recent projects

Recent projects ranging from not-for-profit media to short documentaries on sustainability, homelessness, hope, and community development.

Mission-driven and story-driven media work require intimate knowledge of the process and the people.  It's not just a dilettante's endeavor.   Pixels are made with passion and compassion, to inform, enlighten, and empower.  
Narratives from the heart empower the soul. 

LETTERS TO ELEANORE

Coming in 2024, a feature-length documentary about disability, perseverance, the freedom of wheelchairs, and the endurance of love. a 

NONPROFIT FILM COLLECTIVE production

Hooved Animal Humane Society
Our friends from HAHS are asking for help to give our hooved friends a second chance. 
Written and Directed by Nich L. Perez Cinematography by Keifer Szumlas

"Dear Nay"

Art With Impact Winner 2022

A love letter to a mother who died of cancer, from her son who followed her footsteps as a teacher. This is a poetic documentary on grief.

https://www.artwithimpact.org/film/dear-nay/


Simone de Beauvoir, Existentialism, and the Lights of an Anonymous City.

Clean water is more than it seems. Access to clean water means healthy and uplifted communities, educated children, and empowered women and girls. Clean water means restored dignity and hope for a brighter future. For just $10, you can give one person the gift of clean water–and everything that comes with it. Join us in our 2021 campaign to fund clean water for those in need. $20,000 will allow us to build 4 new wells in rural communities in East Africa. All donations make a difference! 


watertothrive.org

Kahidlaw (Longing)
Spoken in different tongues, the word captures a feeling that most of us in this pandemic have experienced.   In search of this, we stumble on the idea of happiness that many would consider as something unattainable.
But wisdom across cultures proves that there is a cure to this phenomenon - a not-so-secret secret to healing this "longing."
letters to Eleanore (Teaser)​​​​​​​
A feature-length poetic documentary about a girl challenged with disabilities, 
a mother's love and resilience,
and the wheelchair that started a movement.
Currently in Production.  Tentative Release Date, 2022
A short documentary on the Community Kitchen of Caritas of Austin
Special thanks to Chef Joe, Sous Chef Annie, and their amazing Volunteers!

It’s not really a soup kitchen if you can serve your guests a meal that tastes like it's from a Michelin-star restaurant.

Chef Joe, Sous Chef Annie, Volunteers and the Moroccan Chicken at the kitchen of Caritas of Austin

Ending homelessness together, one plate at a time.


Irmão Roberto
Dedicated to an artist and missionary who spent his life taking care of the poor street children in Brazil, this short documentary explores the poignant art and iconography of Robert Weinmann.  
May 17, 1940 - July 30, 2021
A short documentary commissioned by the Generalate of the Congregation of Holy Cross in Rome and filmed in more than 5 countries,
 translated into Spanish, Portuguese and French:


French: La Fondation -  https://vimeo.com/433009028/ff146f6efa

Portuguese: A Fundação - https://vimeo.com/433007828/cf4d956657

Spanish: La Fundación - https://vimeo.com/433177433/6402dcdfaa


In the 200th year celebration of the founding of the Brothers of St. Joseph, this short documentary explores the history of the Congregation of Holy Cross from the time of Abbé Jacques-François
Dujarié and the arrival of the first young man, Pierre Hureau, to be a Brother of St. Joseph in Ruillé. 
The film traces integral moments in the history of the Brothers of Holy Cross as it cinematically revisits these places in France.  Guided by experts and with a hopeful message from the Generalate in Rome, the documentary is a meditation on this legacy as it reverberates through their community life, ministries, and the future of their order.​​​​​​​
A recent update during the pandemic:   "André House's Doors are still open."

Despite the pandemic, the doors of André House continue to open to serve their Guests at a time that they are most needed.

andrehouse.org

After 10 years, we came back to Bethlehem Farm in West Virginia to revisit their Cornerstones, and to journey with the Caretakers and their Volunteers as they promote community and sustainability, and to help the poor communities in Appalachia.

The Caretakers of Bethlehem Farm

"Living the Cornerstones at Bethlehem Farm"


An introduction to the life and work of Bethlehem Farm, through the lens of the Gospel cornerstones of prayer, community, simplicity, and service.


