CSI in the News - CSI Today

As a student at the College of Staten Island and later as a film instructor, I had access to this
equipment. Without that support I could never have made the film, or any film for that matter.
My budget 25 years ago turned out to be $40,000, which at the time was a lot of money to me. I
financed it pretty much out of pocket; I didn't have a budget when I started, I simply thought when I
ran out of money I would just make it a short film, but once I started, I couldn't stop.
At the time I had a few jobs (teaching filmmaking at CSI being one of them) and I would save up my
money for a few months, then shoot another part of the film, then work, save and shoot; this went on
for two years.
I also had favors from the lab, J&D Labs, who had done my earlier student films, so they gave me a
tremendous break on the developing costs; sometimes refusing my money when I went to pay them.
A scene from "Combat Shock."
Q. Did "Medea" occur to you when you wrote the script She killed her kids rather than leave
them to suffer.
A. I can't say that Medea had any influence on my thinking back then. I knew the story from
mythology, and even from film. I was trying to understand what could cause someone to murder their
family and then themselves.
These incidents that I'd read about in the papers weren't violent crimes in the traditional sense, they
didn't seem to be caused by anger or hatred, or greed or jealousy.
The motivation for these acts was something different, and I tried to put myself in the mindset of
someone who had lost everything and had no hope: What would they do
And did it explain or enlighten their situation to know what they would do I'm still not sure.
Q. What drew you to Germany What kind of work are you doing these days
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