• I'm a writer, director and professor from Philadelphia.

    I make genre films that are socially aware and frequently revisionist. In 2021 I shot Dark My Light, a tropical sci-fi neo-noir 16mm feature, from a script that I wrote. The film is in post, with an expected early-mid-2023 release.

     

    My short films have screened at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Sidewalk Film Festival, Cinequest, Philadelphia Film Festival and many more.

     

    When I was younger, before I ever thought of film, I wanted to be a poet. I was a terrible poet, but I still write all the time. My screenplays have placed in the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, Slamdance, Austin, Final Draft Big Break, and American Zoetrope.

     

    I love teaching like I love filmmaking. I’m currently an Assistant Professor of Directing at Temple University. Prior to that I taught at Prague Film School. My main areas of focus are blocking techniques, working with actors, shot progression, and the intangible ideas of the director. I love film history and cinema studies, too, and I hold out hope that all of my students will become as obsessed with Happy as Lazzaro as I am.

     

    In 2022 I launched Wandering Cinema with my wife Kat and filmmaker and friend Mika Johnson. Wandering Cinema is an annual film retreat designed for participants to absorb new ways of thinking of cinema in unique surroundings. The inaugural event took place in Italy, but it will be in a new location every year, in the spirit of the title.

     

    Alongside my film work, I'm a father, runner, scotch enthusiast, music lover with no talent for music, and baseball fan. Whether doing some or none of these, I like to spend time with Kat, our daughter Petra, and our dog Ike.

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