I'm a writer, director, producer, and teacher from Philadelphia. I make films that fall between genre and arthouse.
My film DARK MY LIGHT, a revisionist sci-fi drama and thriller for the modern age, premiered at Fantaspoa in April 2024 and is currently on the festival circuit. In 2023 I wrote, co-directed (with Mika!), produced, and starred in the feature film GENOA. Shot in the city of the same name, the film is a surrealist take on fatherhood and family. It's also spurred on a new wave of filmmaking for me, something I'm calling "dad-genre" - dad's in trouble in films with a genre edge.
A new project LIFE, REVISITED, was selected to the Torino Film Lab’s “Next” edition in 2024 and is now in development. My screenplays have placed in a variety of competitions, including the Nicholl Fellowship, Slamdance, American Zoetrope, and Austin.
I've taught screenwriting, directing, producing, and film analysis at universities in Pennsylvania, New York, and the Czech Republic. Alongside co-founding Wandering Cinema, I'm also a mentor at the M2 Film Lab in Istanbul, Turkey.
I love teaching like I love filmmaking. I’m an Assistant Professor of Directing at Temple University, and prior to that I taught at Prague Film School. My main areas of focus are blocking techniques and working with actors... 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.
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 kids Petra and Nihal, and our dog Ike.