Recent Documentary Films
I am a storyteller at heart. For more than 20 years I have used the power of digital media to amplify the voices of artists, activists, veterans, and other unsung heroes around the globe.
Paul Stankard: Flower & Flame (2024)
Official Selection | 2024 GAS Film Festival
Official Selection | 2024 Jersey Shore Film Festival
An artist inspired by his rural childhood memories captures nature's exquisite beauty in molten glass, battling dyslexia and defying critics on his way to international fame.
This stunning new documentary from award-winning filmmaker Daniel R. Collins paints an intimate portrait of New Jersey-based glass artist Paul Stankard, exploring his work, his wit, and his wisdom.
Slinger (2023)
Winner | Best Documentary | 2023 Carpe Diem Film Festival
Multimedia artist Marble Slinger has spent 20 years crafting beautiful and functional glass pipes, but his influence in the scene goes far beyond his flameworking. Take a short, strange strip through a month in the life of the artist known as Slinger.
From War To Wisdom (2017)
Official Selection | 2019 Skyline Independent Film Festival
When the war ends, the real battle begins. The horror of war turns to hope for the future for this exemplary crew of combat veterans.
Art That Gives Back (2024)
The inspiring story of a dedicated community of artists who dig deep to give back to their struggling city. As budget cuts decimated essential arts programming in public schools, The Michigan Glass Project, led by a tight-knit crew of glass pipe makers, knew they had to do something to bring art classes back to the children of Detroit.
Fuego (In Production | 2025)
An elusive artist in the outskirts of Havana builds a hot shop from scratch, and with the help of a few dedicated apprentices, begins a studio glass movement in Cuba.
Degenerate Art
World Premiere | 2012 SXSW Film Festival
Glass visionary Marble Slinger partnered with Dan Collins Media to tell the story of the underground glass pipe movement, a creative subculture that was virtually unknown to the mainstream art world even as it exploded into a billion-dollar industry and an international cultural phenomenon. The film celebrated its world premiere at South by Southwest Film Festival in 2012, and reached millions of viewers during a two-year stint on Netflix. This clip features the dynamic opening credits sequenced produced by Philadelphia filmmaker Max Tubman, and the opening minutes of the documentary, Directed by Marble Sligner and edited by Daniel R. Collins.