In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, BAFF founder and director Jonathan Lipp chats with indie filmmaker and auteur Onur Tukel on his career, inspirations, making movies in NYC, what it means to be a true indie filmmaker, as well as his new film "Wooden Hearts", which will have its NYC premiere at the Big Apple Film Festival.
In 1997, Tukel wrote and directed his first feature film House of Pancakes. His subsequent film, the vampire drama Drawing Blood, was completed in 1999. In a 2014 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Tukel recalled that Drawing Blood was "the only time [he] made money on a movie." His next film, the comedy drama Ding-a-ling-Less, was completed in 2001. In 2005, Tukel (credited as Sergio Lapel) also wrote and directed the comedy The Pigs about a group of middle age men who arrange to have their wives murdered.
In 2012, Tukel wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the comedy drama film Richard's Wedding, which featured such other independent filmmakers as Josephine Decker, Lawrence Michael Levine, and Jennifer Prediger. Despite an overall mixed critical response, the film was praised by David DeWitt of The New York Times as "a slice of the John Cassavetes, John Sayles and Richard Linklater life."
Tukel's next film, the 2014 vampire horror comedy Summer of Blood, received a warmer response from critics. In a positive review of the film, Eric Kohn of Indiewire praised Tukel as possessing "contemptible goofiness" and being "the broke, post-9/11 version of an early Woody Allen character." More recently, Tukel wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy/horror film Applesauce, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
As an actor, Tukel has also appeared in the 2011 film Septien, Alex Karpovsky's 2012 romantic comedy Red Flag, and Ping Pong Summer.
BAFF Podcast is available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, host and festival founder/director Jonathan Lipp sits down with actor and producer Sawyer Spielberg to discuss his film "Martyr of Gowanus", written and directed by Brian Meere. Spielberg shares his passion for NYC, how the city inspires his craft, as well as advice for aspiring actors, artists and filmmakers.Sawyer Spielberg studied drama in New York City and has worked in Theatre, TV, and Film ever since. Sawyer is known for the Apple TV+ series Masters Of The Air playing Lt. Roy Frank Claytor and brought the film Christmas Eve in Millers Point to the Cannes Film Festival. Other films Sawyer is known for are Honeydew and Merry Good Enough.He is currently set to appear in various other projects in production or post production, including Materialists, produced by A24 and distributed by Sony Pictures in which he will co-star opposite Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal and Dakota Johnson.
In this episode, host Jonathan Lipp, Big Apple Film Festival Founder/Director, speaks with filmmaker Cinqué Lee about his film "A Rare Grand Alignment", which will have its NYC premiere at the Big Apple Film Festival.
Cinqué, who is also an actor and writer(as well as the brother of critically acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee), discusses his career, his family's influence on his passion writing and storytelling, his love of nostalgic films, as well as advice for aspiring filmmakers.
Full episode is also available on Spotify, Amazon, and Apple Podcasts.
In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, BAFF Founder and Director Jonathan Lipp chats with Oscar® nominated producer Krushan Naik on how short films can be used as a calling card for a filmmaker to launch their career, how a short can be used to attract industry attention and build an audience to expand their concept into a feature film, if a short film can be a marketable product on its own, and what the future holds for short films in today's marketplace, primarily on streaming networks such as NETFLIX, and other majors streaming networks. Based in Los Angeles, Krushan Naik is an Oscar® nominated producer. He served as producer on the Oscar® nominated short film ANUJA, as well as writer and director of the Big Apple Film Festival official selection RESURGENCE. Krushan is an award-winning director, producer, editor, and educator who has also served as the Head of Programming and a judge for film festivals; taught film production and post-production courses; worked as a Festival Specialist consulting filmmakers on film festivals and marketing strategies, and has featured in various publications, including Film Daily, Mid-Day, Morgan Hill Life, Digital Journal, New York Amsterdam News, Variety, and more. After receiving the "How to Navigate Film Festivals, Marketing & Distribution as a Filmmaker" certification from the Sundance Institute, he worked as a Festival Specialist, consulting filmmakers on film festivals and marketing strategies. In addition, he is an Avid Certified Instructor (ACI) and a Specialist and enjoys creating immersive audio-visual experiences from hours of footage. Krushan has won multiple awards for films produced, co-produced, or produced in association with Krushan Naik Films, including the Telly Award, and has premiered them at prestigious film festivals, including Oscar®/Academy Award®, BAFTA, Canadian Screen Award-qualifying. Moreover, he has a background in visual effects and 3D animation and was also the successful proprietor of an advertising agency, K.N. Kreative Studios, where he collaborated with Bollywood celebrities and top artists in the film and fashion industries from his time in India.
