Recent releases
Recent Work
Festival Trailer
Long Format documentaries
"Arrived - Margot Friedläner, Berlin", 43 minute documentary produced and directed by Thomas Halaczinsky together with Sabine Scharnagl for German broadcaster ARD translated into four languages and world wide distributed by Deutsche Welle, 2021. "Arrived is the third of three documentaries Thomas created about Margot - preceded by: "Don't call it Heimweh" 2004, "Late Return"
Margot Friedlander, born 1921 in Berlin Germany lived through the horrors of Nazi Germany hidden by Germans while her Jewish family was murdered in Auschwitz. After the war she emigrated to America and lived in New York for more than 60 years before returning to Germany in 2011.
Ever since she has been tirelessly working to keep the memory of the holocaust alive. Touring German schools, she reads from her autobiography “Try to make your life” sharing her story with the students. In 2021 she turned 100. How does she see her “new” old country? Has Germany changed throughout the last ten years and what are her expectations about keeping the memory of the holocaust alive?
A German version (geoblocked) is available at ARD Mediathek. A Spanish version is also availabl on Youtube​
The Butterfly Effect Project is a nonprofit community based organization designed to empower young girls. To support their work and particularly their fundraising effort Archipelago Productions produced this video pro bono.
The Sound Justice Initiative (SJI) on Long Island is a nonprofit organization supports justice-involved individuals, both in local jails and during their reentry into the community. Supported by North Fork Side by Side Archipelago is documenting their work.
Preserve Plum Island Coalition was formed to rally for the permanent preservation of Plum Island at the Eastern End of Long Island Sound. Archipelago Productions supported the work of the coalition pro bono. This work decision to produce a feature length documentary about Plum Island.
Arden Scott is a sculptor who lives and works in Greenport, Long Island, NY. She shows extensively in the US and abroad.This Video was produced acompanying a shoe at Greenport Gallery V.S.O.P.
Carolyn Conrad is an artist who lives in Sag Harbor. Her recent work embraces all the approaches she has been developing over the years: painting, photography, sculpture and installation. Artist video. -
"Greetings from Death Row",Video sketch for a webseries currently in development. In the shadows of the judicial system, a dedicated group of unsung heroes tirelessly works behind the scenes, navigating the intricate and challenging terrain of death penalty cases.
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"Coney Island - A last Summer", 52 ,minute documentary directed by Thomas Halaczinsky and Sebastian Lemke, 2008 for ZDF/ARTE„If Paris is France, then Coney Island is the entire world from June to September“, is how George C. Tilyou – the builder of the legendary Steeplechase Park – described Coney Island. A sparkling amusement institution in New York´s West End, colourful and fantastic. That´s how it used to be. Coney Island´s entertainment district is supposed to be sold to a major investor, who plans to erect a Las Vegas-style artificial world. With the destruction of these old amusement sites, New York does not only lose part of its history, but also living spaces and workplaces for hundreds of people. For them it is the basis of their very existence. The film accompanies the Coney Islanders through the last weeks of their probably final season.​
“Archipelago New York” is a three-part documentary series about a modern-day expedition by sailboat into the natural habitat of the world’s most famous city.
The series aired on the European tv network ARTE in 2021. It was shown on numerous festivals in the US and abroad, amongst them the International Ocean Film Festival 2022, San Francisco and the Blue Water film Festival in San Diego. It won an excellent award at the International Nature without Border Film Festival 2022, and was awarded the Best Science Film at the Blue Water Film Festival.
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Before New York was New York the indigenous Lenape called the island Mannahatta, the land of the many hills, an estuary where salt- and fresh water create a unique habitat. Ever since the arrival of the European colonialists the nature here has been exploited, polluted and destroyed. This is about to change. More and more people wake up to the call of nature, and nature takes back the city. Meanwhile, climate crisis and rising sea level pose an existential threat to the island world.
The population and its density in metropolises like New York are increasing. The key question is how the devastating consequences of overpopulation can be set off. Is relying on technical solutions really the only option or isn’t it more necessary than ever that people change their behavior?