THE DIRECTOR

Charles Herman-Wurmfeld           

Charles has been making movies since childhood. After decades of yoga study, Herman-Wurmfeld was a fan of Chastant's yoga satire, NAMASTE BITCHES, AND (in spite of his mellow disposition and deep yoga practice) he was MAD-AS-HELL about the state of the world...so he jumped at the opportunity to work on her new project RAGE ROOM.  

In SF, along with singer/songwriter/ actor D'Arcy Drollinger, Herman-Wurmfeld developed and directed a trilogy of rock operas -- Possession of Mrs. Jones, Suburbia 3000 and The Cereal Killers which won SF WEEKLY's best of the bay nominations.  He also made his first feature, Fanci's Persuasion.  His first project in Los Angeles was From There to Here, a documentary about a singer/songwriter who lands a giant record deal.  The rock-doc was honored as Best Music Documentary at the Yahoo! Internet Life Online Film Festival.

Next came Kissing Jessica Stein,  shot entirely on location in New York in 23 days with a budget of $1 million.  The refreshing take on modern relationships piqued the interest of Fox Searchlight, which bought it for domestic distribution.  KJS received the Audience Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Miami Film Festival, a Glitter Award for Best Lesbian Feature, & earned Herman-Wurmfeld a spot on Variety's prestigious 10 Directors To Watch List.

He then turned to a project made for television, The Facts of Life Reunion movie, based on the popular sitcom before making Legally Blonde 2, Red, White & Blonde with Reese Witherspoone, Sally Field and Octavia Spencer.     

After the studio film, Herman-Wurmfeld returned to his passion for writer/ actors,  developing and directing Adam Carrola's boxing movie, The Hammer which The Sound of Young America called the best sports comedy of 2008 & collaborating with Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, David Wain on the Comedy Central series, Stella. He produced the international co-production Hollywood Je T'Aime which premiered in competition at the Los Angeles FIlm Festival.

What followed in 2009 was a long detour from entertainment into spiritual study and community service. Herman-Wurmfeld served on the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council, eventually co-chairing the organization; co-founded the legendary Micheltorena Community and School Garden where he built a curriculum which taught the natural world to hundreds of elementary schoolers; deepened his yoga practices and became a board member of Gracia Divina a spiritual non-profit organized around peruvian shamanic practices and modalities. 

Herman-Wurmfeld lives in Silver Lake California with his partner of 20 years, Jason Bushman, and their adopted child River Jack.