FIRE Welcomes Sweidy Stata Video Fellow Joe Stramowski

Back in January, FIRE announced the creation of a one-year video fellowship, funded in part by a generous $25,000 matching grant from Raymie Stata and Kimberly Sweidy. We are excited to announce that, after an intense search, Joe Stramowski has been selected for the position and started working at FIRE on April 1. Joe will be creating several high-quality documentary-style films about FIRE's cases and mission and will play a key role in FIRE's outreach and publicity efforts.

A 2005 graduate of Hofstra University, Joe has since worked as a journalist, cinematographer, editor, and writer for narrative, commercial, and documentary projects nationwide. These experiences have led him down many interesting roads leading to a wide gamut of destinations—ranging from PBS and MTV to the Katrina-battered streets of New Orleans. He has been a disciple of narrative story and the moving image for as long as he can remember and a proponent of free speech since the first time he heard the word "inappropriate."

He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and in his spare time writes and directs his own projects.