cineSOURCE magazine

Honoring Don Schwartz
by Doniphan Blair

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Don Schwarz, circa 2010. photo: courtesy D. Schwarz

CINESOURCE IS SADDENED TO REPORT the closing of “Dr. Doc”, our 13-year -running documentary column by Don Schwarz, who has been with the magazine since its founding in 2008. After doing almost 700 mini-reviews, and over 20 full interviews or articles—which makes him our most prolific author—Don is retiring due to the onset of aphasia. He intends to fight the word-and-meaning-scrambling disease with alternative therapies, with which he has long taken an interest in and worked with.

Indeed, Don holds multiple degrees, including a PhD in psychology and counseling, which allowed him to serve for 21 years as the director of the Trager Institute.

Fortunately for cineSOURCE, Don just finished a number of his doc blogs, which can be seen here, Dr. Doc. The last is fittingly named, “Into The Night: Portraits of Life and Death”. He also just did a great interview with the Greek-American filmmaker, Stavroula Toska, which can be seen here. Indeed, Toska thanked cineSOURCE as well as Don profusely on her Facebook page.

Since 1977, he has written for a variety of publications and projects, including The Pacific Sun, Marin County’s alternative weekly, and some film scripts. Moreover, as an actor he has been seen as an extra in a number of feature films shot in the Bay Area, starting in the 2000s.

A strong advocate for local film and TV production, Don was a member of the Scary Cow film cooperative, the storied indie film incubator, which was sadly forced to close during Covid. Other interests include music, his twin nieces, and promoting natural healing through scientific research.

Don got into film criticism writing for Film/Tape World, which flourished in the Bay Area from 1984 to 2007. Joining cineSOURCE right when it started in 2008, he became our most a dedicated film reviewer and writer, including 38 of his mini reviews in the last six months.

A quiet and modest man as well as careful observer and deep thinker, he lives in Marin County, and we wish him well.

Thanks for your great work, Don!

Doniphan Blair is a writer, film magazine publisher, designer, musician and filmmaker ('Our Holocaust Vacation'), who can be reached . Posted on Jan 09, 2022 - 12:54 PM