Film

Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story – A ground-breaking documentary on 1930s America and the Federal Writers’ Project, which documented in riveting detail life during the Great Depression and helped launch talents such as Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, John Cheever, Richard Wright, Studs Terkel, Margaret Walker, Nelson Algren, and Jim Thompson.
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True Stories in Cork Wars
Enemy Alien: Italian American in Baltimore Frank DiCara was a teenager when Italian-Americans came under suspicion as the U.S. entered World War II. This short film has received honors in the International Animation Festival, the Berlin Flash Film Festival, Independent Shorts Awards, and more.
Melchor Marsa’s story of taking his family to work in Spain and Portugal for business during some of the most turbulent years in the twentieth century
When Cork Was Modern
Lessons in Chess and Business tells how a young academic accepted a challenge at chess on a ship and got more than he bargained for: an entry into international commerce for future U.S. Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal.
Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways

Worlds of Sound: The Ballad of Folkways, the story of the little pirate record label with the global reach, premiered on the Smithsonian ChannelHD and won a 2010 CINE Golden Eagle award. Watch the trailer and get the film on iTunes or Amazon.
Partners of the Heart

Partners of the Heart, PBS’s American Experience – A documentary by director Andrea Kalin on breaking taboos in medicine and society.
New Podcast
With Spark Media, I’m developing The People’s Recorder, a podcast about people of the Federal Writers’ Project and their legacy. With grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and state humanities councils, we’re shaping a series about the people who found themselves through creative work during the Great Depression, and what that means for the crises of our times. Read my piece about a story for the Virginia episode, in The Washington Post.
Other Documentaries
- “Reflections on Being Blue,” “Vivien’s Baltimore,” and “Breaking Down the Walls of Medicine” – Special features for the American Experience feature, Partners of the Heart. “Reflections on Being Blue” received a CINE Golden Eagle award.
- Endangered Animals: Survivors on the Brink, National Geographic – An educational film; silver winner at the Cindy Awards.
Other film
My People, a feature film screenplay co-written with Jim McGrath, was a winner in the 2012 WGA Screenplay Reading series and received a stage reading in New York.
Strikers, a one-act film script, was honored in the New England Screenwriting Competition and the Woods Hole Film Festival Screenplay Contest.
Television Series
Discovery Channel
- The FBI Files, Discovery Channel – “Shattered Shield”
- The FBI Files, Discovery Channel – “Moving Target”
- The FBI Files, Discovery Channel – “Cracking the Cartel”
The Learning Channel
- Great Castles of Europe, The Learning Channel – “Odescalchi, Malbork and Wawel”
- Great Palaces of the World, The Learning Channel – “Bangkok’s Grand Palace”
See David’s IMDB page.