Happy Birthday (2010)

Jonathan Schwartz is an American filmmaker known for his short, poetic 16mm films made over the last ten years. Inspired by anthropological and observational cinema, and following in the footsteps of filmmakers like Warren Sonbert and Mark LaPore, Schwartz uses his camera to create a new relationship between the filmmaker and his subjects. He films people and places – from his New England home to locations around the world – capturing fleeting moments of gesture, light, and color. These fragments are carefully combined with field recordings to produce beautiful and emotionally resonant films that feel open and connected to the world around them.