May • 2019
Jonathan is creative, well organized and fun to work with. Great product delivered on time.
Milwaukee, WI, USA
7 reviews$300 - $2500 / Day
Hi, I'm Jonathan. I'm a visual storyteller who believes the camera is a tool that can shake the foundations of power. I try focus the lens on people building a better world. I've worked and learned video production with some amazing organizations and programs. I owe them a lot for their guidance. As an alum of UW-Madison in Political Science, I became an elder fellow and producer/editor/DP at UW-Milwaukee's documentary program, doc|UWM. I then became an intern/production assistant with Al Jazeera's Emmy Award winning program Fault Lines. I worked as the Production Coordinator of the Emmy award winning Kennedy Center Honors Films. I was filming in Baltimore during the uprising after the police killing of Freddie Gray, when I was hired to work with The Laura Flanders Show - a economic and social justice program that focuses on solutions to systemic issues plaguing the United States. I eventually became a Senior Producer and Co-Creative Director of the show. My freelance work includes video and producing with AJ+, The Guardian, Fusion, Frontline, Voces de la Frontera, PBS Newshour, PBS (Quiet Pictures), the Center for Investigative Reporting, Voice of America - Eurasia, and National Partnership for New Americans. For the last five years I've been Co-Director, DP, and Co-Editor of the feature documentary film The Sacred and The Snake. Our film collective and I received the Storyhunter award for "Best Untold Story of 2016" for our reporting at Standing Rock with Fusion. We lived at the resistance camp from August 2016, until it was raided in late February 2017. We are incredibly grateful for the support of communities of Indigenous peoples and Water Protectors. It's been humbling. We've received support from The Milwaukee Film Brico-Forward Fund, The Berkeley Film Foundation, International Documentary Association's (IDA), Bay Area Video Coalition, IFP, Camden International Film Festival fellowship, and Doclands. I enjoy times with family, friends, and the outdoors. I am passionate about telling stories of risk takers and the fight, but definitely welcome lighter stories. I look forward to working with you and making something special together. All the best, Jonathan
May • 2019
Jonathan is creative, well organized and fun to work with. Great product delivered on time.
September • 2022
Jonathan was great! Such a pleasure working with him. Will definitely work with him again!
Milwaukee, WI. This was made with the grassroots organizing group Voces De La Frontera and screened at their yearly Gala fundraiser event with members, the community, and elected officials including the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, Tony Evers and Mandela Barnes. It's a year recap mixed in with a current story about Milwaukee Police working with ICE to separate families, and the Voces organizing at the hearings to put an end Milwaukee Police working with and aiding ICE.
Part 1 of our field reports from the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, or Seven Council Fires Community, at #StandingRock in Cannonball, North Dakota. Representatives from over 200 nations have travelled to #StandingRock to defend their right to clean water, and more, to preserve their sovereignty against a state that has illegally decided to take this land. They are protectors, not protesters.
A convergence of progressive movements in Philadelphia. This highlights the actions and voices mainstream media ignored and silenced at the Democratic National Convention. Dispatch from the outside where thousands gathered in protest, and the inside the Wells Fargo center - the host of the DNC, where hundreds walked out in protest and occupied the media tent. The Dems were obviously not unified.
I made this in solidarity with Voces de la Frontera, a grassroots immigrants' rights, human rights, and education organization in Milwaukee WI. When #45 visited Wisconsin and fundraised for Republicans, and broke ground at Foxconn, I followed Voces instead of him. This is from the resistance perspective. It was picked up by The Laura Flanders Show in New York City. Role: Shooter/Producer/Editor
Standing Rock Frontline: Nov 20 Tear Gas, Water Cannons, 18F Temperatures From the frontline, an interview and footage of law enforcement officials targeting peaceful NODAPL water protectors. They are using water cannons in freezing North Dakota temperatures, as well as tear gas and flares. Hundreds injured and hypothermic because of excessive use of force upon people simply standing their ground on the other side of a barb wire fence. Infamous Backwater Bridge Night.
There's a revolution happening in Standing Rock, at the Oceti Sakowin camp, and across the country. Hundreds of indigenous nations and 6,000 people have travelled to the community in an unprecedented act of solidarity. Catalyzed by the fight against Dakota Access Pipeline, Native American tribes are protecting their water, and their sovereignty in the face of a colonization. This is camp from Sept
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