DEBUTS 2004
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- Actress
- Director
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In Okay (2002), director and actress Paprika Steen shows off her multi- faceted acting talent as the loud-mouthed control freak Nete. This is her first major part for which she has already been nominated for the Best Actress Award from the European Film Academy. She has won the Danish Academy Award for her supporting role in the mega-hit Den eneste ene (The One and Only, 1999).
These nominations attest to Paprika Steen's strong performances, given in a number of smaller, but memorable parts, for example as an upper-class snob in The Idiots (1998) (The Idiots), a touchingly nerdy beautician in The One and Only (1999) (The Only One), and as a strong, slightly-neurotic sister in the mega-hit The Celebration (1998) (The Celebration).
Steen's considerable dramatic talent and potential is reinforced by a strong sense of humor that shines through in her work. While audiences may laugh hard, Steen remains sympathetic to the characters she portrays. The web of intertwined character flaws and potential is revealed with a light touch. It is the empathy that she evokes for her characters that makes her work memorable.- Producer
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Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American screenwriter, director, comedian, and actor. McKay has a comedy partnership with Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote the films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and The Other Guys. Ferrell and McKay also founded their comedy website Funny or Die through their production company Gary Sanchez Productions. He has been married to Shira Piven since 1999. They have two children.- Writer
- Director
- Script and Continuity Department
- Director
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- Actor
Dong-hoon Choi was born in 1971 in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, South Korea. He is a director and writer, known for Assassination (2015), The Thieves (2012) and The Big Swindle (2004).- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Brant Sersen was born on 19 March 1974 in the USA. He is a director and producer, known for Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story (2004), Sanatorium (2013) and Splinterheads (2009).- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Saul Dibb was born in 1968 in London, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for The Duchess (2008), Suite Française (2014) and Bullet Boy (2004).- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Eric Bress is known for The Butterfly Effect (2004), Ghosts of War (2020) and Final Destination 2 (2003).- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Christophe Barratier was born on 17 June 1963 in Asnières-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He is a writer and producer, known for The Chorus (2004), Faubourg 36 (2008) and Team Spirit (2016).- Director
- Production Manager
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
He started his production career at a very young age, working on the production of feature films and tv series collaborating with many Italian and foreign directors. He later founded his production company with which he produced and co-produced several films in Italy. (nominated for the David di Donatello as Best Producer 2008). Since (2009) he has been primarily focused on his direction work on tv series and feature films for cinema. With the Edizioni Robin he published his first novel.- Writer
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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
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Zachary Edward "Zack" Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter, best known for action and science fiction films. Snyder made his feature film debut with the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead and has gone on to be known for his comic book movies and superhero films, including 300 (2007), Watchmen (2009), Man of Steel (2013) and its upcoming sequel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Snyder is the co-founder of Cruel and Unusual Films, a production company he established in 2004, alongside his wife Deborah Snyder and producing partner Wesley Coller.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
- Director
Pierre Morel was born on 12 May 1964 in France. He is a cinematographer and director, known for District B13 (2004), Taken (2008) and The Gunman (2015).- Director
- Producer
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Rawson Marshall Thurber was born on 9 February 1975 in San Francisco, California, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Red Notice (2021), Easy A (2010) and Skyscraper (2018). He is married to Sarah. They have three children.- Director
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- Cinematographer
Debra Granik (born February 6, 1963) is an American New York City-based independent film and documentary film director and screenwriter. She is most known for 2004's Down to the Bone, which starred Vera Farmiga, 2010's Winter's Bone, which starred Jennifer Lawrence in her breakout performance and for which Granik was nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, and 2018's Leave No Trace, a film based on the book My Abandonment by Peter Rock.
Granik was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to father William R. Granik, who was an attorney with H.U.D. who litigated fair housing, and mother Marian Gay. She grew up in the suburbs of Washington D.C. Granik is the granddaughter of broadcast pioneer Ted Granik (1907-1970), founder and moderator of the long-run public affairs panel discussion program, The American Forum of the Air, on from 1934 to 1956, first on the radio and later on television. Granik is from a Jewish family.
In 1985, Granik received her B.A. in political science from Brandeis University. As an undergraduate at Brandeis, Granik also took classes at the Studio for Interrelated Media at the Massachusetts College of Art. In 2001, Granik received an MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
While at Brandeis, Granik took Henry Felt's film and media workshop production class and volunteered with the Boston grassroots filmmaking organization Women's Video Collective. She also took film classes at the Studio for Interrelated Media at the Massachusetts College of Art. During this time, Granik made educational films for trade unions on subjects like workplace health and safety, one of which was made for the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety. Granik worked in production on educational media projects, eventually working on long form documentaries by Boston-area filmmakers before deciding to go to graduate school for filmmaking at New York University.
