who have been viciously shaken by a problem that’s devastating communities large and small across the United States.
Co-Directed with Jason Motlagh
See full documentary at: https://america.cgtn.com/2018/11/29/big-story-overdose
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TITLE: Black Cloud: The future of coal in the United States
PUBLICATION: Big Story: CGTN America
ROLE: Co-Director | Director of Photography | Editor
DESCRIPTION: Coal mining is ingrained in the Appalachian identity. As this region of the Eastern United States lagged in economic development, coal mining became its crutch, offering the only means of making living to thousands of Americans.
With environmental and profitability concerns on the rise; can this way of life survive?
Year-over-year cost effectiveness, environmental damage and health concerns from coal’s use and extraction is causing it to fall out of favor in the United States and abroad.
Black Cloud tells the tale of those who cannot imagine life without coal even though its mining places their lives in direct danger.
Co-Directed with Jason Motlagh
See full documentary at: https://america.cgtn.com/2019/10/11/big-story-black-cloud