Video Samples

B.M.X. began as a student documentary while I was attending San Francisco State University. Recently I revisited it, made some needed updates, and entered it in the Impact DOCS Awards, where it won an Award of Merit for Documentary Short: USA. It’s also an Official Selection of the 26th Annual Bicycle Film Festival, screening virtually beginning December 2026.

Sal De Guarda lived a life worth its own film. As a young swimmer, he performed at the San Francisco World’s Fair on Treasure Island, in a show with stars Esther Williams and Johnny Weissmuller. He went on to become an actor and stuntman in Hollywood, working under the stage name John Dexter. He played small roles, like the painter in Laura (1944), and appeared with Mae West in The Heat’s On (1943). In the mid-1940s, he was Mae’s boyfriend. What stayed with him from his Fair days was Pacifica, the beautiful Art Deco statue he wanted to see standing again. At the end of his life, he put his energy into bringing her back to Treasure Island.

I’ve taught video production as an adjunct professor at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and at Berkeley City College. In this piece, I sat down with some of my students to hear about their experiences in one of my classes: what they learned, what surprised them, and what they’re taking with them.

Chris Meek of Elite Guitar Services is an expert guitar technician who works on every kind of stringed instrument. A meticulous craftsman and a working musician himself, Chris takes the time to know each owner, how they play, what they like, and the story behind every instrument that comes across his bench.

Paul Petersen became famous as a child star on the original Mickey Mouse Club. He went on to play Jeff Stone on the popular series The Donna Reed Show, from 1958 to 1966. He also appeared in movies and television alongside stars including Cary Grant, Sophia Loren and Sally Field. He later founded A Minor Consideration, an organization that works to protect child actors in the industry. In this interview, Paul talks about child stars, and in particular Jackie Coogan, the silent film star of the 1920s who acted alongside Charlie Chaplin. In the 1930s Coogan sued his parents over the money he had earned, and that case led to the Coogan Law. Paul has long been influenced by Coogan’s story and knows it well.