Michael Mongillo is an American feature film

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, and producer. He is best known for the 2007 mockumentary '' Being Michael Madsen,'' the 2017 supernatural mystery ''Diane'', and the 2021 sci-fi thriller ''

The Changed ''The Changed'' is a 2021 American science fiction thriller film directed by Michael Mongillo and starring Tony Todd. The plot centers around a group of ordinary people that band together in a suburban home to battle imposters who have replaced t ...

''.

Career

Mongillo founded Mean Time Productions in 1997. The production company credits include the

Shriekfest Shriekfest Horror Film Festival was a film festival specializing in the Horror film, horror genre. It was one of the longest running horror festivals in Los Angeles, until 2021. In 2017, Shriekfest expanded to include an Orlando, FL festival loca ...

award-winning psychological horror ''The Wind'' (2001), the sci-fi dramedy ''Welcome to Earth'' (2005), the

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

'' Being Michael Madsen'' (2007), the supernatural mystery '' Diane'' (2017), and the

sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

'' (2021). His work has screened worldwide, including the

Raindance Film Festival Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove ...

, the

Denver Film Festival The Denver Film Festival is held in November, primarily at the Denver Film Center/Colfax, in Denver, Colorado, now the Anna and John J. Sie FilmCenter (Sie FilmCenter). Premiere events are held in the Buell Theatre and Ellie Caulkins Opera House ...

San Francisco Independent Film Festival The San Francisco Independent Film Festival, known as San Francisco IndieFest, is an annual film festival that recognizes contemporary independent film. Established in 1998, it is run by SF IndieFest, a non-profit organization, and based at the ...

Screamfest Screamfest Horror Film Festival is a Horror fiction, horror film festival founded by film producers Rachel Belofsky and Ross Martin in August 2001. It runs over ten days during the month of October and is hosted at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in ...

, FrightFest London, and the New Filmmakers Series, receiving positive press from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', ''BoxOffice'', ''

Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...

'', ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. The paper covers music, arts, film, theater, culture, and other local news in the Los Angeles area. ''LA Weekly'' was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin (among others), ...

'', ''Time Out'', ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an American online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. ...

'', ''

Londonist ''Gothamist'' is a New York City–centric blog operated by New York Public Radio. From 2003 to 2018, Gothamist LLC was the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, an ...

'', and others. Mongillo has also directed several shorts, music videos, and commercials. Mongillo co-founded the annual

New Haven Underground Film Festival The New Haven Underground Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Connecticut, United States. Despite its name, the event itself has never been held in New Haven; instead, it has been held in other Connecticut cities while carrying the slog ...

, which was launched with Todd Dzicek in 2004. In 2009, Mongillo spearheaded its rebranding as the Maverick Movie Awards and, with Dick Boland, engaged in forming a diverse network of entertainment industry professionals to participate in this international “filmmakers honoring filmmakers” cooperative. Its exponential growth precipitated Maverick Awards for the films ''Sound City'', ''The Imposter'', ''Downloaded'', ''

The Maiden Danced to Death ''The Maiden Danced to Death'' () is a 2011 Hungarian-language independent drama film written, starring, directed by Endre Hules. The film is a Hungarian-Slovenian-Canadian co-production filmed on-location in all three countries. It was one of th ...

'', and more celebrated features and shorts. Mongillo departed the MMA in 2013 to devote more time to his pursuits as a filmmaker. In 1993, Mongillo wrote the comic book ''The Philistine'' and co-creator Michael Zittel illustrated the series. The super-spy-turned-superhero saga was originally distributed by One Shot Press, which went out of business after publishing only three of the six issues in the mini-series. ''The Philistine'' was revived a decade later by United Comics and the original mini-series plus several subsequent stories were released as a graphic novel anthology in 2003. In 2012, Mongillo created and wrote the graphic novel ''The Lost Girl'' with artwork by Rob Ten Pas. This fantasy-horror romance was originally released by

Arcana Studio Arcana Studio is a Canadian animation studio in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Founded as a comic book publisher by former Coquitlam, British Columbia school teacher; Sean O'Reilly in 2004, it opened an animation division in 2012. Overview ...

and in 2015 it was republished in ''Heavy Metal'' and digital. Along with Chris Wiedemann (vocals/guitar), Bobby Judkins (drums), and John Thudium (guitar), Mongillo (bass) was a founding member of the Rock band, 50 Feet Tall (a.k.a. Fifty Feet Tall), a mainstay of NYC's original music scene in the '90s. Band highlights include a release on

Deep Elm Records Deep Elm Records is an independent record label releasing albums by bands such as Lights & Motion, The Appleseed Cast, Brandtson, The White Octave, and Planes Mistaken for Stars. It also released the compilation series ''The Emo Diaries''. Hist ...

with positive reviews from Alternative Press, CMJ, Hits, Magnet, and more.

Awards and honors

References

External links

*
Home page of Mean Time Productions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mongillo, Michael Living people 21st-century American writers Film directors from New York (state) Year of birth missing (living people)