Experiencing Interruptions?

DOWNTOWN

DOWNTOWN is a tribute to my friend Sam Michel who was heartlessly murdered in Los Angeles in 2012. Sam and I went to high school together in Cross River, New York, were prom dates and were in the same art class. He would give me burned cd's of the coolest music every day in the hallways of our high school and we would chat on aol instant messenger until wee hours of the morning. Sam was unabashedly himself. A true artist who enjoyed and played with the surreal. The loss people who were close to him feel is true, painful and deep. As Sam's mother Deborah wrote to me, "It is impossible to believe what happened and we try to translate the unthinkable." This music video is an artistic expression and collaboration with my director David Henry Gerson of seeking to express rising up in the name of justice, the importance of friendship and making art not war when unexplainable, unfair injustices happen to innocent people and the ones we love.

  • David Henry Gerson
    Director
    All These Voices, American-Standard
  • Lexie Roth, David Henry Gerson
    Writer
  • Lexie Roth, Patrick Taylor
    Producer
  • Aaron Kovalchik
    Cinematography
    Blame, The Big Ask, Gabi on the roof in July, Eric Andre Show
  • Dion Pratt
    Key Cast
  • Lexie Roth
    Key Cast
  • Fallon Brooking
    Key Cast
  • Danny Cron
    Key Cast
  • B Ehst
    Key Cast
  • NATASHA GRAVIA LUND
    Key Cast
  • GENEVA HAMILTON
    Key Cast
  • JOANA KNEZEVIC
    Key Cast
  • LAQUAN LEWIS
    Key Cast
  • PETER MARK GUIMARAES
    Key Cast
  • CASEY MELONE
    Key Cast
  • FERNANDO MITRE
    Key Cast
  • ALEXANDRIA SALEEM
    Key Cast
  • ABIGAIL STANTON
    Key Cast
  • HANAH TRUJILLO
    Key Cast
  • CHRISTOPHER YARROW
    Key Cast
  • NOGA YECHIELI
    Key Cast
  • Anthony Nikolchev
    Choreography
    All These Voices
  • Mark Daniel Quintos
    First Assistant Camera
    Almost Home
  • Dusty Saunders
    Second Assistant Camera
  • Ivan Jesus Herrera
    Gaffer
  • Charles Tae
    Key Grip
  • Zachary W. Graves-Miller
    1st AD
    Boston, Chappaquiddick
  • Project Type:
    Music Video
  • Runtime:
    5 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 16, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:85
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - David Henry Gerson

DAVID HENRY GERSON is a Student Academy Award® winning filmmaker whose work has also won prizes at Sundance and other international festivals. Born and raised in Washington DC, he is a graduate of Columbia University and the American Film Institute. David is the recipient of the AFI 2016 Richard P. Rodgers Award for Creative Excellence. His recently completed thesis film, ALL THESE VOICES, tells the story of a young Nazi soldier encountering an avant-garde theater-troupe of survivors celebrating the end of WWII. It won the 2016 Student Academy Award®.

His short film, AMERICAN STANDARD, (“Dynamite!” – Abel Ferrara, “Truly excellent” – John Patrick Shanley) about a US Veteran returning home to his undocumented immigrant girlfriend aired on the American Forces Network at every US military base around the world. His film ULTRA VIOLET FOR SIXTEEN MINUTES, a documentary about the late Ultra Violet – Salvador Dali’s Mistress, Andy Warhol’s muse, and a born-again Mormon – screened at over a dozen festivals worldwide, and was acquired into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NY.

David has worked in Film, TV, and on Stage with Doug Liman, David Mamet, James Lapine, and opposite Al Pacino. He trained as an actor at the British American Drama Academy in London, as well as in the Method and Meisner techniques in NY and LA. He produced and starred in Matthew Lessner's short film CHAPEL PERILOUS, which won the Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.

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Director Statement

"Lexie's beautiful and powerful resistance song, the story of her friend, a former Cal Arts student, Sam Michel's murder, coupled with the outcry of the times we live in gave the urgency that this was a video we needed to build today - to find a means of depicting early 2017's outcry, in the sense of Picasso's 'Guernica,' as a music video was the lofty challenge we set out for ourselves. We were fortunate to have skillfully executed choreography by Anthony Nikolchev, the amazingly talented dancer Dion Pratt, and Anthony's movement students at Cal Arts to be the life force of our interpretation."