Roy Szuper
Producer/Director/Writer
Roy Szuper began working on documentary films and live music production while taking film classes at School of Visual Arts and Film/Video Arts. He soon directed and produced a sketch comedy pilot that featured contributions from Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Marlette and writers from John Leguizamo’s House of Buggin’.
All of these elements would come into play in the making of his first film, Concert Joe: A New York Story. This mockumentary was a journey into the New York City music scene as he followed one man’s ridiculous quest to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for seeing the most concerts. The film was featured on MTV and VH-1. A feature length, narrative version of the film is currently in development.
His next short film would be a more personal story based on an event that happened to his family in the days after 9/11. An innocent barbeque at his grandmother’s house turned volatile and the end result was a short film titled Charcoal (IMDB). The film comically explored the ethnic and racial tensions following 9/11. The film screened at Cannes Film Festival and is distributed by MiniMovie, a company specializing in the international licensing of short films.
Szuper’s first feature, Gonzo Music Diaries, NYC (IMDB) started out as a documentary on subway musicians. During a three-year period, it morphed into the story of the staging of a music festival 9 days before the start of the Republican National Convention. The film features Tom Morello, Michael Franti, Vernon Reid, founder of CGGB’s, Hilly Kristal, and Dana Fuchs, one of the stars in Julie Taymor’s “Across the Universe.” Gonzo is currently being distributed through Indiepix andhas been screened at Anthology Film Archive’s New Filmmakers Series, CBGB’S, Vision Du Reel Documentary Film Festival in Switzerland, IDFA in Amsterdam, and most recently, in Cannes in 2007.
In April 2007, both Gonzo and Charcoal were screened in the Argentine cities of Santa Fe and Parana as part of a tour of independent films. Szuper’s most recent comedy short, Granny’s Little Helper (IMDB) also recently found distribution through MiniMovie.
Szuper has also worked an associate producer on Edge Codes, a feature film about the history of film editing that featured George Lucas and Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorcece’s editor and produced a short documentary titled Revolution in Motion, about a car that runs on air.
Szuper has also just co-produced and directed a TV pilot titled “The Nautical Adventures of Captain Sqns.” The show is an adventure/comedy Jacques Cousteau would be proud of…if he were on acid. It is set on a sailboat in NY harbor.
Szuper is also currently developing two feature length, narrative screenplays, “Concert Joe: A NY Story” and “Before There Were Cougars…There Were Man Eaters,” a dark, romantic comedy with a Woody Allen flavor.
Roy Szupers website:
http://www.universalbeef.com/