In 1997, Granik directed her first short film, Snake Feed, as her senior thesis with the mentorship of NYU film professor Boris Frumin, who was instrumental in sharing his love of post-World War II European neorealist films. Snake Feed, which began its life as a 7-minute documentary portrait exercise, was accepted into Sundance Institute's Lab Program for screenwriting and directing. Granik workshopped and developed the short film into a feature film at the Sundance Lab. Granik has said that Snake Feed was a work of narrative fiction, with the main characters, recovering addict Irene and her boyfriend Rick, playing dramatized versions of themselves.
In 2004, the short film of Snake Feed and the story of Irene and Rick became the basis of Granik's first feature-length film, Down to the Bone, which was a fictionalized depiction of their struggles. Down to the Bone is the story of an upstate New York mother who goes to rehab to kick her cocaine addiction and ends up falling in love with a nurse and descending back into her old drug habits. Down to the Bone was based on an original screenplay written by Granik and her creative partner, Anne Rosellini. The role of the main character Irene, played by Vera Farmiga, significantly raised Farmiga's profile as an actor. Down to the Bone was shot in Ulster County in upstate New York.
Granik's second feature, 2010's Winter's Bone, was an adaptation by Granik and Rosellini of the 2006 novel by Daniel Woodrell. It is the story of Ree Dolly, a teenager living in the Missouri's Ozark Mountains who is the sole caretaker of her two younger siblings and her catatonic mother. She is forced to hunt down her missing drug-dealing father in order to save her family from eviction.
The film starred a then-unknown Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes and won the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic Film at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, which led to a distribution deal with Roadside Attractions. Winter's Bone won the Seattle International Film Festival Golden Space Needle Audience Award for Best Director and Best Actress award for Jennifer Lawrence. In 2011, Winter's Bone was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress for Jennifer Lawrence and Best Supporting Actor for John Hawkes. The film featured a soundtrack made up of old time gospel, bluegrass, and traditional music found in the Ozarks and was produced by Steve Peters. It features the singing of Marideth Sisco, who worked as a music and folklore consultant for the region, and also appeared in the Winter's Bone. The actor John Hawkes sings one track on the soundtrack.
Winter's Bone was shot on location in the Ozark area of southern Missouri. Granik cast many of the supporting roles with first-time actors from the surrounding area and all of the homes on screen were established Ozark homes-no sets were built for this film. For the look of the film, Granik kept most of the established aesthetics of the homes in which they were shooting and many of the few mementos that were added to the homes were contributed by Ozark people in the community.
Granik produced and directed an HBO television pilot called American High Life. The show was a family drama that "follows a young career woman to her economically depressed small home town in the midwest."The show was not picked up.
Granik developed a film adaption of Rule of the Bone, the 1995 novel by Russell Banks, but the project is still in development.
In 2014, Granik's film, Stray Dog, was released. The film is a documentary about a man named Ron Hall, whose nickname is "Stray Dog," and portrays his life as an avid biker and Vietnam Veteran who sometimes struggles with PTSD. The film documents Hall's participation in an annual pilgrimage motorcycle ride called "Ride to the Wall" with fellow biker Vietnam vets from all over the country where they ride to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Granik had met Hall, who had a small role on Winter's Bone, during filming.
Granik directed the drama Leave No Trace, starring Ben Foster and newcomer Thomasin McKenzie, which was released in 2018, domestically by Bleecker Street and internationally by Sony Worldwide Acquisitions. The film tells the story of a father and daughter who illegally live on government land and are forced to adapt to more traditional living in mainstream life. It examines ideas of self-reliance and community, and was a critics' pick of The New York Times. Leave No Trace premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, and played at the Cannes Film Festival, and was shot in the forested areas of Oregon, including Forest Park near Portland, Oregon, over the course of 30 days. In addition to Oregon, Washington state was used for locations, with some scenes shot at a Christmas tree farm. Leave No Trace took approximately three and a half years to develop, from the first time Granik read Peter Rock's novel, My Abandonment, on which the film was based.
Other projects Granik has in development include a documentary about life after being released from jail and the subject of recidivism in East Baltimore - that was to feature Felicia "Snoop" Pearson from The Wire and elements of her memoir, Grace After Midnight - but is now a documentary about four former inmates in New York City.
Another project is a film based on Barbara Ehrenreich's book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, which focuses on poverty and the working poor in America- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Jeff Schaffer was raised in Warren, Ohio. He attended Western Reserve Academy and later Harvard University. After college, he wrote for television and later the big screen. He worked on Seinfeld (1989) first as a writer and later as a producer. Learning greatly from Larry David, Schaffer eventually worked with him later on Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000).
Schaffer and his wife Jackie produce The League (2009), which he also writes and directs.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Zach Braff was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, to Anne Hutchinson (Maynard), a clinical psychologist, and Harold Irwin Braff, a trial attorney. His father is from Russia and Austria, while Zach's mother is from a family with deep roots in New England. Zach attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, and also graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in film. Zach is known for playing Dr. John 'J.D.' Dorian on the television series Scrubs (2001), for writing, directing, and starring in the films Garden State (2004) and Wish I Was Here (2014), and for starring in the movies Chicken Little (2005), The Last Kiss (2006), and The Ex (1996).
