A Rock n Roll Film about Life, Death and Bodily Functions

D TOUR (2009) Trailer 4 min.

My first feature documentary, D TOUR exists in two versions: 99 mins (theatrical) and 83 mins (PBS broadcast). Click on the title to take you to the VOD page. Inside there, in addition to the feature (both versions), lots of bonus material including never-before-seen footage as well as organ donation guides available.

Pat Spurgeon is a drummer with Rogue Wave, an indie rock band that’s toured the world and released several critically acclaimed albums. He’s passionate about his career as a professional musician, and he’s determined to not let anything stand in the way—not even a serious medical condition. Pat was born with just one kidney, which began deteriorating when he was in junior high school. He received a kidney transplant, but after 12 years, just as Rogue Wave starts to take off, that kidney begins to fail. D TOUR follows Pat’s search for a living organ donor and the myriad challenges associated with finding a viable match.

Featuring live performances from Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), Nada Surf, John Vanderslice, The Moore Brothers, and of course Rogue Wave.

Directed, Produced, Co-Edited & Photographed by Jim Granato

"Watched D Tour with one of my students. We both enjoyed it thoroughly.
What a great lesson in perseverance, not only on the part of the subject but on the filmmakers as well." - Monte Hellman (Director, Two Lane Blacktop)

“Granato does a fine job of pulling all the disparate elements of the situation (including one terribly sad but ultimately uplifting twist) into a cogent, gripping and educational narrative.” – Stan Hall, The Oregonian

“A powerful, evocative and deeply personal story” – Todd Gilchrist, Cinematical

"GREAT FUCKING MOVIE! It's a great little doc, man... very touching. Lots of twists and turns." - Marc Maron (WTF podcast, ep 218)

The PBS logo featuring a white silhouette of a human face within a blue circle, with the letters 'PBS' in blue next to the circle.
The logo of the TV network ITV, with a stylized red and black design.
The logo of the Independence Lightbox, featuring the words 'INDEPENDENT LENS' in orange and yellow letters.
Award badge for winner of the Golden Gate Award at the Bay Area Documentary Feature category of the San Francisco International Film Festival, decorated with laurel branches.
Award laurels with text: Winner, Best Documentary Feature, San Joaquin International Film Festival.
Award badge for 'BEND' film festival, indicating 'Winner' for best documentary feature, with laurel wreaths on each side.
Black badge with white text and laurel wreaths, awarded for best music documentary at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival.
Black and white graphic with
Sarasota Film Festival badge with laurel wreaths and text indicating official selection.
Award badge for Heartland Film Festival, indicating official selection
Black and white badge with laurel branches reading 'Official Selection Austin Film Festival'.
Black and white festival badge with laurel wreaths, reading 'Official Selection Sled Island Music & Film Festival'.
Black and white film festival award badge with laurel branches, text 'Official Selection Oxford Film Festival'.
Black and white award badge with laurel leaves and text reading 'Official Selection CMJ Music & Film Festival'.
Black and white official selection laurel wreath badge for the Tallahassee Film Festival.

”Pat’s coping ability is a thing to behold. Jim Granato’s remarkable documentary captures the urgency, desperation and raw emotion running throughout."
– Benjamin Friedland, San Francisco International Film Festival

"I learned a lot. Like being on the organ recipient list for a new kidney is no cakewalk. And being in a touring band while on dialysis is no day at the beach. I won’t tell you how this story ends but it’s a heart wrenching journey for sure. If you haven’t already, you might want to consider checking that box on your driver’s license." - Chuck Prophet (IFC - CP's Top Rock N Roll Movies of All Time)

This is a trailer for the Formerly Incarcerated People's Performance Project and their Giving Tuesday campaign, Dec 2, 2025.

I’m currently directing & editing a feature documentary film about FIPPP (filming through spring, 2026) focusing on the theatre company's humble beginnings (one director, one performer) to its current roster of nearly two dozen performers and seven professional instructors. Sharing stories from those who were incarcerated offer valuable lessons about the human condition while raising awareness about the challenges inside the prison system and what people face once they're released.

Target date for a completed feature documentary is fall, 2026. Feature documentary trailer coming spring, 2026.

HICHAM BERRADA x VILLA ALBERTINE SF (2023) 6 mins.

I was commissioned by Villa Albertine to travel to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park in Utah to make a short doc/profile piece on French artist Hicham Berrada (also featuring Oakland poet Matthew Zapruder). Villa Albertine and the New World Symphony have commissioned a visual piece from the French artist Hicham Berrada in view of the presentation of the work of the French composer Olivier Messiaen Des canyons aux ètoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars). The piece premiered in Miami, FL in April, 2023.

Directed, Produced, Edited, Sound and Videography by Jim Granato

VILLA ALBERTINE: CORTÈGES (2022) 7 mins.

Another commission by Villa Albertine San Francisco, in partnership with the French Consulate in SF, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and Orchestre de Paris to create this promotional video for a new collaborative project from artists' Sasha J. Blondeau, François Chaignaud, and Hélène Giannecchini.

Their San Francisco residency provided them with an opportunity to write, perform, and create new music for a piece, currently titled Cortèges, that had its debut in Paris in June, 2023.

Directed, Produced, Edited, Sound and Videography by Jim Granato

THE WAVES & THE MERRY-GO-ROUND: On Location w/ Erich von Stroheim (2023) 38 mins.

