Couchsurferz (2011) is a journey into the homes of friends and strangers in search of ‘significance’ in the Southside of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Sleeping on assorted couches, the surferz document the people and physical environments of their overnight stays. Over the course of a year, the surferz explore the relationships that develop between themselves, their hosts and the spaces they inhabit. Along for the journey are issues of representation, subjectivity, and agency in documentary filmmaking.
Team
Emma Brenner-Malin
Emma Brenner-Malin is a writer, sex-ed programmer, and filmmaker living in Brooklyn, NY. She has conducted research for the Boston Healing Landscape Project, curated and interned at Light Industry, a new venue for experimental film and video, and solicited funds for Marie Regan’s documentary feature Cowboy Song. Brenner-Malin graduated from Bard College in 2008 with a BA in Anthropology. She is currently program coordinator at Love Heals, the Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education.
Joshua Gen Solondz
Joshua Gen Solondz is a media artist/filmmaker/musician. His work has shown in programs at DCTV, Light Industry, Artists’ Television Access, HBC Berlin, Harvard Film Archive, UnionDocs, and Parsons Hall Project Space. Solondz’s work has been featured in the 2011 Images Festival in Toronto and the 2010 Documentary Fortnight at MoMA. Josh recently completed an artists’ residency with his friend and collaborator Jim Supanick at the Experimental Television Center in Owego, NY for their ongoing project Synthhumpers. Josh graduated from Bard College in 2008, lives in Brooklyn, and loves cats.
Stephanie Chang
Stephanie Chang is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Having worked as a domestic violence crisis counselor, street medic, and social worker in California, Panama City, and Berlin, she has a strong background in community outreach. She is interested in issues of agency and representation in non-fiction media. Chang is a graduate with Highest Honors from the University of California, Berkeley, is a Humanity in Action American Senior Fellow. She currently produces multi-media work for the International Organization for Migration in Iraq and the social justice non-profit Partners In Health.
Emma Brenner-Malin
Emma Brenner-Malin is a writer, sex-ed programmer, and filmmaker living in Brooklyn, NY. She has conducted research for the Boston Healing Landscape Project, curated and interned at Light Industry, a new venue for experimental film and video, and solicited funds for Marie Regan’s documentary feature Cowboy Song. Brenner-Malin graduated from Bard College in 2008 with a BA in Anthropology. She is currently program coordinator at Love Heals, the Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education.
Joshua Gen Solondz
Joshua Gen Solondz is a media artist/filmmaker/musician. His work has shown in programs at DCTV, Light Industry, Artists’ Television Access, HBC Berlin, Harvard Film Archive, UnionDocs, and Parsons Hall Project Space. Solondz’s work has been featured in the 2011 Images Festival in Toronto and the 2010 Documentary Fortnight at MoMA. Josh recently completed an artists’ residency with his friend and collaborator Jim Supanick at the Experimental Television Center in Owego, NY for their ongoing project Synthhumpers. Josh graduated from Bard College in 2008, lives in Brooklyn, and loves cats.
Stephanie Chang
Stephanie Chang is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Having worked as a domestic violence crisis counselor, street medic, and social worker in California, Panama City, and Berlin, she has a strong background in community outreach. She is interested in issues of agency and representation in non-fiction media. Chang is a graduate with Highest Honors from the University of California, Berkeley, is a Humanity in Action American Senior Fellow. She currently produces multi-media work for the International Organization for Migration in Iraq and the social justice non-profit Partners In Health.