He just completed directing the New Line/ Warner Bros. feature "Going In Style" starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin.- Actress
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- Director
Renata Litvinova was born on 12 January 1967 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. She is an actress and writer, known for Poslednyaya skazka Rity (2012), Boginya: kak ya polyubila (2004) and Peterburg. Tolko po lyubvi (2016). She was previously married to Leonid Dobrovskiy and Aleksandr Antipov.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Dennis Iliadis was born in Athens, Greece, and also grew up in Paris and Rio de Janeiro. He attended Brown University in Rhode Island, studying film and political economy before enrolling at the Royal College of Art in London. Iliadis is quickly gaining a name in the film industry, having taken on the director role for the remake of The Last House on the Left (2009). It is his first American film, and he believes its story to be a fascinating take on human nature. He previously directed the film Hardcore (2004), which went on to win the German Independence Award - Audience Award. His college graduation film, Ole, and his next short film, Morning Fall, both received awards for excellence.- Producer
- Director
- Additional Crew
Michael Mayer was born on 27 June 1960 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He is a producer and director, known for 27 Dresses (2008), A Home at the End of the World (2004) and The Seagull (2018).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
David William Duchovny was born on August 7, 1960, in New York City, New York, USA. His father, Amram Ducovny, was a writer and publicist who was from a family of Jewish immigrants (from Ukraine and Poland), and worked for the American Jewish Committee. His mother, Margaret (Miller), was a Scottish-born school teacher. David has a sister, Laurie, and an older brother, Daniel Ducovny, an award-winning director of commercials, as well as a director of photography.
David earned an undergraduate degree from Princeton University, and also attended Yale University, where he undertook a Master's Degree in English Literature. A keen poet and writer, David's work was well recognized by his peers and teachers while he was in attendance at Yale. He was even nominated for a college prize by the Academy of American Poets for his outstanding work within the literary field. While at Yale, he began commuting to New York to study acting and was soon appearing in off-Broadway plays. In 1987, he abandoned his doctoral studies at Yale to pursue acting full time.
Like any actor or celebrity, David began his career on the bottom, by acting in numerous commercials in the late-eighties. He crossed over into films with bit parts in low key films such as New Year's Day (1989) and Bad Influence (1990). Although these parts were small and somewhat insignificant, it was a start and David was able to get his foot in the door.
In 1991, David got offered the role of DEA Dennis Bryson on the acclaimed TV series, Twin Peaks (1990). He only appeared in three episodes, but at that early stage, it was his biggest claim to fame yet, as Twin Peaks (1990) was watched by millions of people worldwide. Needless to say, David's talents as an actor would finally be recognized and he would get the acknowledgment that he so richly deserved.
In the early 1990s, he got more bit parts in films, this time, however, the films weren't "low key", but hits, such as Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991) and the family favorite comedy, Beethoven (1992). David's role in Beethoven (1992) was small, but it was hard to forget the poor guy who was dragged across the lawn by the giant St. Bernard!
A year later, in 1993, David got the lead role in the independent film Kalifornia (1993). The film also starred another up-and-coming young actor, Brad Pitt. In Kalifornia (1993), David played a journalist who goes on a cross-country tour of famous murder sites with his girlfriend as research for a book he is writing about serial killers. He takes Pitt's character along to help pay the bills, unaware that Pitt's character is in fact a serial killer himself. Although it did not do much business at the box office, it is still a great film and has become somewhat of a cult favorite among fans.
That same year, David was offered the role of FBI Agent Fox "Spooky" Mulder on the long-running TV series The X-Files (1993). The show was a tremendous international success and propelled David (and his co-star Gillian Anderson) into super-stardom. His character of Mulder has become somewhat of a pop culture legend and is renowned the world over for his satirical wit and dry sense of humor. Fans loved the fact that he could keep a straight face and still crack and joke in the face of extreme danger. David improvised a lot of his own lines of dialogue while on the show and even penned and directed a few episodes. The series ended in 2002 and still has a strong, dedicated following. To date, David has reprised his role of Fox Mulder in two "X Files" feature films: The X Files (1998) and The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008).
During the initial run of The X-Files (1993), David kept busy and made several films, such as: Return to Me (2000), alongside actress Minnie Driver and the comedy favorite Evolution (2001), with Julianne Moore, Seann William Scott and Orlando Jones. He even had a hysterical cameo as a self-obsessed, simple-minded hand model in the comedy-smash Zoolander (2001).
In 2007, after a few years out of the limelight, David struck gold again after landing the plum role of Hank Moody in Californication (2007). The raunchy series follows the life of womanizing writer Hank Moody (Duchovny) as he tries to juggle his career and his relationship with his daughter and his ex-girlfriend. The show has become a hit for its off-the-wall humor and Duchovny's ability to always turn in a brilliant performance.
