'Sparrow Songs' is a project in which filmmaker Alex Jablonski and cinematographer Michael Totten make and exhibit one short documentary per month, every month for one year.

Sparrow Songs is so much more than short documentaries.  Each video is clearly professionally done and feels like an extended trailer for an indie movie that should be accompanied by a song that instantly makes you think "I have to get this soundtrack.  I must see this film."  In addition to the heartbreaking stories set to video, Sparrow Songs has a blog that discusses each film in a prose-like manner as rhythmic as the videos they speak of.

Episode-1 Learning Music (below)
("John Wood writes and records one full-length musical album per month. Every month. And he's done it since November of 2006. This seemed like a good place to start.")

Jablonski and Totten have both shown their work at prestigious film festivals (Sundance, Tribeca, Florida, Full Frame, True/False), but created Sparrow Songs as a means of exploring the possibility of building an online audience for cinematic, nonfiction films.  And the online format provides viewers with films shot just days before they’re posted to the site.  No need to wait months and months to see the films – and trust me – waiting just 1 month between films will feel long enough.

Jablonski and Trotten take seemingly simple subjects (a puppet maker, musicians, even porn stars) and turn their interviews into works of art.  It’s not cliché.  It’s not the predictable findings one would expect.  Their look at a donut shop turns into a glimpse into the lives of people who basically live at these 24 hour shops.  You begin the film thinking you’ll dip a toe in the water and instantly find yourself in the deep-end. 

The film subjects are real, the questions asked relevant and insightful, the cinematography inspiring to the point where you wish your eyes could see the world the way the camera is seeing the world – and it’s all free for viewers.  And it’s a whole new online-video experience.  Sparrow Songs brings together the instant gratification of the web and the vision of two experts in the film world.  It will envelop you from the moment you click “play”.

All of the films will be available for free on Vimeo and the Sparrow Songs website, thesparrowsongs.com. There's a blog about the project as well, at sparrowsongs.wordpress.com.