In this episode of the Big Apple Film Festival Podcast, Host Jonathan Lipp ( Big Apple Film Festival Founder/Director) chats with veteran filmmaker Bobby Roth on his career, insights on how the industry has changed over the years, as well as advice for aspiring filmmakers and writers.
BOBBY ROTH grew up in Los Angeles, a block from where he lives today. He studied Philosophy and Creative Writing at UC Berkeley, then got a BA in Cinema at USC in 1972, and an MFA in Motion Picture Production from UCLA in 1975.
For his entire career he has alternated between independent filmmaking and commercial television. In the early eighties he had an overall deal to write, produce and direct for Universal, where he created the series 'The Insiders' for ABC.
His TV directing credits include such hit shows as "Prison Break", "Grey's Anatomy", "Hawaii 5-0", "The Mentalist", "Criminal Minds", "Lost", "Boomtown", "Beverly Hills 90210", "Without a Trace", "Criminal Minds", and many more...
His independent films have now been exhibited in over one hundred film festivals worldwide, five of which have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where Bobby has also been a judge.
As a feature filmmaker, Bobby's credits include "Pearl" starring Anthony LaPaglia, "Baja, Oklahoma" starring Julia Roberts, "Heartbreakers" starring Peter Coyote, "Nowhere to Hide" starring Roseanne Arquette,
Bobby's recent documentaries, "Under the Ukrainian Sky" and "Good Men" were official selections of the Big Apple Film Festival.
He was a founding member of the Independent Feature Project and also a founding member of the DGA's Independent Feature Committee where he was its first Co-Chairman.
Host and Big Apple Film Founder/Director Jonathan Lipp speaks with acclaimed writer/director/producer Susanna Styron on adapting personal stories into a film.
Susanna also discusses successes and challenges in her film career, as well as advice to aspiring writers and filmmakers.
SUSANNA STYRON is a screenwriter, director and documentary filmmaker. Her debut feature, Sony Pictures’ SHADRACH starring Harvey Keitel and Andie MacDowell, which she wrote and directed, premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was released theatrically worldwide.
Susanna has written several TV movies for Hallmark Hall of Fame and Lifetime. She wrote and directed for the TV series 100 CENTRE STREET created by Sidney Lumet, and wrote for the Netflix series BORGIA created by Tom Fontana. Susanna directed the web series ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE, starring Brooke Adams; and wrote and directed the narrative short, HOUSE OF TEETH.
Susanna was an associate producer for ABC-TV's documentary division, Close-Up. Her documentary directing credits include IN OUR OWN BACKYARDS, 9/12: FROM CHAOS TO COMMUNITY and, most recently, OUT OF MY HEAD which premiered at MoMA’s Doc Fortnight, won Best International Documentary at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, released by Kino Lorber is now available on Amazon Prime.
Susanna’s non-fiction essays have appeared in The Yale Review, Spin Magazine, The New York Times and Real Simple magazine. She has taught at Columbia University (MFA film program), NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Princeton University, and the Mediterranean Film Institute in Greece.
In this episode of the BAFF Podcast, Host and Big Apple Film Festival Founder/Director Jonathan Lipp chats with Academy Award nominated indie filmmaker, animator and illustrator Bill Plympton about his career, the importance of remaining independent, his admiration of the great Walt Disney and inspirational words for aspiring filmmakers.
The independent film landscape has changed drastically throughout the years, creating new opportunities, as well as new challenges for indie filmmakers.
In this episode, Big Apple Film Festival Podcast host JONATHAN LIPP (BAFF Founder/Director) chats with filmmaker/actor/producer Michael McGlone on how the industry has changed in the last thirty years, opportunities available today for aspiring filmmakers, as well as enlightening perspectives for emerging filmmakers, artists and entrepreneurs.