It may have taken a while, but David has worked his way to the top and notched up an impressive resume along the way. We can expect to see a lot more of him in the future.- Director
- Producer
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- Actor
- Producer
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Charles Dance is an English actor, screenwriter, and film director. Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains. Some of his most high-profile roles are Tywin Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones (2011), Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Sardo Numspa in The Golden Child (1986), Dr. Jonathan Clemens in Alien 3 (1992), Benedict in Last Action Hero (1993), the Master Vampire in Dracula Untold (2014), Lord Havelock Vetinari in Terry Pratchett's Going Postal (2010), Alastair Denniston in The Imitation Game (2014) and William Randolph Hearst in Mank (2020).
He played the role of Tywin Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones (2011), based on the Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin.
In 1989, he played Bond creator Ian Fleming in Anglia Television's drama biography.- Producer
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Matthew Vaughn is an English film producer and director. He is known for producing such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000) and for directing the crime thriller, Layer Cake (2004), the fantasy epic, Stardust (2007), the superhero comedy, Kick-Ass (2010), and the superhero film, X-Men: First Class (2011). Vaughn was educated at Stowe School in Buckingham, England. Taking a gap year between Stowe and university, he traveled the world on a Hard Rock Cafe tour and landed in Los Angeles, U.S. Here, he began working as an assistant to a director. He returned to London, attending University College London where he studied anthropology and ancient history. But the film bug had taken hold. He dropped out of university after a few weeks and returned to Los Angeles to start his career. He quickly realized, however, that everyone in town was trying to do the same thing, so he crossed back over the Atlantic to make a name for himself in England. At 25, he produced a little-seen thriller, The Innocent Sleep (1995), starring Annabella Sciorra and Michael Gambon. Vaughn continued as a producer on close friend Guy Ritchie's film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). The film was a success in all aspects; earning Vaughn and Ritchie £9 million each. Vaughn would go on to produce Ritchie's equally acclaimed Snatch (2000) and the critically-mauled, Swept Away (2002). Vaughn made his directorial debut in 2004 with Layer Cake (2004). The film was well-received and its success led to Vaughn being tapped to direct X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) but he later dropped out only two weeks before filming began. Vaughn was, subsequently, very critical of Brett Ratner's direction of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) (aka X-Men 3). Vaughn next directed Stardust (2007) and a movie adaption of Mark Millar's Kick-Ass. He was also in talks to direct an adaptation of "Thor", but left that project. In May 2010, 20th Century Fox confirmed that Vaughn will direct X-Men: First Class (2011) and announced the film will be released on June 3, 2011. Vaughn is best known for starting his career working as a producer for the Guy Ritchie films, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Snatch (2000) and Swept Away (2002). Jane Goldman is one the screenwriters who Vaughn collaborated with for the films, Stardust (2007), Kick-Ass (2010) and the upcoming X-Men: First Class (2011). The actors that Vaughn usually works with in his films are Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones, Jason Flemyng, Adam Fogerty, Sienna Miller, Brad Pitt (as a producer on Kick-Ass (2010)), Mark Strong, Robbie Gee, Alan Ford, Tamer Hassan and Dexter Fletcher. Vaughn's wife is German supermodel Claudia Schiffer, whom he married in Shimpling, Suffolk, in 2002. The couple have three children: son Caspar Matthew (born 30 January 2003), daughter Clementine de Vere Drummond (born 11 November 2004) and a second daughter, Cosima Violet (born 14 May 2010). They have homes in Suffolk and Notting Hill. He has hired ex-Gurkha soldiers for security for him and his wife following reports of stalkers apparently intruding their house.- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Producer
Laurence Dunmore was born in March 1965 in Essex, UK. Laurence is a director and producer, known for The Libertine (2004), Camouflage: Heaven (I Want You) (1991) and Scritti Politti: Tinseltown to the Boogie Down (1999).- Director
- Producer
- Editor
A self-confessed cinephile, Peter Webber made his first short film, The Zebra Man, straight out of film school. He then worked as a film editor, beginning his association with Girl with a Pearl Earring producers Andy Paterson and Anand Tucker on Tucker's drama debut, Saint-Ex, starring Miranda Richardson and Bruno Ganz.
As an award-winning documentary director his subjects ranged from Wagner to crash test dummies via a series on the creatures of the deep oceans and The Curse of the Phantom Limb. Moving back into drama he directed Simon Russell Beale as Schubert and explored the counter-culture of tunnel-dwelling road protesters in Underground, before creating huge controversy with the Channel Four mini-series, Men Only, charting the decline into crime and debauchery of the formerly respectable members of a five-a-side soccer team. In the interests of fair play, his next drama The Stretford Wives, for the BBC, starred Fay Ripley in a tale of women's revenge on men.
Girl with a Pearl Earring, starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth, marked Webber's feature film debut in a most impressive way. The film has received numerous accolades including 3 Academy Award Nominations, 2 Golden Globe Nominations, 10 BAFTA Award Nominations and many others. Certainly an impressive debut.
