Daniel Hirsh is an American film and video editor, director, cinematographer, graphic designer, actor, writer, producer and voice over artist. He has acted in and directed several World Premiere theatrical productions, and his editing work on short- and feature-length films have won awards at several festivals. Hirsh has trained as a videographer, actor, singer, and improvisational comedian, currently continuing work in Milwaukee, New York City, Atlanta and St. Louis. Working mainly with Atlanta filmmaker and entertainer Parthiban Shanmugam, other collaborators include Wade Ballance, Philip Barrett, Kevin L. Powers, and Thomas Smugala. Influenced by French videographer and university lecturer and screenwriter , he has focused his career on narrative filmmaking, while also piecing together documentaries on energy healing, life after death and astral projection. He currently resides in New York City due to his interest in The New York Presbyterian Hospital which utilizes energy healing, and proximity to The Monroe Institute and University of Virginia, both of which partake in astral projection and consciousness research.
Editorial, Production, Direction and Cinematography Work
Kent Rapeen: A True Story as Writer, Editor, Director, Producer and Cinematographer
Highly Experimental as Writer, Editor, Director, Producer and Cinematographer
The Writer as Writer, Editor, Director, Lighting Technician, Producer and Cinematographer
You're Rejected propelled Hirsh, Shanmugam and lead actor George Lee Clark to national and international recognition, winning "Official Selection" from the Filmböro Film Festival,"Honorable Mention" at the Philadelphia International Film Festival & Market, "Official Selection" at the AIAFF Film Festival, and "Official Selection" at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival.
Film and Television Acting
Highly Experimental as Narrator
Making Revolution as Activist
Between Lust and Brookings Drive as The Man
With Only a Belle as Himself
Hooch & Daddy-O as Fan
October Road as Townie & Bartender
You're Rejected as Himself
as Parent of Graduate
3 Cats and a Man as Himself
Pikuach Nefesh: Saving Daniel as Himself
Messiah as Friend 1
Theatrical Acting
Hirsh's acting style has been described as amusing, comic, and quirky. His complexion and physical appearance have been compared to John Belushi,Jon Lovitz, and Steve Zissis, with a comic voice comparable to Nathan Lane's. He prefers the Practical Aestheticsschool of thought, pioneered by David Mamet, William H. Macy and Robert Bella, but has actively participated in various other acting styles and techniques. Hirsh starred as himself in an improvised Thesis project directed by Washington University senior Lora Ivanova in 2003. I See was a one-act play starring five actors, one of which would be audience-voted to strap a video camera to their head while playing out suggestions for improvisational scenes. The piece, mostly comic, was met with positive reception. Hirsh's most notable performance was his portrayal of Sir Vashya Shontine in Tennessee Williams' one-act play, Me, Vashya, written in 1937 during the playwright's short tenure at Washington University. The complete script was later published in the compilation The Magic Tower and Other One-Act Plays by publisher New Directions. Me, Vashya was performed as a World Premiere production with The Glass Menagerie as part of the Washington University in St LouisTennessee WilliamsSymposium in February 2004. Hirsh's third World Premiere production, Six Seconds in Charlack, by Washington University alumni Brian Golden premiered on April 28 of 2005. Charlack was later performed on New York City's Off-Off-Broadway circuit at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center in August 2009. Theatrical Performances
Tick, Tick... Boom! was Hirsh's first major directorial debut after Washington University secured the rights from the estate of Jonathan Larson to be the third venue in the world to produce the little-known rock musical. A Shave was the first of a World Premiere site-specific trilogy of plays written by student Lauren Dusek and inspired by the on-campus success of Downsize by Chicago playwright Christopher Welzenbach. Downsize was staged at Washington University's Mallinkrodt Center Men's Bathroom, with a maximum of only 11 or 12 audience members viewing the show at a time. The trilogy, consisting of A Shave,A Haircut and A Song, was staged in the Washington University Small Group Housing parking lot, an on-campus apartment, and a racquetball court in the Athletic Complex, respectively.
Biographical Film
Following a divorce from Aline Gray in 2009, filmmaker Parthiban Shanmugam proposed the creation of a biographical film starring Hirsh and Atlanta singer/songwriter Debbie Aviva Kessler. The film's style would mimic My Dinner With Andre, in which the bulk of the picture was a completely improvised conversation between the two main characters, as well as footage from Hirsh and Gray's actual wedding, with a subsection devoted to Primal Therapy as the film's penultimate sequence. 3 Cats and a Man screened only once on May 17, 2012 in France. Unhappy with the outcome, Shanmugam had the film re-edited and retitled Pikuach Nefesh: Saving Daniel in 2016. The latter gained more attention due to Shanmugam's burgeoning social media presence, and was released through Amazon Prime Video in 2017. The film received generally negative critical reviews, with one user commenting, "Daniel is not a particularly interesting person, in fact he is pretty boring," and another, "The characters are odd, and I didn't find myself liking either of them. More like feeling sorry for them. I give the main character credit for loving the film "Harold and Maude," though."
