Bicoastal production studio m ss ng p eces has brought filmmaker Lance Oppenheim aboard its roster for commercials and branded content worldwide. His first feature film, Some Kind of Heaven, will premiere on January 26 at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Oppenheim is a filmmaker from South Florida who has recently gained recognition as a 2019 Sundance Ignite Fellow. Oppenheim’s work explores the lives of people who create homes in unconventional spaces and places–from mobile homes in an airport parking lot to Royal Caribbean cruise ships. Produced by Darren Aronofsky and The New York Times, his new film Some Kind of Heaven follows four retirees seeking solace and meaning behind the gates of America’s largest retirement community, The Villages, FL. Oppenheim is the youngest active contributor to The New York Times Op-Docs, having made three award-winning documentary shorts, Long Term Parking, No Jail Time: The Movie, and The Happiest Guy in the World. Oppenheim’s films have been screened at film festivals across the world including Sundance, Rotterdam, Tribeca, and True/False. His work has been featured by the Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian, and online by The New York Times, The Atlantic, Vimeo (as six Staff Picks) and Short of the Week. He joins m ss ng p eces following his graduation from Harvard University’s Visual and Environmental Studies program in May 2019.
“Many of my films follow people living on the margins, pursuing their own individualized versions of an American Dream,” said Oppenheim who prior to joining m ss ng p eces was repped in the ad arena by Tool of North America. “What I’m after is stretching the documentary genre, crafting immersive experiences that eschew traditional talking head interviews and voiceover narration for something different and new. I’m excited to apply my background in doc filmmaking to direct unique, comedic, and deeply human commercial narratives with the team at m ss ng p eces.”
Ari Kuschnir, founder and managing partner at m ss ng p eces, said of Oppenheim, “His unique point of view and his humor and his gift to get to the core of people’s hearts. We’ve been friends since I stumbled across his first short film and I’ve been advising him since. He is a force and I can’t wait to tell beautiful stories with him.”
