Short - Release '11
A 10 year old spends the day with his father and experiences a rite of passage that will forever change him.
Short - Release '10
Laredo, Texas, the largest inland port city in the U.S. What should be a simple training day turns into something more when Sam suspects that Juan is an undocumented immigrant.
Feature - Release '09
"quite possibly the best exploration of national identity since Edward Morin and Jean Rouch documented French working class frustrations in "Chronicle of a Summer." - IndieWIRE
"the result is a powerful documentary that confronts America's superpower status and worldwide perception." -The Hollywood Reporter
Americana explores American identity at home and abroad by juxtaposing the personal stories of Americans overseas and those of two teenagers in their last three months of high school before their U.S. Army enlistment.
Shot around the world, from Vietnam to Hiroshima to Belgrade and Istanbul, Americana uncovers what it means to be American today and challenges us to question our relationship to the rest of the world.
Short - Release '09
Guillermo Ivan returns to his family in Cuba for the first time in 13 years and experiences a greater divide than just distance.
Short - Release '07
A Muslim Taxi driver and passenger discuss the changing landscape of American identity post 9/11; making explicit what is implicit in New York City.
Narrative Feature - In Development
A war photographer struggles to find love and meaning as he splits his life between the civil world of New York City and the war-torn streets of conflict zones.
Paul Foster is young, eager and wants to consume the world. In a desire to ride the wave of history and experience life to its fullest, he escapes the role his family has set for him and embarks on a career as a photojournalist. He meets the legendary Martin Cummings who takes him under his wing and helps Paul navigate both physically and emotionally through the incessant chaos and carnage of conflict zones. As Paul matures and develops between conflicts, he returns to civil society and tries to reconcile the two disparately different worlds. He falls in love with the striking Annamaria and tries to build a life with her in New York but struggles to find the balance between the two worlds; for the quality that makes him valuable in one world is exactly that which makes him inoperable in the other, and Paul must decide in which he wants to live.
We follow Paul's 18-year career from Panama in 1989, through the Balkans in the 90's, to Chechnya, Liberia and finally Afghanistan. As Paul's work garners awards and he becomes a legend in his own right, the schizophrenic life between conflict zones and civil society leads to his spiritual and emotional degradation.
Through Paul's story we not only experience how conflict and the way we document it has changed, but also how one man struggles to find balance, value, and meaning in his life.
Narrative Feature - In Development
The true story of my family during World War II. A Jewish family hiding in Albania, posing as Muslims, in fear of being discovered only to learn later the Muslim villagers knew their true identity and hid them just the same.
Short - Release '05
This is a teaser for the short film Seven Miles Alone before we actually even shot the short film. So it's the germination of the idea once the script was written. Rob Hauer and I decided to shoot something to give a tone and sense of the space of the film. To start feeling what the film could be like.
TV - In Development
A Television Reality Series based on the adventures of American Industrial designers Josh Farley and Jeremy Floto. From meeting with high end clients in New York, Los Angeles, London and Berlin to hunting through deserted New England Factories, Farley & Floto are a colorful duo that guide their audience through design, discovery and do-it-yourself techniques.
TV - In Development
This is 4 spec commercials our team made in 2005. Director/Writer Topaz Adizes, Producer Mitchell Goldman, Director of Photography Rob Hauer. Starring Walter Simpson III, Brian Fountain and Rodney Laney.
Topaz Adizes is an internationally award winning Writer/Director with films that have screened at Cannes, Sundance, Cinéma Du Reél, Morelia International, São Paolo International, Aspen Shortsfest, SXSW, Transilvania International and many others.
Topaz's award winning narrative short films include BOY (Cannes' Critics Week 2011) Laredo, Texas (Sundance 2010, Special Jury Prize Boston Independent Film Festival, Red Citation Humanitarian Award) Trece Años, (Sundance 2009, Special Jury Mention Ashland Independent Film Festival), and City (Winner Best Short Aspen Shorts Film Festival 2007). Additionally, his feature documentary, Americana (Cinéma Du Reél 2009), which was shot around the world and examines American identity in a global context, has screened internationally and domestically to critical acclaim.
Currently, Topaz is developing two feature films, Look for the Light (Film Independent's Fast Track Program 2010, Film Independent's Screenwriter's Lab 2010, and IFP's Emerging Narrative's Section 2010, SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant finalist) and My Father's Story. He recently concluded the Berlinale Talent Campus.
In addition to his own projects, Topaz has had the valuable experience of learning from Steven Spielberg on the set of Munich, Ridley Scott on Kingdom Of Heaven and P.T. Anderson with There Will Be Blood.
Topaz has a BA in philosophy from UC Berkeley and Oxford University, has traveled to over 45 countries, and is fluent in Hebrew, Spanish, Swedish and English.
Filmography
BOY 2011 (35mm, Short) / Laredo, Texas 2010 (HD, Short) / Americana 2009 (HD, Feature Doc) / Trece Años 2009 (HD, Short) / City 2007 (HD, Short) / Seven Miles Alone 2005 (35mm/16mm, Short)