MICHAEL MCGLONE attended the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, where from, a year later, in his words he "self-graduated." Not long after, through an ad in the paper Backstage, he landed the role that would mark the beginning of his career as an actor. That role was the beloved Patrick McMullen, the excessively moral and excessively conflicted youngest brother in the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Winning film The Brothers McMullen, the directorial debut of filmmaker Edward Burns. Following this success, McGlone would go on to star in She's the One alongside Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, Edward Burns, Amanda Peet and John Mahoney. This was followed by numerous critically acclaimed roles in films such as The Bone Collector co-starring with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie, HBO's Subway Stories, Hardball co-starring with Keanu Reeves and many more.
As prolific in television, McGlone's numerous recurring roles include the fan favorite Detective Szymanski on Person of Interest, Bobby McKeen in Starz' dramatic series Crash, NCIS Hawaii and SpikeTV's The Kill Point. In a return to the screen with Eddie Burns you can also see him in their third feature film together, The Fitzgerald Family Christmas, in which McGlone plays the fiery Quinn Fitzgerald...
Also a writer, director, producer, musician and performer McGlone's life is often full with work on simultaneous projects. Whether his award winning Kenny The Gun (Big Apple Film Festival official selection), his various poetry and novels, stand-up comedy or Music, McGlone has always pursued the most abundant expression of his multi-talents.
BIG APPLE FILM FESTIVAL INDUSTRY NETWORKING AND MENTORSHIP
Family and character driven films have long been a significant part of the movie industry in the United States and around the world. Creating these fun films for all age groups is a unique craft unto itself, and in many ways an industry of its own within the film and TV business. In the session, veteran writer Alec Sokolow behind the mega successful Toy Story will provide strategies and guidance on how to develop authentically fun films for all age groups, what the industry is looking for in today's market place, how to pitch a new concept for mass audiences. ALEC SOKOLOW Writer ALEC SOKOLOW is an Oscar nominated & original screenwriter of "Toy Story" whose movies have topped one billion dollars in world wide box office. A Hollywood lifer who has written and written on "Money Talks," "Goodbye Lover," "Cheaper By the Dozen," "Garfield," "Garfield; A Tale Of Two Kitties," "Evan Almighty" among dozens of other major studio projects. Sokolow has also written the story and meta mythology for Activision's massive "Skylander's" video game franchise that has topped one billion dollars in global sales. The New York City born and raised native has worn many hats in his illustrious career. Producer. Animation Director. Late Night Comedy writer. Radio talk show host. Children's book author. Documentarian. Public speaker. NYU Professor. He currently resides in NYC with all of his imaginary friends.
A pitch deck is possibly one of the most important tools in presenting your script or proof of concept to a studio, producer, agent, manager or potential investor. The goal of an effective pitch deck is to clearly communicate the creative elements, such as your story, key plot points, and character development, as well as the aspects of the project that will be most important to investors, such as a potential cast, marketing plan, PR campaign and budget.
In this session veteran producer and manager Elissa Friedman will identify the elements that make a successful pitch deck, how to structure your pitch deck and strategies for grabbing the attention of industry executives.
MENTOR
Elissa Friedman
Literary Manager, Zero Gravity Management
Elissa Friedman is a manager, producer, and former development executive with over fifteen years of industry experience. Before becoming a literary manager at Zero Gravity Management and NEER Films, Elissa ran production and development at Covert Media and QED International, the company behind such as films as "Fury", starring Brad Pitt, 'Dirty Grandpa" starring Zac Efron and Robert DeNiro and Peter Jackson's "District 9", available on HBOmax and Hulu. She produced such films as Ophelia starring Naomi Watts and Clive Owens, Rock the Kasbah starring Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Zooey Deschanel and Kate Hudson and The Secret: Dare to Dream starring Katie Holmes and Josh Lucas. She has an MBA from USC and was named one of Variety Magazine's New Leaders in Film. Elissa is based in New York.
