4k video. RED Komodo. Color. 4 min 04 sec. 2025
My father Jeff and I have made many films in partnership. We explore cultural and socio-economic issues through the very small lens of our difficult and myopic, yet empathic and loving decades-long artistic relationship. In recent years, we have moved from family histories of addiction to broader cultural histories of German Jewish diaspora.
We shot this film during the first days following the October 7 attacks in Israel. We were filming something else, but when the news broke, we shifted course, thinking that this would be the beginning of a long and horrific road for Jews and Muslims alike. So we started telling jokes to try to bring some levity to a situation so outside of our control and inside of our deepest fears.
Jeff Reads Jokes is an ironic portrayal of an inside joke. Jeff is a great joke teller, specifically Jewish jokes. But put the camera on him, and he can’t do it. We both acknowledge this joke within a joke, and that’s why we needed to record it.
The film is in part an homage to the 1996 photography book, Ray’s a Laugh by Richard Billingham, who famously photographed his impoverished, drunken family and exposed them to the art world. In a 2016 interview for the Guardian, Billingham was asked if Ray minded the photos (many of which portray Ray as a debauched lunatic) to which Billingham answered: “I don’t think he took any notice, or if he did it was probably that he was pleased I was in the room with him. The camera acted as a mediator.”
I characterize my relationship with Jeff in the same way. We have made at least ten projects together in some form. I don’t think he has looked at one of them. It’s not that he doesn’t care, it’s just not what interests him about working together. He understands the joys of what it means to work together. Whereas I am simple minded: I look at the film and evaluate it. In that way, the joke is on me.
Full film Vimeo
some images
Screenings:
TBD