I had the great pleasure of helping create 3 of the bonus features which chronicle in deep research and behind the scenes of restoring Hollywood’s first million dollar picture from Erich Von Stroheim. Mixing interviews with personnel behind the restoration and rare archival material, these documentaries can be found on the Flicker Alley blu-ray release for FOOLISH WIVES, which landed on Sight & Sound's list of BEST BLU-RAYS & DVD's 2023, voted #3 in 2023's Top Ten Best per DVD Beaverand won the Best Special Features Award from Il Cinema Ritrovato DVD Awards in Bologna, Italy.

Directed, Co-Produced, Edited, Sound and Videography by Jim Granato

MARRIED TO COMICS (2023) Trailer 3 mins.

I shot a couple of key interviews in San Francisco for Maryland based filmmaker John Kinhart. This award-winning doc explores the life of American cartoonist Justin Green, known as the “father of autobiographical comics” (Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary) and his wife, fellow cartoonist, Carol Tyler (Soldier’s Heart).

Directed & Edited by John Kinhart
Cinematography, Sound by Jim Granato

CROSSING THE DIVIDE (2018) 16 mins.

I spent 10 days on the road in Iowa following climate change activists challenge the locals on the issue.

A reactionary Iowa farmer has a change of heart when climate activists march into his town.

Produced & Directed by Ralph King
Cinematography by Jim Granato

ARRESTABLE: A Grassroots Guide to Taking a Stand (2018) 11 mins.

Another outing with activist filmmaker Ralph King. This video was used later as a recruitment tool for 350.org

In protest over bank funding of climate chaos, Seattle activists experience arrest for the first-time.

Produced & Directed by Ralph King
Lead Videographer Jim Granato

THE POWER OF SONG: RELATE CREATE ACTIVATE (2020) 9 mins.

A short video profile on Lu Aya, of the Peace Poets, commissioned by the
Center for Artistic Activism‍ ‍I only had only day with Lu at the event and made the most of it.

On the day after Election Day, 2020, tension is thick at the Count Every Vote rally in Oakland, CA. Lu Aya brings the power of song into the fold and shows how people can be motivated and energized for the world we’re striving to build.

Directed, Photographed, Sound and Edited by Jim Granato

THANKS TO HANK (2019) Trailer 2 mins.

I was one of the cinematographers hired by the director that shot several key interviews and some B roll. Premiered at Frameline 2020.

THANKS TO HANK is the inspirational story of a true unsung hero of the gay liberation movement and the AIDS epidemic that followed—Hank Wilson. Unknown to many, but beloved by those whose lives he touched, Hank was the ultimate behind-the-scenes activist who, with uncompromising zeal and pathos, radically altered LGBTQ+ life and rights in the Bay Area—most notably for queer youth in the early days of AIDS.

Directed by Bob Ostertag
Cinematography by Jim Granato

THE MAKING OF A BELL (2013) Excerpt 3 mins.

Above is an excerpt from an episode of Science In the City (SITC), a series of short documentaries focusing on science and phenomena in the bay area, produced for the Exploratorium in San Francisco. I was an on staff producer and videographer there between 2012 & 2015.

You can view the full 13 min. version here.

We explore the creation of a bell for the Exploratorium's new home at Pier 15. Artist Nick Diphillipo has been designing and casting bells and other objects for over thirty years. He teaches bell making at The Crucible in Oakland, California, as well as other foundry-related subjects.

Directed, Co-Produced, Photographed and Edited by Jim Granato.

ALTAMONT WIND FARMS (2012) 7 mins.

Another SITC episode I did for The Exploratorium. I was an on staff producer and videographer there between 2012 & 2015.

Southeast of San Francisco, on the way out to California's Central Valley, thousands of wind turbines dot the landscape of Altamont Pass. Mounted both in rows and individually, machines with large propellers catch the wind, turning round and round at different speeds. Learn how wind energy is generated and stored for use in this most peculiar area, and its impact on living things both near and far.

Directed, Produced, Photographed, Sound & Edited by Jim Granato

AUDIENCE OF ONE (2007) Trailer 3 mins.

IndiePix distributed feature doc I got to help director Mike Jacobs shoot in San Francisco. SXSW Special Jury award winner.

AUDIENCE OF ONE is a documentary that chronicles the making of GRAVITY: THE SHADOW OF JOSEPH, a $50 million biblical science fiction movie that would redefine the Hollywood epic. This verite style film goes inside a Pentecostal church, where their charismatic pastor, Richard Gazowsky, leads his loyal cast and crew on an incredible journey that tests the limits of faith. From pre-production at their church, to shooting principal photography in Italy, to leasing an enormous studio on an island in San Francisco Bay, AUDIENCE OF ONE keeps pace with an embattled church production that looks to God in order to keep their dream alive. Full of humor and pathos, what transpires is a story of obsession, faith and delusion.

Directed by Mike Jacobs
Cinematography by Jim Granato

VIVID DREAMS (2007) 5 mins.

A short documentary originally made for Attack of the 50 Foot Reels, a FLICKER LA based Super 8 one reel film challenge festival. This is the fleshed out version extending from its original 3 min run time to nearly 5 mins! Screened at more than a dozen film festivals worldwide.

After years of yearning to go to Africa, Joan’s three-month stint as a Peace Corps volunteer turns sour on Christmas Eve when she is 'psychevac'd' back to the states and admitted to Georgetown Hospital mental ward. The drug required by the Peace Corps to be taken as a protection against malaria is said to cause only vivid dreams, but no one mentions the other side effects of psychotic tendencies, including suicide and murder.

Produced, Directed, Photographed & Edited by Jim Granato

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