Writing and Direction:  Nich Perez
Cinematography:  Nich Perez and Kiefer Szumlas
Drone Photography:  Kiefer Szumlas
Motion Graphics:  Jeff Kyle

with the Caretakers of Bethlehem Farm

Prayer from "This Land Is Home to Me"
Appalachian Catholic Bishops, 1975

"A Future Not Our Own"
This prayer was composed by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, drafted for a homily by Card. John Dearden in Nov. 1979 for a celebration of departed priests. As a reflection on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Bishop Romero, Bishop Untener included it in a reflection titled "The mystery of the Romero Prayer." The mystery is that the words of the prayer are attributed to Oscar Romero, but they were never spoken by him.

Directed and Edited by Nich L. Perez
Cinematography:  Nich Perez and  Kiefer Szumlas
Motion Graphics:  Jeff Kyle

Produced for the Caretakers of Bethlehem Farm
BethlehemFarm.Net

Music:
“Love So Much” by Eric Benjamin Turner, James Joseph Kloeppel, and Randall Eugene Py, Courtesy of Dirty Jack Music (BMI)

The Bees of Bethlehem Farm
The Bethlehem Farm media project involves a number of short documentaries and visual essays to share the Farm's progress in its mission and offer a glimpse of their efforts to help the communities they serve.
Special thanks to my former students, now formidable colleagues for joining me in this awesome adventure in the mountains of West Virginia.
Cinematographer and Drone Camera Specialist:  Kiefer Szumlas.
And Motion Graphic Artist, Jeff Kyle.

For more information, visit BethlehemFarm.net
Bethlehem Farm's Winter Squash Soup

Gemma, an engineer, and a Caretaker at Bethlehem Farm reflects on Community, which is one of the Cornerstones the farm is built on.


Writing, Editing, and Direction: Nich Perez
Cinematography:  Nich Perez and Kiefer Szumlas
Motion Graphics:  Jeff Kyle

Original Music:   Gemma Stanton 

with the Caretakers of Bethlehem Farm

Filmed during the service weeks of Dayton University, Villanova University, and Aquinas College.

ANDRÉ HOUSE of ARIZONA
André House is a ministry of hospitality that offers support to the homeless of Phoenix, Arizona since 1984.  From meals and services like showers, bus passes, and lockers, this place provides an amazing service to the poor and marginalized, of which whom they consider as GUESTS and not just as clients.
With the leadership of the core staff and the help of thousands of volunteers, André House provides 400-600 meals every day that it is open.  

This not-for-profit media project consists of 3 short documentaries and 1 visual essay to advocate for the cause of this amazing ministry and the stories of the volunteers and their guests.

André House Guest:  Darlene

A documentary short on  André House through the eyes of one of their Guests, Darlene.


Special Thanks to Darlene for sharing her story and to

Motion Graphics Artist, Jeff Kyle for your amazing work.

Some of the André House guests
Some of the André House guests
Grace (on the right) , a Core staff member, with Guest on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
Grace (on the right) , a Core staff member, with Guest on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
The cross and anchors at the front, symbols of the Congregation of Holy Cross, who are founders of his place. This house is named after their first Saint, Brother André who considered no one as strangers.
The cross and anchors at the front, symbols of the Congregation of Holy Cross, who are founders of his place. This house is named after their first Saint, Brother André who considered no one as strangers.
A glimpse of the "zone"in Phoenix, AZ.
A glimpse of the "zone"in Phoenix, AZ.
Volunteers clean up after preparing and serving the Guests. Thousands of volunteers from different schools and organizations come every year to help out in this amazing ministry.
Volunteers clean up after preparing and serving the Guests. Thousands of volunteers from different schools and organizations come every year to help out in this amazing ministry.
A group of volunteers came a few days before Thanksgiving to offer free haircuts and manicures to the Guests of André House.
It was an awesome day.
Motion Graphics by Jeff Kyle.
The miracle that happens in the kitchen of André House in Phoenix, Arizona.
AndreHouse.org
"The Miracle in the Kitchen"


The Core Volunteers of André House of Arizona

Congregación de Santa Cruz en México
A short documentary piece on the La Luz Parish in Mexico
A social media piece for their vocations promotion

A short documentary on the work and history of the Congregation of Holy Cross in Monterrey, Mexico

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