David M. Rosenthal (director)

David Mitchell Rosenthal (born March 23, 1969^[1][2]) is an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He is best known for his films Janie Jones, Falling Up and See This Movie.

Early life

Rosenthal was born in New York City, New York, the son of Dr. Mitchell S. Rosenthal, founder and Chairman of Phoenix House, and cookbook author Ellen Wright.

He was educated at Pomfret School in Connecticut and went on to graduate with a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and a Master of Fine Arts in Filmmaking from the American Film Institute.^[3]

Career

Early career

Rosenthal's career with film began with writing and photography at a young age. Growing up in New York City, he began shooting and studying photography in high school, and started writing soon after. He earned a Masters in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and subsequently began publishing poetry in such literary magazines as The Paris Review. David's first book of poetry was published in 2000. In the same year he became a member of The Actors Studio playwrights unit with Mark Rydell.

Rosenthal's love of writing and film soon led him to the American Film Institute, where he received another Master's degree. A year after graduating, his first short film, Absence was bought and distributed to networks around the world including Canal+, HBO Latin America, PBS, Encore, and Starz.

His documentary feature, entitled Dylan's Run, which he produced and directed, followed the campaign trail of Dylan Glenn, who made history by becoming the first black republican to run for a congressional seat in the Deep South since Reconstruction.

Recent work

Rosenthal on location in New York City (photo taken by Joe Gallacher).

Rosenthal's first feature film, See This Movie, which he directed and co-wrote, premiered at the Aspen Comedy Festival. It was the first feature produced by Depth of Field, a production company operated by Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz (About a Boy, Antz, American Pie). See This Movie, which starred Seth Meyers and John Cho, won the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Malibu Film Festival and was released in theaters in January 2006.

In 2008 Rosenthal directed the independent romantic comedy Falling Up, which was released by Anchor Bay and Starz in early 2010.

Janie Jones

In October 2009 Rosenthal finished principal photography on his film Janie Jones. The film is inspired by his experience of meeting his daughter for the first time when she was eleven and he was thirty. Starring Abigail Breslin, Alessandro Nivola and Elisabeth Shue, the film follows the story of a down-on-his-luck indie rock star who meets his 13-year-old daughter who he never knew when her mother (Elisabeth Shue) drops her off en route to rehab.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 17, 2010. It was also officially selected to the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011 and was released at the end of 2011 to critical acclaim, with The New York Times and others praising the unusually nuanced and impactful portrayals of his lead characters. IFC News called it "arguably the best music film since Walk the Line."

A Single Shot

A Single Shot, starring Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy and Jeffrey Wright had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival or Berlinale in February 2013. Time Out New York called it, a "searingly evocative morality tale... absorbing, and impressively dark through to the very end... Expertly rendered white-trash Noir."^[4]

Filmography

Feature films

• See This Movie (2004)
• Falling Up (2009)
• Janie Jones (2010)
• A Single Shot (2013)
• The Perfect Guy (2015)

References

External links

• David M. Rosenthal at the Internet Movie Database