Having graduated from a visual communications degree course in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Tomas moved to New York City where, in 1988, he developed the concept for and scripted "Gang of Souls," an hour-long documentary featuring poets from the Beat Generation, including Alan Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Ed Saunders and nine other writers. This project received a total of nine awards, including recognition from the Berlin and Torronto film festivals.

In June of 1988 he entered the Peace Corps and was posted to Rabinal, Guatemala as a volunteer and Appropriate Technology specialist where,
in addition to his volunteer duties, he scheduled educational and cultural programming for local television and created videos on environmental
and health issues.

Tomas remained in Guatemala for an additional year at the conclusion
of his volunteer work in 1990 while he directed and produced a 30 minute ethnographic documentary on Mayan ritual, "La Cofradia de San Pedro Apostal" in Guatemals city, which received a Latin American Film Festival Award and aired on Guatemalan television.

On returning to the U.S. in 1991 he began his career as a commercial editor in Los Angeles working for Rye Films (1993-1995) and Film Core Editorial (1995-1996).

Tomas moved to San Francisco in 1996 to persue both a freelance editing career and his love of documentary film making. And in June 1999 he began work on a new documentary called "Bums' Paradise," which tells the stories and shows the extraordinary creativity of a group of homeless men and women, before and after their eviction from the community they built in the Albany Landfill in the San Francisco Bay.

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Email Tomas McCabe at: Tomas@BumsParadise.com