FILM LIFE
I have been making films since my high school days at Bishop Fenwick. My early works were animations and wild comedic narratives based in the community I knew. My "film sets" were the city of Salem with an emphasis on my neighborhood. My "actors" were willing family members and friends. My viewing "audiences" were neighbors gathered around a bed sheet and a film projector. After attending college in NYC, I started working in documentary and television. I created a production and post company on New York's Union Square where we produced works for companies and nonprofits and edited for dozens of TV outlets. Clients ranged from the GAP to The National Alliance to End Homelessness to the Rolling Stones. I returned to Salem in 2007, where I continue to edit for various TV outlets and where I helped create and program Salem Film Fest. As part of the Fest, I collaborated with Perry Hallinan to produce the "Salem Sketches" - 70 mini docs with a North Shore accent. My films have always attempted to preserve, open eyes and speak truth to power.
Leather Soul: Working For a Life In a Factory Town (1991)
Although the camera lovingly lingers over tools and equipment that may soon only be found in museums, Leather Soul is not your basic milk run down the backroads of nostalgia. It's a film about people that underwent deep change. The men and women in Peabody remember a time when work, family, and community represented a kind of secular trinity that seemed to always bend, but not to break. LEATHER SOUL consistently makes us think about the world outside of Peabody, MA, because the filmmakers have created not only a riveting portrait of a particular place, but a film which also seems to capture the temper of our times.
R. Pitman, Video Librarian
Witch City (1997)
Salem, MA, put the phrase "witch hunt" into the American vocabulary and has become a place where a Disneyesque version of history serves both commercial and religious interests. WITCH CITY is a cautionary tale about the consequences of manipulating historical facts for present-day gains.
What makes the low-budget documentary so watchable is its zesty comic style, which remains bouncy even when the humor gets scabrous."
John Koch, Boston Globe
Hand of God (2006)
“Hand of God" is both an affidavit against the Catholic archdiocese and a novena to the Cultrera son's elderly parents, who revered the church, but loved their children more.
Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times
That rare thing when it comes to works on this theme — a film informed by passion without histrionics, and a sober and moving family saga.
Dorothy Rabinowitz, Wall St Journal
Quite possibly the most gripping and illuminating documentary ever made from the point of view of a sexual abuse victim...The film works not only as journalism but also as cinematic art..
Robert W. Butler, The Kansas City Star
Sipe: Sex, Lies, and the Priesthood (2021)
Through his books and advocacy, Richard helped lift what he referred to as “the mask”, revealing the truth behind celibacy and its connection to the sexual abuse of minors. with the records of over six thousand patients, recognizing patterns within the Church that eventually lead him to leave the priesthood.
Through his books and advocacy, Richard helped lift what he referred to as “the mask”, revealing the truth behind celibacy and its connection to the sexual abuse of minors.
SIPE: SEX, LIES, AND THE PRIESTHOOD focuses on Richard’s journey from the priesthood to an outspoken and informed critic of the institution.
For The Love of God (2003)
In 2003, much to the consternation of parishioners, the Archdiocese of Boston closed St Mary’s Italian Church of Salem. St Mary’s was funded and built by neighbors in the Italian community surrounding the church. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD is a tribute and love letter to that community. Interviews with long-standing members of the congregation frame the story of this neighborhood and church during the celebration of its final mass.
Salem Sketches (2013-2020)
The SALEM SKETCHES are a series of 70 mini documentaries that capture particular people, places, moods and events on the North Shore — mostly in Salem, MA. These were produced for screening before the feature length international documentaries at Salem Film Fest — allowing audiences to get a taste of the local before embarking on journeys to other parts of the planet. They now serve as historical documents of the area and its people.
