Harold Boihem is an independent filmmaker, visual anthropologist and
the creative director of Parallax Pictures, Inc., an internationally
recognized, award winning film and television production and post
production company. Harold founded Parallax Pictures with Executive
Producer Chris Emmanouilides to communicate social science ideas and
concepts through creative and innovative film and television
programming. For over ten years Harold has enjoyed success as a
producer, director, and editor on a wide range of commercial,
documentary, educational, and fiction productions.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Harold became interested in documentary
still photography in 1981 and began making documentary and experimental
films in 1986. In 1990 he began his professional career in Hollywood
working as an assistant director, production coordinator, video
playback technician, and post production supervisor on a variety of
feature film, network television, and commercial programs.
In 1997, Harold directed, edited, and co-produced The Ad and the Ego (1997), his first
feature length documentary. It has been screened and won awards at film
festivals around the world. A partial list includes: The World Film
Festival in Montreal Canada, the San Francisco International Film
Festival (first prize Golden Spire Award), the Chicago International
Film Festival (third prize Honorable Mention), Murphy's Cork Film
Festival in Ireland, the Central Florida Film and Video Festival
(second prize winner), and the Berlin Film Market with the American
Independent Features Abroad program sponsored by the New York
Foundation for the Arts.
In addition to his independent film career, Harold is an accomplished
director, editor, producer, and post production supervisor of high
profile television commercials and award winning public service
announcements (PSAs). Nike Revolution, his innovative critique of Nike
and their practice of using child labor in the over seas manufacturing
of their products, won Best PSA at the 1998 Philadelphia Addie awards
and was honored with a standing ovation by the congregation of
advertising professionals. Harold also found it perversely ironic that
in the birthplace of democracy in America, people were being denied
their right to freedom of speech by their own city council! Believe it
or not, for over twenty years, the City of Philadelphia has been in
violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United
States, our most sacred right to freedom of speech, by failing to
provide for public access television! This unbelievable situation
inspired Harold to write, direct, and produce the impassioned PSA,
'That Freedom Of Speech Thing'. In addition to these activities, he has
worked on many documentary film and television productions, including,
the Banyan Productions Discovery Channel Series, "Travelers".
Currently, Harold is finishing the long anticipated follow up to
The Ad and the Ego (1997) entitled 'Escape From Democracy'. This film is expected to be
released late in 2004 or early in 2005 and features Ralph Nader, the
late great Herbert Schiller, and Sut Jhally of The Ad and the Ego (1997). Harold also is
developing the film 'Consumed', an ambitious documentary feature
intended for theatrical release about Ralph Nader, democracy and the
mass media. This film will feature numerous celebrity interviews as
well as original super 16mm film footage shot on location by Harold at
several of Nader's "Super Rallies" held across the county during the
2000 election.
Harold has taught advanced non-linear digital editing at Temple
University in Philadelphia, received a bachelor's degree in Sociology
from the University of California, and earned a masters degree in
Anthropology within the visual anthropology program at Temple
University.