Webber was then tapped by Dino de Laurentis to direct Young Hannibal: Behind the Mask. Based on Thomas Harris' upcoming new book of the same name, and starring Gaspard Ulliel, Li Gong, Rhys Ifans and Anthony Hopkins (voice), this prequel shows a young Hannibal Lechter in three different phases of his life from his tragic childhood in Lithuania during World War II to his ten years in France up to his time in America before his capture by FBI agent Will Graham in Red Dragon. The movie is currently shooting in Prague.- Make-Up Department
- Director
- Special Effects
In just over 25 years Robert Hall has become one of the most prolific special effects makeup artists in Hollywood and a prolific filmmaker with his own Horror Franchise LAID TO REST and directing hit TV shows Like "Teen Wolf'. Hall and his FX studios, Almost Human and Now PostHuman FX, have created some of the most horrifying and photorealistic FX work in film and television and have over 150 shows under his belt. Hall created FX for films like, Super Bad, Prom Night, Pineapple Express, Quarantine, The Burrowers, Paranormal Activity 2 and 3, Vacancy and the HBO film Lackawanna Blues (which was nominated for a makeup emmy in 2005). The independent film Los Bastardos garnered Hall with a Nomination for an Ariel (the Mexican Equivilant of an Academey Award). His most recent credits are the supernatural Gary Oldman thriler "Mary" 2018 and "Hell on The Border" with Ron Peralman (2019). Hall created all of the prosthetics, makeup fx and robots for the hit Fox show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles as well as classic Television series including all of Joss Whedon's TV shows, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse. Originall born in Detroit, Michigan Hall went to school in Albama and that's where took time off from his job deboning chickens at the Tyson Chicken plant to work on the Selma, AL lensed film ABEL FERRARA'S BODY SNATCHERS at age 18. He moved to Hollywood a year later where he perfected his craft working for such legends as Stan Winston, Steve Johnson, and ADI. He opened his own company at 23 and went on to be a graduate of the ROGER CORMAN SCHOOL OF FILM; responsible for effects and creatures for over 30 Roger Corman films and TV Series. He began to direct 2nd Unit, and VFX unit for Corman films such as "The Doorway" with Roy Scheider. In 2005 Hall made his writing and directorial feature film debut with "Lightning Bug" (96-minute) starring Laura Prepon (Orange is the New Black, That 70's Show), Hal Sparks (Queer As Folk), Kevin Gage (Heat). Hall's eye for talent led to the disovery of a young 12 year old actor called Lucas Till (credited as Introducing Lucas Till) who is now the star of (MacGyver) AND hit movies like X-MEN FIRST CLASS and WALK THE LINE. The semi-autobiographical drama won several top awards at film festivals including "Best Of Show" at the Trenton Film Festival and The George Lindsay Film Festival. It was also a "Festival Favorite" at the prestigious Philadelphia Film Fest where it broke the attendance records as the most attended film in the festival's thirteen year history. The film was distributed courtesy of Starz/Anchor Bay Entertainment and has amassed an impressive cult following. It was re-released and remastered for Blu-Ray by image Entertainment in 2013 and avialbale on Amazon. Robert wrote and directed his Slasher series Laid To Rest, Lena Headey (Game of Thrones), Thomas Dekker (Nightmare On Elm St Remake), and Kevin Gage (Heat, Blow). The unexpected worldwide success earned a Sequel CHROMESKULL: Laid to Rest 2 starring Brian Austin Green. Both films enjoyed a limited Theatrical release, a Fangoria magazine cover, and is now available on Shudder Streaming and Blu Ray/dvd. Hall is currently Crowd funding the third installment, Laid to Rest: Exhumed (2019). Hall created and directed a series for FearNet called FEAR CLINIC with Robert Englund (winning a Streamy for best visual effects) and served writer/director for the 2014 Feature film version of FEAR CLINIC distributed by Starz. In 2014 Hall Directed a block of Episodes for Season 3 of the Hit MTV show "Teen Wolf". Hall combined his love of rock music and directing and began directing music videos for bands such as Garbage, Drivin N' Cryin, Buckcherry, Manntis, Suicidal Tendencies, Powerman 5000, Infectious Grooves, Stone Sour and In This Moment. Hall lives in Los Angeles and Atlanta, where his new company PostHuman FX is servicing the bustling southeast with seamlessly integreated Makeup and Visual effects under one roof.- Writer
- Director
Heo In-moo was born in 1974 in South Korea. Heo is a writer and director, known for Little Black Dress (2011), Shinbu sueob (2004) and A Little Princess (2019).- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Joshua Marston earned an MFA in filmmaking from New York University in 1998. Prior to that he received an MA in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a BA in Social Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1991-92 he taught English at a high school in Prague. He speaks French, Spanish and Italian and has also studied Czech, German and Albanian. He is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship (2014) and a NY Foundation for the Arts Fellowship.- Writer
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- Producer
Jacob Estes was born on 6 September 1972 in Tulare County, California, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Mean Creek (2004), The Details (2011) and He's Watching (2022).- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Jared Lawrence Hess and Jerusha Elizabeth Hess (née Demke; born May 12, 1980) are husband-and-wife American filmmakers best known for their work on Napoleon Dynamite (2004), Nacho Libre (2006) and Gentlemen Broncos (2009), all of which they co-wrote and which were directed by Jared (Nacho Libre was co-written with Mike White). They also produced music videos for The Postal Service's third single, "We Will Become Silhouettes", and The Killers' Christmas charity single "Boots".- Composer
- Actor
- Producer
Writer-director Shane Carruth, a former software engineer, burst onto the independent movie scene with his extremely low-budget science-fiction film Primer (2004) in 2004. Carruth also played one of the two leads in the film and composed its music. "Primer" won the Grand Jury Prize and the Alfred P. Sloan Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 1972, Carruth studied mathematics in college and became a flight simulation software developer before making his first movie. Carruth then spent the next eight years developing "A Topiary", another science-fiction film. The movie was never made and Carruth said that "I basically wasted my whole life on" the project.
