Wednesday 26 January 2011

Practivist of the Week - Jordan Ehrlich

JORDAN EHRLICH



How old are you, if you don't mind? 

I just turned 33 years old on 1/11/11.  (I am sure it means something, I just don't know what yet.) 

What is the main focus of your practivism at this time and how does that manifest?

Simply said...  to utilize the power of the media for good and not evil.  

I have always been fascinated with the far-reaching power that both film and television have to captivate and impact mass audiences.  The profound potential of these two mediums to improve societal conditions has inspired my life’s ambition to confront, explore, and spread awareness of social issues I consider significant by creating and distributing my own independent documentary work. 

My latest venture, CaveLight Films, is an all-purpose production house creating projects that both inform and entertain. We push the envelope with cutting edge media aimed at having a positive social impact.  We have been tackling a wide array of projects that deal with tough issues from a 17-part documentary series about orphans in India to our film following a young basketball player who dropped out of high school to play professionally overseas and the challenges he has faced on the way to achieving his goal of playing in the NBA . 

Our latest project Cost of Construction (a passion project of mine for the past two years) investigates a string of controversial deaths that happened on the most expensive commercial construction project in the US, all taking place on the Las Vegas Strip. Ultimately, it is an expose on the failures of corporate and government agencies to keep American workers safe.   

We are hoping to raise enough money for this venture to make a good enough film that can have a real impact on political policy in this country to keep workers safe. 

What route did you take to get here?

Since college I have been interested in merging my love for TV with my desire to help people.  And luckily, focusing in on documentary work has taken me all kinds of places on my journey to where I am today. From a maximum security jail cell interviewing a man in solitary confinement awaiting his murder trial to talking with leper victims deep in the rural countryside of India to flying in a helicopter high above the Las Vegas CityCenter construction site... it's been a great ride and I hope lots of people will watch, learn and enjoy the stuff I help to create. 

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