Who is Michael Jang?

While You Were Sleeping – The Documentary

2021

"When I first started to photograph in dark and unfamiliar places all over Singapore in 2003, I had no idea that those images I made would come to define me as a photographer. Born out of a curiosity of the unknown, as well as a young photographer’s restlessness, While You Were Sleeping grew to say as much about our country as it did of me. Eighteen years, two books and two exhibitions later, Singapore is now a very different place. Many of the locations I visited in the early 2000s, once alien, are now completely transformed." – Darren Soh, photographer

The Bridge

2006 · ★ 6.8

The Bridge is a controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - the world's most popular suicide destination. Interviews with the victims' loved ones describe their lives and mental health.

The Last Piece: Essay I

2022 · ★ 8

Disrupt, reject, destroy, avoid: At the interrupted rhythm of the broken photographs that a granddaughter has rescued from her grandfather’s hands, the last piece reconstructs the memory of an older man who has decided to leave behind his life impulses to surrender to sleep and calm. An essay on the act of joining our memories, the illusion of remembering and the freedom to forget.

Shutterbug

2024 · ★ 10

Shutterbug follows a troubled teenager named Thomas as he explores his passion for photography. The film portrays Thomas's journey from a confident, even arrogant, young photographer who believes himself to be a prodigy, to a humbled individual who discovers a deeper purpose in his art. This mockumentary reveals Thomas's struggles with self-doubt and his eventual understanding of what truly motivates his art.

The Fall of the I-Hotel

1983 · ★ 8

The Fall of the I-Hotel brings to life the battle for housing in San Francisco. The brutal eviction of the International Hotel's tenants culminated a decade of spirited resistance to the razing of Manilatown. The Fall of the I-Hotel works on several levels. It not only documents the struggle to save the I-Hotel, but also gives an overview of Filipino American history.

Hard Twist

'Hard Twist' is a documentary about the life of the famous western photographer, Barbara Van Cleve. Barbara is a fifth-generation Montanan with a century of family history going back to the early 1900s, when her family settled in the Crazy Mountain area. Upon their arrival in Montana, the Van Cleves began operating a dude ranch, where Barbara grew up and spent most of her summers as an adult. Barbara's story offers insight into a hardy western ranching lifestyle many have not experienced, with striking archive footage of early Montana. This film is not only about Barbara's life, but tells a story of how her family history was intertwined with the changing landscape of the West.

Mash SF

2007 · ★ 5.4

Mash is a testament to the efficacy of the frame, wheels, cockpit, and drive-train that carry us through SF's labyrinth of lanes, alleys, and everything in between. This video recognizes those who have inspired us with their unique presence in the streets, who have created an accelerated style of riding bikes built for the track but tailored for daily abuse. The synthesis of this video sprang from a desire to show the world how these locals take ownership of San Franciscos dense landscape and display an incredible amount of focus, fluidity, and grace in the process.

Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant-Garde

1997 · ★ 7

Man Ray, the master of experimental and fashion photography was also a painter, a filmmaker, a poet, an essayist, a philosopher, and a leader of American modernism. Known for documenting the cultural elite living in France, Man Ray spent much of his time fighting the formal constraints of the visual arts. Ray’s life and art were always provocative, engaging, and challenging.

Painting With Light

2025

A photographer and a painter are challenged to swap mediums, to create an abstract self-portrait exploring unfamiliar techniques.

Soviet Bus Stops

2024 · ★ 9

“There’s a bus stop I want to photograph.” This may sound like a parody of an esoteric festival film, but Canadian Christopher Herwig’s photography project is entirely in earnest, and likely you will be won over by his passion for this unusual subject within the first five minutes. Soviet architecture of the 1960s and 70s was by and large utilitarian, regimented, and mass-produced. Yet the bus stops Herwig discovers on his journeys criss-crossing the vast former Soviet Bloc are something else entirely: whimsical, eccentric, flamboyantly artistic, audacious, colourful. They speak of individualism and locality, concepts anathema to the Communist doctrine. Herwig wants to know how this came to pass and tracks down some of the original unsung designers, but above all he wants to capture these exceptional roadside way stations on film before they disappear.

Trashman: The Art of Spain Rodriguez

2012 · ★ 8

Legendary underground cartoonist Spain Rodriguez and his friends -- cartoonists Robert Crumb and Jay Kinney and cultural critic Susie Bright -- discuss Spain's art and his life as an outlaw biker, '60s figure and social satirist.

A Short Film for Lida

2003 · ★ 10

A love letter told through still photographs