Carruth finally made a second film, Upstream Color (2013), which was released in 2013 after debuting at the Sundance Film Festival. He is working on his third film, "The Modern Ocean".- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Tom Hooper was educated at one of England's most prestigious schools, Westminster. His first film, Runaway Dog, was made when he was 13 years old and shot on a Clockwork 16mm Bolex camera, using 100 feet of film. At age 18, he wrote, directed and produced the short film Painted Faces (1992), which premiered at the London Film Festival; it was released theatrically and later shown on Channel 4. He studied English at England's top university, Oxford. At Oxford University, he directed theatre productions starring his contemporaries Kate Beckinsale and Emily Mortimer, and directed his first television commercials. His father was a non-executive director at United News and Media, which owned an ITV franchise.
Hooper's father introduced him to one of British television's top directors and producers, Matthew Robinson, who gave him breaks by employing him to direct episodes of Byker Grove (1989) and EastEnders (1985), both series produced by Robinson. Further success came when he was approved by Helen Mirren to direct her in Prime Suspect: The Last Witness (2003). He then worked with her again on Elizabeth I (2005). Hooper made the difficult transition from television to film with apparent ease, directing Michael Sheen in the Brian Clough biopic The Damned United (2009) and Colin Firth in The King's Speech (2010). Both films were critical and commercial successes, quickly establishing Hooper as one of the most in demand directors of his generation.
Hooper has garnered numerous awards in his career. He won an Academy Award for directing The King's Speech. The 2010 film was nominated for 12 Oscars, more than any other film of that year, and also won the Best Picture, Best Actor (Colin Firth), and Best Original Screenplay Oscars. The King's Speech received seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film and Outstanding British Film. Hooper also won a Directors Guild of America Award for his direction. Among other accolades worldwide, The King's Speech additionally was honored with the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival; the Best British Film prize at the British Independent Film Awards; the Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film; the Producers Guild of America Awards' top prize; and the European Film Award for Best Film. The King's Speech earned $414 million at the worldwide box office.
Hooper was recently again a Directors Guild of America Award nominee for directing Working Title Films' Les Misérables. The 2012 film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won the Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway), Best Sound, and Best Make-up and Hair Styling Academy Awards. Les Misérables received those same accolades at the BAFTA Awards, as well as the BAFTA for Best Production Design. Among other accolades worldwide, Les Misérables was named one of the year's 10 Best Films by the American Film Institute with an AFI Award; won three Golden Globe Awards including Best Picture [Musical/Comedy]; was voted the Best Acting by an Ensemble award by the National Board of Review; and was nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards. Les Misérables earned $442 million at the worldwide box office.
The Damned United received a South Bank Show Award nomination for Best British Film; and he gained acclaim for the BAFTA Award-nominated Red Dust, starring Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Hooper had an unprecedented run of success at the Golden Globe Awards with his works for HBO, which won the Golden Globe for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television three years in a row. The actors and actresses starring in these productions - respectively, Elizabeth I, Longford, and John Adams - also won Golden Globes for their performances three years running.
Hooper won an Emmy Award for directing Elizabeth I. The HBO Films/Channel 4 miniseries won three Golden Globes and nine Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Miniseries.
Longford, written by Peter Morgan, starred Jim Broadbent and Samantha Morton. The HBO Films/Channel 4 Telefilm won three Golden Globe Awards and was nominated for five Emmy Awards.
John Adams (2008), starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, won four Golden Globes and 13 Emmy Awards - the most Emmys ever awarded to a program in one year. Hooper, receiving his first Directors Guild of America Award nomination, directed all nine hours of the HBO Films miniseries.
