A World Without

In the spring of 2026, I got the opportunity to explore the mystery that is Dave Lewinsohn. Sure, he’s a physician-scientist who has dedicated his life to ending tuberculosis. Any quick Google search will tell you that. His trademark humility and restraint forestall the rest. The resulting film traces his thinking from TB's history to the present crisis, told in his own voice. Like Dave’s own work, the story makes surprising connections and is rooted in collaboration. 

Dave is a hard man to profile. He’d rather talk about the work than himself. So in this excerpt his wife and longtime collaborator, Debbie, tells his story with him, and in the space between how she sees him and how he sees himself, he comes into focus. (In the full film, Portlanders who’ve never met him take turns reading his biography aloud.)

That’s how I like to make portraits: intimate and built from the people around the subject—so a community shows through the individual. My next project brings that approach to Portland artists. Lu & Von’s Supersecret Media Empire!! is a live event premiering four three-minute documentary profiles of local artists, each followed by that artist performing. Films made to be seen in a room, with the people in them.

How We Made It

Excerpt, 4:41
Directed by Andrew Stout, 2026, United States

With Dave Lewinsohn, Deborah Lewinsohn, Olivia Cheston, Debi Joanitis, Tag, Meghan Cansler, Lynne Swarbrick.