Director Josh Cohen, who’s on the roster of production house Minimal, independently helmed, wrote and edited “How Not to Touch Your Face in Contagious Times,” a comedic PSA about a topic with which we’ve recently become all too familiar. Indeed not touching our faces is hard to do, though we’re all adapting during this pandemic.

Cohen filmed the piece just before initial restriction measures were put into place in NYC, with a bare-bones crew of two (DP and prop master) who maintained correct social distancing throughout the project. Shelter-in-place policies soon followed, so all post for the project was done on a remote basis. Everything to make the film was kept as minimal as possible. 

As for what inspired the film, Cohen shared, “Experts were talking about how touching your face is the main way of transmission, and then I realized how often I touched my own face. I started thinking about classical conditioning and other ways to alter behavior, and then some other, less practical solutions came to mind. At the moment I feel powerless with how I can help in this dire global event. We all have to contribute what we can, and as a storyteller I hope to bring a bit of levity to the situation.”

Credits

Creative/Production/Editorial Josh Cohen, writer, director, editor; Peter Steusloff, DP & color; Dani Peltz, prop master. Music & Mix Jeffery Fettig VFX Simon Wannaz

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