Hooper was nominated for an Emmy Award for helming ITV's miniseries Prime Suspect 6. His television work also includes Daniel Deronda (2002), which won the award for Best Miniseries at the 2003 Banff Television Festival; the miniseries Love in a Cold Climate (2001), for which star Alan Bates received a BAFTA Award nomination; episodes of the multi-award-winning ITV comedy/drama Cold Feet (1997); and EastEnders (1985) one-hour specials that garnered BAFTA Awards two years in a row.- Producer
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Writer/Director Brian Dannelly was born in Wurtzburg, Germany and spent his early years in Lederhosen skiing and climbing the cheese and sausage strewn hills of Bavaria and putting on elaborate puppet shows with puppets he designed with his grandmother. At the age of 11 his family relocated to a suburb of Baltimore Maryland. After surviving Catholic elementary school, a Jewish summer camp and a Baptist high school he went about getting his Bachelor's degree by attending The Maryland Institute of Art (Fine Arts), The American University (Communications), Morgan State University (International Studies) and; finally, graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (Visual Arts). He went on to become a directing fellow at the American Film Institute (AFI) and graduated from the prestigious directing program in 1999. His short films have played in festivals around the world. While attending the AFI he met his writing partner Michael Urban where together they wrote Saved. The film was produced by Sandy Stern and Michael Stipe of Single Cell Pictures and starred Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Eva Amurri, Heather Matarazzo, Martin Donovan, and Mary-Louise Parker. Saved! (2004) premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by MGM/UA. Saved was Dannelly's first feature film. Dannelly and writing partner, Michael Urban are writing several projects together and have completed Runner Up, their second project to be produced Single Cell with Dannelly attached to direct. They are represented by agent Joel Milner at Larchmont Literary and attorney Karl Austen at Armstrong Hirsch Jackoway Tyerman & Werthheimer.- Producer
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James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian film producer, screenwriter and film director of Malaysian Chinese descent. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw (2004) and creating Billy the puppet. Wan has also directed Dead Silence (2007), Death Sentence (2007), Insidious (2010), The Conjuring (2013) and Furious 7 (2015).
Before his success in the mainstream film industry, he made his first feature-length film, Stygian, with Shannon Young, which won "Best Guerrilla Film" at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) in 2000.
Prior to 2003, Wan and Leigh Whannell had begun writing a script based for a horror film, citing inspiration from their dreams and fears. Upon completing the script, Leigh and James had wanted to select an excerpt from their script, later to be known as Saw (2004), and film it to pitch their film to studios. With the help of Charlie Clouser, who had composed the score for the film, and a few stand-in actors, Leigh and James shot the film with relatively no budget. Leigh had decided to star in the film as well.
After the release of the full-length Saw (2004), the film was met with overwhelming success in the box office both domestically and internationally. The film ended up grossing 55 million dollars in America, and 48 million dollars in other countries, totaling over $103 million worldwide. This was over 100 million dollars profit, over 80 times the production budget. This green-lit the sequel Saw II (2005), and later the rest of the Saw franchise based on the yearly success of the previous installment. Since its inception, Saw (2004) has become the highest grossing horror franchise of all time worldwide in unadjusted dollars. In the United States only, Saw (2004) is the second highest grossing horror franchise, behind only the Friday the 13th (1980) films by a margin of $10 million.- Director
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Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known for his comedic Three Flavours Cornetto film trilogy consisting of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013), made with recurrent collaborators Simon Pegg, Nira Park and Nick Frost. He also collaborated with them as the director of the television series Spaced.- Director
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Born in 1964 and raised in Flint, Michigan, Kerry Conran came from a family of aspiring artists: his older brother Kevin Conran was an illustrator and his younger sister Kirsten Conran an art director at an ad agency. Growing up watching classic sci-fi films such as Metropolis (1927), King Kong (1933) and Superman: The Mad Scientist (1941), Kerry often imagined recreating the atmospheres of those films as his own, and spent most of his childhood making short super-8 movies, imagining his fantasy worlds.
Pursuing his dream to become an illustrator and an animator, Kerry went to and graduated from the animation school, CalArts. It was there that he started to form the idea of his own sci-fi serial in the spirit of those of the 1930s, entitled The World of Tomorrow (2003). With the digital technologies he had at his disposal, he planned to make an entire feature-length film without even having to leave his apartment. Working independently with help from his brother and a few friends, Kerry created his fantasy world on his personal computer and set up a blue screen in his apartment, using other friends as actors. After four years of working on his own time, he had completed only six minutes of footage, but it was these six minutes that would set his career in motion.
His brother Kevin invited a friend of his wife and the only person in the film industry he knew, Marsha Oglesby, to take a look at the short. Oglesby, deeply impressed by their work, immediately referred them to producer Jon Avnet (Risky Business (1983), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)), who agreed to finance their project, with Kerry directing as well as penning the script. Now armed with a studio, a team of over 100 animators, and a cast of A-list actors (Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie among others, all of whom signed on immediately after seeing the 6-minute reel), Kerry was able to complete his project, "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" (2004), the first film entirely shot on blue screens. The film, though not a box-office success, was a relative hit among critics, impressive for a newcomer with no major writing or directing experience.
