Punk Jews

A miniseries documents an alt-Jewish cultural scene emerging in NYC

Brooklyn-based filmmaker Jesse Zook Mann’s latest documentary project delves into the radical Judaism scene in New York. Originally announced on the crowd-sourced funding site Kickstarter, Punk Jews just reached their goal of raising $10,000 to make the film. Featuring musicians, artists, fashion designers and philosophers, Zook Mann describes Punk Jews as, “People owning their heritage, being creative with it, having fun with it—and doing so …

Flood Tide

Swoon's art flotilla takes the big screen in a new fact-bending documentary

Using a real event to tell a fictional story, “Flood Tide” chronicles the open water adventure of four musicians who build a raft and set sail on the Hudson. The 50-minute film—directed by artist Todd Chandler—uses footage of street artist Swoon’s seven-boat-strong performance project “The Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea,” to realistically interpret their fantastic voyage. As the motley cast of characters—a troupe of …

Vopnabúríð

Learning about "fabric pornography" with designer Sruli Recht in his Reykjavik studio

With Sruli Recht‘s “nonproducts” and personal preoccupations housed in shelves and resting on workbenches crafted from remnants (found around his Fishpacking neighborhood in Reykjavik), his showroom and studio is an unrestrained assortment of his surroundings. We arrived at Vopnabúríð (Icelandic for The Armory) just as Recht and his wife Megan Herbert began their work day. After a playful competition between them to throw on music …