Today is Richard Nixon’s 100th Birthday! For his birthday, Brian and I would like to announce that OUR NIXON will have its world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 29! We are super duper thrilled…

On October 28, Brian and I will be presenting clips from our film OUR NIXON (work in progress) and a whole lot of raw White House Home Movies at the Festival of Film Preservation at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. More info and ticketing information here.

This summer, I was asked to write a statement about what it means to be an American artist. You can read my response here.

Filmmaker Magazine placed me (and Brian) on their annual list of “25 New Faces of Independent Film“. It’s a huge honor, and having the opportunity to meet some of the other folks on the list has been one of the highlights of my year. Entertainment Weekly picked up the list, too!

Awesome film blog Hammer to Nail named THE VOYAGERS best short film of the month! Mike Tully wrote a great accompanying review, which you can read here. And I just learned how to make the heart symbol in HTML, just for this post.

In just a few weeks, I’ll be taking my first trip to Ottawa to show a whole lot of my work at SAW VIDEO. The event is called “(Almost) True: The Videos of Penny Lane” and it’s part of this cool series called “Red/White/Blue: New American Fringe Film and Video” which also features the work of two of my favorite artists: Jesse McLean and Michael Robinson. I’m very excited for this trip, which comes right before the Creative Capital retreat. In other news, OUR NIXON is almost done and I’m still madly working on two other feature docs in my new office in my new home.

THE VOYAGERS recently reached over 75,000 views on Vimeo, and in late March it won another award: hooray! Awards make me feel good, but the continued stream of passionate responses I’ve received from strangers all over the world to THE VOYAGERS makes me feel… awed. Like this email I received a few weeks ago (I’ve removed identifying details), which destroys me every time I read it:
My partner of many years passed away recently, after a battle with cancer. His passing was quiet, calm and surrounded by music in our home. I gave him strength and love, and he showed me …

THE VOYAGERS was included in Short of the Week’s “Best of 2011” list. Super cool! OUR NIXON was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal, which was also super cool!

Brian and I just returned from a long weekend of receptions, meetings and orientation sessions having to do with our shiny new Creative Capital grant. The grant is to develop our newest feature film venture, THE RULES OF EVIDENCE. Read the press release and full list of grantees here. We are excited, honored and overwhelmed in equal measure. Yay 2012!

THE VOYAGERS was featured in The Atlantic today, including an interview with yours truly. Over the past month, the film has become a minor (minor!) internet darling on Vimeo, which is surprising to me because it is both quiet and slow, and at 16 minutes a little on the long side for an internet video. But the comments I’ve been receiving from all corners of the world has been really gratifying – and more than a little humbling – to me. Happy new year!!!