Aspiring creators often have unique and innovative concepts for new TV/streaming series, including scripted series, reality shows, or docuseries. However, the challenge is how to find the right financiers, TV/streaming networks, showrunners, producers, or studios who would be willing to take a chance on a new show. In this session, producer and director Whitney Ransick provides strategies, advice and feedback on how to organize their concept into a complete package, how to find producers, networks and agencies that might have an interest in your material, how to successfully package your concept, prepare an effective pitch deck and more... MENTOR Whitney Ransick Producer/Director Whitney executive produced the critically acclaimed series The 12th Victim, a true crime docuseries at Showtime, with partners Morgan Neville and Submarine Productions. A member of the DGA, Whitney has directed over 40 hours of episodic TV including ER, Homicide, Cracker, Smallville, Supernatural, Jerry Bruckheimer's Soldier of Fortune and Steven Spielberg's High Incident. He also directed the feature films Handgun, Shock TV, and the documentary Misfire. Projects he has set up include his script Thieves at RKO, his police procedural The Precinct at CBS, the book adaptation of The Intruders at Focus Features, and The 12th Victim at Showtime.
Professional screenwriters share their career journey, and provide valuable advice to aspiring writers, at the Big Apple Film Festival Screenwriters Conference. Hosted by Big Apple Film Festival moderator, Craig Price.
JOSE RIVERA
José Rivera's screenplay The Motorcycle Diaries was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar— making him the first Puerto Rican writer ever nominated for an Academy Award—as well as a BAFTA and Writers Guild Award and received top screenwriting awards in Argentina and Spain. Other films include On the Road, Trade and The 33. Rivera co-created and produced Eerie, Indiana, (NBC) and was a consultant and staff writer on Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (Showtime). He has written 18 episodes of the Netflix series based on One Hundred Years of Solitude. Rivera wrote and directed the short films The Fall of a Sparrow and The Civet, both of which were official selections of the Big Apple Film Festival. His latest screenplay is A Song for the Recycled Orchestra. He has served on the boards of TCG and the Sundance Institute and was a Creative Advisor at Sundance Screenwriting Labs in Utah, Jordan and India. Jose is a recipient of two Obie Awards for Marisol and References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, both produced by the Public Theater. Plays seen at the Goodman include Cloud Tectonics, Boleros for the Disenchanted, Massacre (Sing to Your Children), Another Word for Beauty, Sueño and The Untranslatable Secrets of Nikki Corona, which appeared as part of New Stages.
JAMIE NASH
Jamie Nash optioned his first screenplay in 2004 to Haxan Films . That script then turned into his first produced film, the horror-feature Altered. distributed by Universal Home Entertainment and Rogue Pictures. It also started a decade-long collaboration with Eduardo Sanchez, co-director of famed found-footage flick The Blair Witch Project.
Lovinder Gill moderates this conversation as part of the Big Apple Film Festival Producers Conference, featuring Reinaldo Marcus Green and Kent Sanderson.
REINALDO MARCUS GREEN has been honored with the Breakout Director Award from the African-American Film Critics Association for his work on King Richard, starring Will Smith, which earned 6 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture; he has also been nominated for his direction from the Black Reel Awards and the Image Awards, and the film received audience awards from the Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, and Heartland Film Festivals. He previously directed "Joe Bell" starring Mark Wahlberg, as well as all 6 episodes of the HBO limited series WE OWN THIS CITY, written by George Pelecanos and David Simon. His first feature film, Monsters and Men, was awarded Outstanding First Feature at Sundance. He is currently in prep on Paramount's Bob Marley biopic.
Kent Sanderson is the Head of Acquisitions and Ancillary Distribution at Bleecker Street Films.
Agent Danny Alexander (APA Agency) provides career advice to aspiring filmmakers, screenwriter and series creators, at the Big Apple Film Festival Agents and Managers Conference.
Danny Alexander works in the TV literary department at APA, working directly with writers such as John Carpenter (Halloween), Derek Kolstad (John Wick) and Mike Le (upcoming Patient Zero with Natalie Dormer and Stanley Tucci). Prior to working at APA, Danny was at Kaplan Perrone Entertainment where he worked with a wide array of comedy and drama writers. Agency for the Performing Arts (APA) is the fourth largest talent agency in Los Angeles with offices in Beverly Hills, New York, and Nashville. Clients include Adam Sandler, Sam Elliot, Amy Acker, Jason Momoa, Jesse McCartney, Kim Basinger, Mena Suvari, Amy Schumer, Kevin Hart, Emily Deschanel, Louis C.K., Chevy Chase, Eva Longoria and many, many more. They've also packaged movies and television series with virtually every major network and Hollywood studio.
