Isaiah's Rap

14 year old Isaiah Gage lives four blocks from Ground Zero. He performs a rap he wrote in response to the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center.

Rob Epstein won his first Oscar (at 29) for the classic documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (narrated by Harvey Fierstein, music by Mark Isham.) The film was recently accepted by the UCLA Film & Television archive as a restoration project. Rob conceived, directed, co-produced, and co-edited this non-fiction feature, which encapsulates a crucial turning point in gay politics through the story of the first successful election campaign by an openly gay candidate in California; his assassination by a rival on the San Francisco city council; and the violent community outrage provoked by the murderer’s trial. The Times of Harvey Milk won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for best Non-Fiction film of 1985, and an American Film Magazine critics’ poll named it one of the two best documentaries of the decade. The film was selected as a restoration and preservation project by the University of California Film and Television archive and was re-released for the first time in 35mm in 2000. Rob began his filmmaking career at age twenty by answering an ad in the paper seeking volunteers for what would become the landmark documentary Word Is Out. Rob became a co-director on that film, and has since produced and directed numerous non-fiction works for national television including The AIDS Show: Artists Involved with Death and Survival (co-directed with Peter Adair -1986), and the PBS series We The People with Peter Jennings (1997). His Oscars for Harvey Milk and Common Threads, along with three Peabody Awards, four Emmys, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, have made Rob one of the most acclaimed non-fiction film directors working today. In 1987 Rob and Jeffrey Friedman set up an office in a former convent and Catholic girls’ school in San Francisco and started Telling Pictures. Since then, they have produced four non-fiction feature films and numerous documentaries for television and corporate clients. They are among the most highly honored non-fiction filmmakers, having been awarded, collectively or individually, two Academy Awards, multiple Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Rob and Jeffrey are frequent guests on college campuses as visiting lecturers, and with their lecture / clip presentation, Beyond the Celluloid Closet. In the past year they have produced and directed two episodes of the new Dick Wolf non-fiction series "Crime and Punishment" (premiering on NBC in June). They are currently directing and co-executive producing the new-and-improved second season of the new PBS magazine series "Life 360" (also premiering in June). Their most recent non-fiction feature, Paragraph 175, explores a hidden chapter in history: the experiences of homosexuals during the Nazi regime in Europe. Narrated by Rupert Everett, and filmed in Germany, France and Spain, Paragraph 175 tells a complex and moving story of persecution and resistance. The film had its US premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2000, where it was awarded the documentary jury prize for directing, followed by a European premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February, where it won the FIPRESCI (International Film Critics Association Award). Their previous film The Celluloid Closet was a 100-year history of homosexual characters in Hollywood movies. They also produced, co-wrote, and Jeffrey co-edited this film. Based on the landmark book by Vito Russo, The Celluloid Closet is narrated by Lily Tomlin, and features revealing behind-the-scenes interviews with the people who made the movies, including such actors as Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, and Shirley MacLaine; writers such as Gore Vidal (Ben Hur, Suddenly Last Summer), Arthur Laurents (Rope) and Jay Presson Allen (Cabaret); and queer moviegoers from Armistead Maupin to Susie Bright to Quentin Crisp. The Celluloid Closet had its world premiere at the glitzy, prestigious Venice Film Festival, was featured at the Toronto International Film Festival, The New York Film Festival, The Sundance Film Festival (at which it won the Playboy Foundation’s Freedom of Expression Award), and numerous international festivals, including Berlin, Tokyo and Sydney. The Celluloid Closet had a wide theatrical release through Sony Pictures Classics, and played as well in movie theaters from London and Paris to Tokyo. Its American television premiere was on HBO for which it won a Peabody Award and has also been seen by television audiences throughout the world, including Channel 4 in the UK and on ZDF/Arté in Germany and France. It won an Emmy Award for directing. Rob and Jeffrey also produced, directed, co-wrote and edited the Oscar-winning Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt, narrated by Dustin Hoffman. Common Threads tells the story of the first decade of AIDS in the U.S., from the first whispers of a terrifying "gay cancer" and the discovery of a mysterious new virus, to the street activism provoked by the Reagan administration’s refusal to confront the growing epidemic, using the monumental Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt as its central metaphor. Common Threads premiered at the Berlin Film Festival (where it won the Interjury Award), and has been screened at festivals and on television around the world. Its U.S. premiere was on Home Box Office. Common Threadswon the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1990, as well as a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award, for Bobby McFerrin’s original score. In a somewhat different vein, Jeffrey and Rob piled into a mini-van with a small film crew and set out across the American south and southwest, talking to people they met along the road. The result was Where Are We?, a chronicle of the hopes and dreams, the disappointments and joys of everyday Americans. Where are We? had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, followed by festivals at San Francisco, Chicago, and Sydney. It was broadcast nationally on PBS, where it has found a small but loyal following. And in an extremely different vein, Rob and Jeffrey made Xtreme: Sports To Die For a documentary special for HBO about the subculture of athletes devoted to "extreme sports" as in skysurfing, street luge, and BMX dirt-bike jumping. In addition to their feature doc credits, Jeffrey