Explore some of the films I’ve made over the years.
Behind the Looking Glass
2021
Created by Aviv Lang
In our age of remote work and pandemic-fueled online gatherings, the video chat has taken over our lives. A tool that enables connection, but a shadow of the in-person interactions that they replace, these online meetings among other things, emphasize the self. Our webcam shows us to the world, but is also a mirror to the self. What does it do to gaze at oneself for hours on end, day after day? Behind the Looking Glass examines the social and psychological impact of video chatting, diving into the influence on self appraisal, narcissism, attention, and cognitive processing. Excerpts from psychological research on video chat are interwoven with internal dialogue and layers of video. The use of projection onto the body is meant to create a further separation between the “viewer” within the piece and the “presenter”. The “viewer” acts as a barrier to comprehension of what the “presenter” is saying. Their reflection is a distraction from the moment. We see ourselves in everyone and only see ourselves at the same time.
Slow Boat Diaries
2020
Created by Aviv Lang
Written and filmed during a two-day boat trip from Laung Prabang, Laos to the border with Thailand, Slow Boat Diaries reflects the slow, methodical introspection of the journey for Aviv. Part fantasy, part observation, the story captures the moment, a time without distractions. Just the Mekong river, boat, passengers, thoughts, the drone of the engine, and the passing landscape.
Pain Anger Hope
2020
Created by Aviv Lang
Original Score by Alberto Mattea
In spring 2020 protests erupted across the United States and world. An outcry at the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many other victims in a long line of police violence and systemic racism. This film is a collaboration, a work of found art in the sense that it was pieced together based on whatever Aviv’s friends sent him in response to his call for material. After receiving on-the-ground footage from protests around the world as well as audio reflections and original music, Aviv pieced together Pain Anger Hope as all call to action and support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Meditation on the Mekong
2019
Created by Aviv Lang
An homage to an important and powerful body of water, Meditation on the Mekong captures the feeling of floating along the back channels around Can Tho, Vietnam. The Mekong was an important focal point in Aviv’s journey through Southeast Asia. Crossing over and intertwining through his travels in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, like the layered and reflected imagery of the film.
Perspective
2018
Created by Aviv Lang
Perspective is meant to be viewed on a mobile device, playing with interactivity in a static medium. Viewers are encouraged to view the film from different orientations, experiencing the piece through their own lens. Perspective interweaves social media screen recordings with captured footage and animated text in order to play with expectations of space, format, and content.
3,630 Miles Here
2017
Directed and edited by Aviv Lang
Kotzebue footage: Julia Schock
NYC footage: Aviv Lang
3,630 Miles Here explores sameness and difference across great distances. While the two places featured, Kotzebue Alaska and New York City, are miles apart, elements of each location parallel each other.
The use of overlapping and undulating footage brings the two places together.
SVA Cinematography Class Compilation
2018
Edited by Aviv Lang
Filmed by Aviv and other class participants
The Next Big Thing
2015
Directed and edited by Aviv Lang
Filmed by Aviv Lang
Hey
2015
Directed and edited by Aviv Lang
Filmed by Aviv Lang
Production Assistant: Julia Schock