As the main force behind Build Pictures, Jonathan draws upon a wealth of defining experiences and opportunities — a culture-rich childhood in New York City, precociously early exposure to French New Wave cinema, playing drums in a rock band, studying world history at UC Berkeley, cooking professionally, photographing Asia, and working on criminal justice reforms — all before he began to realize his motion picture ambitions.

Upon graduation with an M.F.A. from CalArts, Jonathan unspooled his first film, sight unseen: a travelog, an experimental doc, examining the perceptions and misperceptions of an American tourist in India. The work was selected for the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Biennial Exhibition and received SFMOMA’s SECA Art Award. sight unseen was also distributed as an audio program on NPR’s “New Radio” series. Jonathan’s second film, Every Child is Born a Poet, explores the life and literary work of the pioneering Afro-Carribean novelist and poet Piri Thomas. Broadcast on PBS and internationally, the film is a rich blend of documentary footage, spoken-word performances, and stylized dramatizations. Jonathan also co-produced the film’s original Latin jazz score and its critically-lauded soundtrack album.

Following these two non-traditional films, Jonathan entered the cable tv documentary universe, which provided a rigorous training in the art of producing, writing, and editing formula-driven shows with five-act structures and obligatory cliff-hangars at every commercial break. As the web evolved, Jonathan welcomed the opportunity to expand Build Pictures’ portfolio producing brand films and other short form content for businesses and non-profit organizations. Recently, Jonathan has also begun offering production, story, and editorial consulting services to other filmmakers on select feature documentary projects.