John grew up in a small town in Ohio. After graduating from Swarthmore College with a BA in English, he worked as a web developer and designer in San Francisco. Intrigued by the Latino culture surrounding him in that city's Mission district, John began studying Spanish and eventually moved to Mexico City, where he spent two years working, traveling, and absorbing local slang. This experience deepened his interest in the complex relationships between Latin America and the United States. Back in San Francisco, John made his first documentary, Josue, Sin Cara (Josue, Without a Face), which portrayed the day-to-day life of a child undocumented immigrant from Honduras.

Frontier Youth
Digital video
16:22 min.

Ray, Ariel, and Alondra are young people growing up in Douglas, Arizona, and Agua Prieta, Mexico, two neighboring border towns marked by high levels of border security and undocumented migration. Through their perspectives, the film explores the meanings of the border and the tensions of young adulthood on each side.

B is for Break
16mm color film
6:36 min

Five-year-old Vashaun is an emerging b-boy (breakdancer). Encouraged by his father and a commmunity of dancers, he strives to progress in this challenging, magnetic art form.

Left In Baghdad
Co-directed by John Kane and Peter Jordan
Digital Video
13 min.

After being discharged from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a happy-go-lucky American soldier returns with his wife and daughter to their home in Kentucky. "Left in Baghdad" is an alternately tragic and comic portrait of a family man on the first day of the rest of his life, which he must live without his left arm.

FESTIVAL AND AWARDS:

• Best Student Documentary, Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, 2007
• National Finalist, Student Academy Awards, 2007
• Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, 2008
• Aspen Shorts Fest, 2008
• Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, 2008
• San Francisco International Festival of Short Films, 2007
• Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, 2007
• Durango Independent Film Festival, 2008
• Mill Valley Film Festival, 2007
• Finalist, NextFrame, 2007
• Semifinalist, Angelus Student Film Festival, 2007
• Dam Short Film Festival, 2008

Orishas Are Our Saints
16mm black and white film
4:20 min.

An observation of ritual and faith in the Santeria religious tradition.

FESTIVAL AND SCREENINGS:

• Silverdocs AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival, 2007
• IFP Center, New York, Short Attention Span Cinema, 2008
• Silver Lake Film Festival, 2007
• Independent Exposure, 2007