Joel Potrykus
Joel Potrykus is an American film director and screenwriter. His feature film debut Ape won the Best New Director prize at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival, while his follow-up feature Buzzard won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2014 Ljubljana International Film Festival.
Early life
Potrykus was born and raised in Ossineke, Michigan, then moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan to study film at Grand Valley State University. A stint as a stand-up comedian in New York City led to the inspiration for his first feature film, Ape. While spending a year as a temp at a Michigan mortgage company led to the inspiration of his second feature film, Buzzard.
Career
After a series of 8mm and 16mm short films in college, Potrykus founded Sob Noisse Movies, which produced two larger-scale super 8 shorts, the neorealist zombie film Gordon and the minimalist werewolf film Coyote. His first feature film, Ape, made its world premiere at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival, where it won Best New Director and Best First Feature Special Mention at the festival. It went on to make its North American premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival, and US premiere at AFI Fest in Hollywood. His second feature film Buzzard, again starring Joshua Burge, as an angry temp worker, made its world premiere at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival, singled out by Janet Pierson as the stand-out in its field. It is the third film in his Animal Trilogy which includes Coyote and Ape. His next feature film, "The Alchemist Cookbook", about a young hermit out to solve an old mystery, will be released 2016.