and Rob have produced a variety of programs and segments on such diverse topics as gay comedians, marijuana buyers clubs, and a strip club peep-show owned and operated by women (for ABC, MSNBC and HBO, respectively), as well as corporate films for clients including NASA, Stelsys Biotechnology, Citibank and San Francisco's Saint Mary’s Hospital. Rob and Jeffrey’s fiction work includes writing and directing fiction episodes for the series Inside/Out, a Propaganda Films production for the Playboy Channel., Jeffrey Friedman began his career in New York City as a child actor off-Broadway. He began his film training in the editing rooms of such notable films as The Exorcist (1973), Raging Bull (1980) and the Oscar-winning documentary Marjoe (1972), apprenticing to some of the most highly respected filmmakers in the industry. He became an associate film editor on the NBC documentary series Lifeline, a 1978 pre-cursor to "reality television," and on the 1983 feature film Never Cry Wolf; he has edited numerous television documentaries, including Faces of the Enemy (1985) for PBS, which he also co-directed. He first worked with Rob Epstein as a consultant on The Times of Harvey Milk, and again as editor on the PBS series We The People (1987), after which they decided to work together as a filmmaking team. Jeffrey teaches documentary filmmaking in the Stanford MFA program. In 1987 Rob and Jeffrey set up an office in a former convent and Catholic girls’ school in San Francisco and started Telling Pictures. Since then, they have produced four non-fiction feature films and numerous documentaries for television and corporate clients. They are among the most highly honored non-fiction filmmakers, having been awarded, collectively or individually, two Academy Awards, multiple Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Rob and Jeffrey are frequent guests on college campuses as visiting lecturers, and with their lecture / clip presentation, Beyond the Celluloid Closet. In the past year they have produced and directed two episodes of the new Dick Wolf non-fiction series "Crime and Punishment" (premiering on NBC in June). They are currently directing and co-executive producing the new-and-improved second season of the new PBS magazine series "Life 360" (also premiering in June). Their most recent non-fiction feature, Paragraph 175, explores a hidden chapter in history: the experiences of homosexuals during the Nazi regime in Europe. Narrated by Rupert Everett, and filmed in Germany, France and Spain, Paragraph 175 tells a complex and moving story of persecution and resistance. The film had its US premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2000, where it was awarded the documentary jury prize for directing, followed by a European premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February, where it won the FIPRESCI (International Film Critics Association Award). Their previous film The Celluloid Closet was a 100-year history of homosexual characters in Hollywood movies. They also produced, co-wrote, and Jeffrey co-edited this film. Based on the landmark book by Vito Russo, The Celluloid Closet is narrated by Lily Tomlin, and features revealing behind-the-scenes interviews with the people who made the movies, including such actors as Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, and Shirley MacLaine; writers such as Gore Vidal (Ben Hur, Suddenly Last Summer), Arthur Laurents (Rope) and Jay Presson Allen (Cabaret); and queer moviegoers from Armistead Maupin to Susie Bright to Quentin Crisp. The Celluloid Closet had its world premiere at the glitzy, prestigious Venice Film Festival, was featured at the Toronto International Film Festival, The New York Film Festival, The Sundance Film Festival (at which it won the Playboy Foundation’s Freedom of Expression Award), and numerous international festivals, including Berlin, Tokyo and Sydney. The Celluloid Closet had a wide theatrical release through Sony Pictures Classics, and played as well in movie theaters from London and Paris to Tokyo. Its American television premiere was on HBO for which it won a Peabody Award and has also been seen by television audiences throughout the world, including Channel 4 in the UK and on ZDF/Arté in Germany and France. It won an Emmy Award for directing. Rob and Jeffrey also produced, directed, co-wrote and edited the Oscar-winning Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt, narrated by Dustin Hoffman. Common Threads tells the story of the first decade of AIDS in the U.S., from the first whispers of a terrifying "gay cancer" and the discovery of a mysterious new virus, to the street activism provoked by the Reagan administration’s refusal to confront the growing epidemic, using the monumental Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt as its central metaphor. Common Threads premiered at the Berlin Film Festival (where it won the Interjury Award), and has been screened at festivals and on television around the world. Its U.S. premiere was on Home Box Office. Common Threadswon the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1990, as well as a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award, for Bobby McFerrin’s original score. In a somewhat different vein, Jeffrey and Rob piled into a mini-van with a small film crew and set out across the American south and southwest, talking to people they met along the road. The result was Where Are We?, a chronicle of the hopes and dreams, the disappointments and joys of everyday Americans. Where are We? had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, followed by festivals at San Francisco, Chicago, and Sydney. It was broadcast nationally on PBS, where it has found a small but loyal following. And in an extremely different vein, Rob and Jeffrey made Xtreme: Sports To Die For a documentary special for HBO about the subculture of athletes devoted to "extreme sports" as in skysurfing, street luge, and BMX dirt-bike jumping. In addition to their feature doc credits, Jeffrey and Rob have produced a variety of programs and segments on such diverse topics as gay comedians, marijuana buyers clubs, and a strip club peep-show owned and operated by women (for ABC, MSNBC and HBO, respectively), as well as corporate films for clients including NASA, Stelsys Biotechnology, Citibank and San Francisco's Saint Mary’s Hospital. Rob and Jeffrey’s fiction work includes writing and directing fiction episodes for the series Inside/Out, a Propaganda Films production for the Playboy Channel.