In this discussion, veteran producer and production manager Kwame Parker joins the Big Apple Film Festival Producers Conference to discuss the process of selling your film, series or script to Netflix and other major streaming platforms.
Kwame Parker is an accomplished producer and production manager, currently developing various projects for Netflix. He received an Academy Award as executive producer for GREEN BOOK (Best Picture Winner, 2018). Kwame's additional producing and production management credits include: AFTER EARTH (directed by M. Night Shymalan, starring Will Smith, Jaden Smith), STATE OF PLAY(starring Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams), ROBIN HOOD(starring Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx) and many more...
Big Apple Film Festival Distribution Summit
SPEAKERS: SAL SCAMARDO, FILMRISE, VICE PRESIDENT OF DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING, JOSH NADLER, SONY PICTURES/AFFIRM FILMS, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND ACQUISITIONS and GARY RUBIN (SALES AGENT) Jonathan Lipp (Moderator, Big Apple Film Festival Founder/Director)
SAL SCAMARDO is Vice President of Distribution and Marketing at FILMRISE, an industry-leading film and television distribution company and streaming network. FilmRise content can be found in theaters, FilmRise proprietary channels and on many popular streaming platforms including Amazon, Netflix, The Roku Channel, HBO, Pluto, Apple and more. FilmRise has raised $112 million in capital to fund its aggressive acquisition strategy and has acquired over 20,000 titles in a wide range of genres — and the company is constantly adding to its extensive roster of releases. Its diverse collection of movies includes Oscar® nominee MEMENTO, directed by Christopher Nolan; MONSTER, which won a Best Actress Academy Award® for Charlize Theron; the Oscar®-nominated THE ILLUSIONIST, starring Edward Norton; Best Picture Academy Award® winner SPOTLIGHT; and HBO’s Emmy Award®-winning GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF.
JOSH NADLER is Director of Development and Acquisitions at Sony Pictures Entertainment Affirm Films. He started in TV and Film production, then moved over to creative development. During the past 13 years, Josh helped build Sony's faith based division, Affirm Films. He's worked on over 30 films including Soul Surfer (starring AnnaSophia Robb, Golden Globe nominee Dennis Quaid, Academy Award winner Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood) Heaven is For Real (starring Academy Award nominee Greg Kinnear, Academy Award nominee Thomas Haden Church), Risen(starring Emmy nominee Joseph Fiennes), and Miracles From Heaven (starring Emmy nominee Jennifer Garner and Queen Latifah). Affirm Films is also distributor on the Academy Award nominated film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (starring Tom Hanks).
GARY RUBIN is a film sales agent, and has over 30 years of experience in the motion picture and television businesses encompassing acquisitions, production, distribution and management responsibilities. In those years he acquired nearly 100 films, and helped create multiple nine figures in domestic sales. Rubin has previously served as Executive Vice President, TV Sales and Acquisitions, for Artisan Entertainment(The Blair Witch Project), executive produced films for the Disney Channel and formed First Independent Pictures, a specialty distribution company, known for distributing films starring various Academy Award and Golden Globe winners and nominees including Working Title’s SIXTY SIX starring Helena Bonham Carter; BIG FAN starring Patton Oswalt and Michael Rapaport; and HOLY ROLLERS starring Jesse Eisenberg.
(Moderator, Jonathan Lipp, Big Apple Film Festival Founder/Director)
In this session, visual effects coordinator and supervisor Matthew Gratzner provides strategies on how to give your film the highest quality cinematic look, and some predictions on how the future of visual effects in film will look in the coming years.