Conran was chosen to direct the screen adaption of Edgar Rice Burroughs' 'John Carter of Mars', a sci-fi piece, after 'Robert Rodriguez dropped out, but was replaced by John Favreau, who was in turn replaced by Andrew Stanton. Kerry and Jude Law also expressed interest in turning "Sky Captain" into a franchise, but due to the film failing at the box office, there has been no news of any sequels or prequels.- Director
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Catherine Shortland is an Australian filmmaker from Temora, New South Wales who is known for directing the Marvel film "Black Widow." She also directed the feature-length films "Somersault", "Lore", and "Berlin Syndrome." She directed the short films "Pentuphouse", "Flowergirl", and "Joy." She is married to Tony Krawitz and they have two children.- Producer
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Jessica Sharzer is writer, producer, and director best known for her work on Speak (2004), Nerve (2016), American Horror Story (2011-2015), and the new mystery thriller A Simple Favor (2018). Sharzer has been nominated for 3 Primetime Emmy's for her work on American Horror Story. Sharzer is working on The Young Elites based on Marie Lu's novel.- Writer
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Paolo Franchi was born in Bergamo. After completing an honors degree in Literature and Philosophy, specializing in psychoanalytic art criticism, he graduated as a film director from the renowned Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Italy's national school of cinema. His graduation thesis is the only one to have been selected at the 1994 Venice Film Festival. He worked as an assistant to Nanni Loy, Francesco Maselli and Peter Del Monte, and attended select workshops by Mauro Bolognini, Giorgio Arlorio and Ermanno Olmi.
He made several short films including the docufiction "Frammenti di Sapienza" about the Italian writer Goliarda Sapienza, who featured as herself. The documentary competed at the 1995 Venice Film Festival and other major international cinema events, winning several awards.
In 2004, Franchi signed his feature-length debut film "La Spettatrice", the only Italian film to compete at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, founded by Peter Scarlet and Robert De Niro. The film earned global critical acclaim, and participated in numerous festivals (from Montreal to the Edinburgh Film Festival, from the Chicago International Film Festival to the Tokyo Film Festival, from Paris Cinema to New York's Syracuse International Film Festival).
Overall, the film garnered 21 awards worldwide including:- Italian Golden Globe for best first feature
- Grolla d'Oro St. Vincent for artistic innovation
- Cicae Best Film Award at the Annecy Festival
- First prize from the jury at the Villerupt Festival
- Rosa Camuna best film award at the Bergamo Film Meeting 2004
- Fac 2004 Award for best European debut (Italian critics' union)
- Best Film Award and Best Screenplay at the Syracuse International Film Festival, New York
In 2007, Franchi signed his second feature film "Nessuna qualità agli eroi". The film was nominated best film of the year at the 64th Venice Film Festival, arousing controversial critical reaction coupled with great admiration from the international press (Variety, Screen International, and Positif to name a few). The film participated in numerous international festivals (from Villerupt to the Busan International Film Festival, from Annecy to Mons) and earned no less than four Italian Golden Globe nominations in 2008: best film, best actor (Elio Germano), best film script - and best director of the year to Paolo Franchi.
In 2012, he signed his third feature film "E la chiamano estate", causing a stir in the media. Amid dissension and applause, the film won two prizes at the Rome International Film Festival: the award for best actress to Isabella Ferrari and the Marc Aurelio Award for best direction to Paolo Franchi.
In 2017, Franchi made the film "Dove non ho mai abitato". The film was enthusiastically received by Italian and foreign critics and earned numerous awards including the Mario Gallo award, the Capri Hollywood award, the Ciak d'Oro best film award, the Italian Golden Globe for best soundtrack - and nomination for best film of the year. The film also received three Nastro d'Argento nominations, including best director of 2018. The film was the only Italian representative at the official Golden Goblet Awards of the Shanghai International Festival 2018 where it competed for best film.- Director
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Jeong-won Shin is known for Chaw (2009), Night of the Undead (2020) and To Catch a Virgin Ghost (2004).- Director
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Nicole Kassell received a BA from Columbia University in Art History and an MFA from NYU's Film Program, where she was honored with full scholarships for two years. Her short film, "Jaime," won the DGA student female filmmaker prize, and her thesis film, "The Green Hour," premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002. Kassell's first feature film "The Woodsman" premiered in competition at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by Newmarket Films. The screenplay, based on the play by Steven Fechter, was co-written by Kassell and Fechter. It won first prize at the 2002 Slamdance Screenplay Competition. The film received numerous accolades: a CACAE (art house award) at the Directors' Fortnight at The Cannes Film Festival; The Jury Prize at the Deauville Film Festival; a Humanitas nomination; and The Satyajit Ray Award at the London Film Festival. Kassell was nominated for a Gotham Award (Breakthrough Director) and Independent Spirit Award (Best First Feature) and was recognized by Variety as one of ten "directors to watch." Kassell is developing an adaptation of the novel "Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver. Kassell optioned the rights and is co-writing with Kingsolver. The project was selected for the 2013 Sundance Writer's and Producers Lab, and is being produced by Big Beach films. Kassell also directs episodic television, including "The Killing," "The Americans," "The Following" & "Rectify." Kassell has guest lectured at NYU, mentored for the Cinereach foundation, and serves on the Eastern Director's Council of the DGA. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children.