Upheaval Productions was founded in 2006 and has produced multiple documentary films with a sharp edge focusing on and exploring socially relevant issues both locally and globally.
Upheaval Productions is committed to using film as a means to bring about social change through education and mobilization. Believing there needs to be strong, independent voices in media, we are dedicated to producing material that covers underrepresented and/or misrepresented issues. We feel the best way to present these subjects is through conversations with those most affected and distributing these words and images to as many people as possible. We don’t want to speak for these individuals, we want to let them speak for themselves. Upheaval Productions wants to give voice to those who are not heard and enable them to tell their own stories, and through this process spread information and knowledge of commonly-overlooked subjects to a wider audience.
This organization seeks to reach as many eyes and ears as possible. You can check back to this site for updates on current projects, screenings, etc. If you are interested in working with us, helping us distribute our work, setting up screenings, or whatever you may feel you could contribute, please get in contact with us. If you have ideas for a possible future project that we may want to produce, again, please let us know. Upheaval Productions wants to work to build a strong network engaging and entwining media producers and consumers in order to reach a broad audience and get out our work out far and wide.
Thanks for your support!
David Zlutnick is the founder and primary film/media producer of Upheaval Productions. He is a California native, growing up in San Francisco and Santa Barbara, and graduating from UC Santa Cruz in 2006 with a degree in Politics and International Relations. He has a strong history within independent media, both written and visual. In the past he has worked with numerous independent print publications including The Project Collective Newspaper, The (dis)Orientation Guide, and Fault Lines: The Newsmagazine of the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center; he co-founded The Friendly Fire Collective; and his work has been featured in a variety of media outlets including Democracy Now!, Truthout, and CounterPunch among many others. A founding member of Media Insurgente, David worked to produce multiple films through this organization that were shown widely both within the United States and internationally. He currently lives and works in San Francisco producing media through Upheaval Productions and doing freelance video/editing work on the side. David has been making films under the name of Upheaval Productions since he was 16.
Accomplices/Co-Conspirators:
Born and raised in San Diego, California, Arthur Saenz is greatly committed to the positive change and advancement of all working-class communities. In 2006, Arthur received his B.A. degree in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Currently, Arthur is obtaining a Masters degree in Chicana/o Studies with an emphasis in Cultural Anthropology at San Diego State University. Arthur was an active member of A.I.D.E. (Action In Defense of Education) and has contributed significantly to the movement against budget cuts and tuition increases in public education. Presently, he continues to organize and agitate for affordable and accessible higher education for all residents. Arthur has contributed to Upheaval Productions through his work on Down But Not Out and Dos Americas: The Reconstruction of New Orleans.
Scott Foletta grew up in the Central Valley of California and moved to Santa Cruz to attend university. At UC Santa Cruz he participated in campus anti-war activism as well as labor solidarity organizing for several years and has written a number of articles for The Project Collective Newspaper and other independent publications as well as various Indymedia projects. He spent several months in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina to participate in the rebuilding process and organizing with the Workers’ Center for Racial Justice organizing day laborers and guest workers in an entirely unique post-Katrina labor situation. His introduction to film work was working on Colectivo Media Insurgente’s Trying Days, documenting the grassroots organizing that took place in New Orleans following Katrina. Scott was instrumental in the making of Dos Americas: The Reconstruction of New Orleans. He now resides in New York City.
Ian Alan Paul has been working as an artist and a writer in California since 2002. His work is of a political trajectory, and often focuses on the relationship between the personal and the political. Ian is active in organizing around several issues in his community, and often incorporates the ideas found in community resistance in his art. His work has been exhibited in several different museums and galleries across the greater Bay Area, and his writing on art and politics has appeared in several online journals and publications. He received a Bachelors of Arts from UC Santa Cruz in winter of 2007, and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where he is pursuing an MFA and MA at the San Francisco Art Institute. Ian’s assistance to Upheaval Productions as a technical and creative consultant has proved invaluable.