MATTHEW GRATZNER is seasoned film industry professional, who has flourished as an art director, visual effects supervisor and co-founder of the Academy Award winning, New Deal Studios, Inc. (http://shannon-gans-i8ui.squarespace.com). Between VFX projects Matthew directed several commercials and short films. After a number of successful years, Matthew decided to leave VFX to focus solely on writing and directing. Then the opportunity with the film, The Aviator, started a 10 year relationship with Martin Scorsese as a key member of Rob Legato's VFX team as Visual Effects/Miniature Effects Supervisor as well as Visual Effects Art Director. Matthew was integral to creating scenes such as the horrific plane crash in The Aviator, the many subtle effects shots in The Departed, realizing the eerie environments for Shutter Island, and creating the epic train crash in Hugo. He received a BAFTA nomination for The Aviator for best VFX, and Emmy nomination for best VFX on the Tom Hanks/HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. Matthew also received a Clio and a Cannes Golden Lion for commercials as well as multiple VES Awards. Matthew is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. While Matthew never attended film school, he felt being on set with Martin Scorsese was a master class in filmmaking— which encouraged his passion to create content— pioneering cinematic virtual reality and co-writing and directing two independent feature films currently in post. Matthew loves and feels most comfortable working with actors-- and thinks that while visual effects, art direction and stunt work are all extremely important visually—without the emotion of compelling characters and a strong story, a project’s success is diminished greatly. Matthew also has several projects in development with his latest company, Proof of Concept Entertainment, Inc. (www.proofofconceptent.com)
Currently Matthew is in the process of releasing Mutiny!, his latest short film—a swashbuckling, comedy-action-adventure set in the 17th Century. (www.mutinyshortfilm.com). Mutiny is an official selection of the 2021 Big Apple Film Festival. For more information on Matthew visit www.matthewgratzner.com.
BIG APPLE FILM FESTIVAL AGENTS AND MANAGERS CONFERENCE
Agent, Co-Founder, CULTURE CREATIVE ENTERTAINMENT Paul Weitzman
Topics Include: Pitching Your Film, Script or Series to Agents, Producers, Showrunners and Streamers, Legal Rights and Clearances
Paul Weitzman has been a literary agent for more than 20 years representing writers, directors and producers across all literary platforms which include prime time network, cable, streaming services, animation and feature films. He began his career at the entertainment law firm, Christie & Berle, then a stockbroker and corporate executive with Baraban. He transitioned to the literary agency business in 1997, where he worked for The Shapiro-Lichtman Literary Agency before joining The Preferred Artists Literary Agency. Paul was the Co-Head of the Literary department at Abrams Artists Agency for five years before founding Culture Creative Entertainment in 2019.
BIG APPLE FILM FESTIVAL AGENTS AND MANAGERS CONFERENCE
Martin To (Agent, A3 Artists Agency)
Big Apple Film Festival Moderator, Dianne Wieler
Topics Include: Maximizing Exposure For Your Film, Script or Series, Legal Rights and Clearances
Martin To is currently an agent at A3 Artists Agency. He got his start at United Talent Agency, where he worked for six years. He then went on to be a manager with Paul Alan Smith when Paul left ICM. Martin was at Paradigm Talent Agency before joining A3, along with half of Paradigm's Lit Department. Martin is a native Texan, attended New York University, and then went on to study at The University of Alabama School of Law before moving to Hollywood to help pursue other people's dream. With offices in NY, LA and UK, A3 Artists Agency is a full service agency representing screenwriters, filmmakers, actors, literary content and theater. For more than 40 years, A3 Artists Agency has earned a reputation and garnered access to all the major players in the industry. With a new approach, A3 works with clients across all departments to maximize their brands, exposure and income from all possible sources.
Big Apple Film Festival Industry Summit
Moderator Jonathan Lipp (Big Apple Film Festival Founder/Director)
Reinaldo Marcus Green is a writer, director, and producer. His first feature, Monsters and Men had its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The film received a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding First Feature. Reinaldo directed the first three episodes of the Netflix series, Top Boy, executive produced by Drake and SpringHill Entertainment. He has since completed his sophomore feature Joe Bell, starring Mark Wahlberg which premiered at TIFF 2020 and will be distributed this summer by Amazon and Roadside Attractions. Reinaldo directed the Warner Brothers film King Richard starring Will Smith, which is currently available worldwide. He will direct the upcoming HBO Limited Series We Own This City, written and executive produced by David Simon and George Pelecanos. Following, he's attached to write and direct the upcoming Bob Marley biopic at Paramount.