Baptismal Site at the River Jordan

• Date: October 2012
• Genre: Historic Education, Promotion
• Storyline: During my volunteer position as Interim Communications Assistant for Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan & the Holy Land (ELCJHL), East Jerusalem, Palestine, I was given opportunity to generate a number of short documentary style films which both educate and promote through story telling.This short film was produced for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan & the Holy Land (ELCJHL) in October of 2012. The ELCJHL is one of the seven Christian church bodies given land by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for the support of this heritage site.

  According to Unesco World Heritage, “… the Jordanian Department of Antiquities has systematically surveyed and partially’ excavated a series of ancient sites that collectively represent one of the most important archaeological discoveries in modem Jordan — the settlement and region of Bethany (or Beth abra), where John the Baptist lived and baptized. The Bethany area sites formed part of the early Christian pilgrimage route between Jerusalem, the Jordan River, and Mt. Nebo.”

 

Ron Spomer Outdoors, Inc.

• Date: September 2011 – October 2012
• Genre: Outdoor Education, Documentary
• Storyline: Through Over the Sun, I worked with Ron Spomer Outdoors to capture Ron’s incredible working knowledge of and passion for the dwindling natural world. Together, we produced more than two dozen short films which ranged in topic from how to select the best boots for hunting to the mating behavior of the North American Caribou.

 

A Study in Motion

• Date: Spring 2012
• Genre: Experimentation
• Storyline: A compilation of a number of video sequences I shot this spring and early summer, each is a study in motion, a way of looking at how things move from a different point of view. In this experimental format, I touched upon the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.More about this projects is available at www.kaistaats.com/blog/

 

Welcome to Holden Village

• Date: October 2011
• Genre: Still Life
• Storyline: Originally showcased in this NPR.org story, this short film captures life in this unique, isolated, wilderness mountain village in the Washington Cascades.

 

Homeless in Austin

• Date: January 2009
• Genre: Feature Documentary
• Credits: Shot by Kai Staats; Edited by Jae Staats
• Storyline: This 48 minute autobiography film tells the story of Luciano Mendez, a man who has been without a home for many years, often living on the streets of Austin, Texas.His story is familiar–a childhood fraught with the pain of a broken home, violence, alcohol abuse, and self destructive behavior. He lost his mother and father to cancer; his daughter grew up without him. He has never held a job for long, forever challenged by alcohol and drugs.

  Luciano also speaks of forgiveness at the side of his mother’s deathbed, acceptance of his brother, and love through the pain. Luciano shares moments of powerful insight to his own behavior as he moves to change over time.

 

CE-10 for Yellow Dog Linux on Sony PS3

• Date: Spring 2009
• Genre: Promotional Short
• Credits: Produced by Bivás Biswas for Fixstars of Tokyo; Written and co-Directed by Kai Staats
• Storyline: This promotional video showcases the CE-10 video encoder developed by Fixstars of Tokyo, Japan. The CE-10 ran on the Yellow Dog Linux operating system on the Sony PS3.

 

Yellow Dog Linux on the Sony PS3

• Date: Spring 2007
• Genre: Promotional Short
• Credits: Produced and Directed by Bivás Biswas for Terra Soft Solutions; Written by Kai Staats
• Storyline: This promotional video showcases Yellow Dog Linux dual-booting on the Sony PS3.

 

Sweet Memory

• Date: Spring 2007
• Genre: Short Film Challenge for the Phoenix Horror Challenge
• Credits: Starring Tim Avent, Kimber-Leigh, and Rylan Ryker; Produced by Staats Bros. Film; Written by Jae Staats; Set support by Jason Francois
• Storyline: A nagging wife makes life miserable for Charlie Hill … but her nagging may never end.

 

Vinnie’s Babe

• Date: June, 2004
• Genre: Short Film Challenge for the Phoenix Film Festival 48 Hour Film Challenge
• Credits: Produced by Staats Bros. Film; Written by Jae Staats
• Storyline: A Gangster, a Dame and a Hit Man.

For this short film challenge, the theme was “Escape,” the prop a Camera, and the mandatory line, “I thought I’d be the first one to go!” “Vinnie’s Babe” placed 5th out of 53 entries, won Best Story/Script, and accumulated 7400 views in just 7 days on Ifilm.com—reaching #7 most watched film out of 1300 shorts on Ifilm.com as of March 2006.
 

Stalked!

• Date: 2003
• Genre: Short Film
• Credits: Produced by Staats Bros. Film; Written by Jae Staats
• Storyline: Not everything is as it seems when a man is asked to stalk a woman, by the woman’s friend, only to discover too late he is caught in a frightening, dangerous game.

Premiered at Modified Arts Film Festival in the fall of 2003. Featured in Phoenix Midtowm Messenger.
 

Five Minutes To Live

• Date: 2001
• Genre: Short Film
• Credits: Produced by Staats Bros. Film; Written by Jae Staats
• Storyline: If you left your office for lunch, as you do every day, but are knocked unconscious in the elevator and awakes in an alley, a note on your chest which reads, “You have five minutes to live,” –what would you do?

 

The Steamer Cleaner – 2001

• Date: 2001
• Genre: Short Film
• Credits: Produced by Staats Bros. Film; Written by Jae Staats; Original score by Karen Bea, first chair viola, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra
• Storyline: A door-to-door salesman has an unusually bad day … and then it gets strange.

This was the debut short film for brothers Kai and Jae Staats. It was reviewed by the Phoenix New Times