Nellie Kluz

I come to Last Ship from Boston, MA, where I make documentaries and work for the LEF Foundation, an organization that funds independent filmmaking in New England. I make movies by trying to stand back and observe, entering into a learning process by filming. I look for subjects that hold promising visual opportunities and a chance to meet new and surprising people. I graduated from Boston University and I’ve worked for Documentary Educational Resources, a distributor of anthropological and ethnographic films.

http://filecardcabinet.wordpress.com/
http://youngbirdseason.tumblr.com/


Personal Statement:
I make documentaries by standing back and observing, entering into a learning process by filming. I look for subjects that hold promising visual opportunities and a chance to encounter new and surprising people. Exploring and researching as I work, I aim to create a window into something that was hidden from my own view before. I’m interested in capturing conversations, repetitive processes, close-up details and unexpected juxtapositions. The films and stories I like best show the intriguing, mysterious, funny and beautiful sides of ordinary people’s activities.

During the two-month residency period at Last Ship, I would like to gather footage on video and 16mm film. Filming and editing as a means to orient myself and create my own experience in this huge and rapidly-changing city, my priorities would be keeping an open mind and an attentiveness to patterns and filmmaking possibilities.

In addition to doing my own work, I’d like to find ways to connect with and contribute something to the community of artists and filmmakers in Mumbai.

- Nellie Kluz


Young Bird Season (2011)
(www.youngbirdseason.tumblr.com)
Following a group of homing pigeon racers in New England, Young Bird Season is about the rhythms and logistics of pigeon racing, the guys who fly, and the birds themselves.

Gold Party (2012) - 16 min
Gold is a commodity that thrives in uncertain economic climates, and rising gold prices over the past few years have created a boom industry around precious metal scrap. Watching gold scrap dealers at work, this documentary provides a window into one small corner of a global economic market.

Paper Man (2009) - 8 min
Nonfiction short about Stuart Walker, the Rare Books conservator at the Boston Public Library. With a sense of humor that’s as dry as the paper he works with, Stuart works patiently to keep decay and loss at bay.


Co-organizer, Cinematic Disobedience (2012) (http://cinematicdisobedience.com/)
A film series in Boston highlighting themes of protest and ownership of the city, screening documentaries, experimental films and expanded cinema.