Michael Tyburski
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Michael Tyburski (born August 8, 1984) is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for directing ''The Sound of Silence'', which premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...
.


Early life

Tyburski was born and raised in Vermont’s rural
Northeast Kingdom The Northeast Kingdom (also, locally, "The Kingdom" and abbreviated NEK) is the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Vermont, approximately comprising Essex, Orleans, and Caledonia counties and with a population of 64,764 at the 2010 census. T ...
. While at
North Country Union High School North Country Union High School (NCUHS, North Country, or NCU) is a secondary school located in Newport, Vermont, United States. It is operated by the North Country Supervisory Union school district. The school serves students from Newport ...
, he produced and hosted two seasons of a cable-access show, broadcast from his parents' basement. At age 15, he attended the Fledgling Films Summer Institute, founded by Vermont filmmaker,
Jay Craven Jay Craven is an American film director, screenwriter and former professor of film studies at Marlboro College. He is based in Vermont. Craven is known for creating films on modest budgets, adopting many of the novels of author Howard Frank Mo ...
, where he first learned the craft of filmmaking. In college, Tyburski majored in Moving Image Arts at the
College of Santa Fe A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...
in New Mexico. After graduating, he served as a production assistant and performed various other roles on ''
There Will Be Blood ''There Will Be Blood'' is a 2007 American epic film, epic historical drama, period drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, loosely based on the 1927 novel ''Oil!'' by Upton Sinclair. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kev ...
''.


Career

Early in his career, Tyburski came up directing commercials and branded content for major companies such as Google, Verizon, GE, Target, and L’Oreal. He also served as the director of photography on the
SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
Grand Jury Prize winning documentary, ''William and the Windmill''. In 2013, Tyburski's short film, "Palimpsest," premiered at Sundance, where it won a Special Jury Award. That same year, Tyburski was named amongst the "25 New Faces of Independent Film" by ''
Filmmaker Magazine ''Filmmaker'' is a quarterly publication magazine covering issues relating to independent film. The magazine was founded in 1992 by Karol Martesko-Fenster, Scott Macaulay and Holly Willis. The magazine is now published by the IFP (Independent Fil ...
''. In 2014, his short documentary, “Brooklyn Farmer,” premiered at the
San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; , ) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spain, Spanish city of Donostia, Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Countr ...
, in the Culinary Zinema section. In 2015, his short, "Actor Seeks Role," premiered at
IFFBoston The Independent Film Festival Boston is a not for profit film festival in Boston, Massachusetts. History The Independent Film Festival Boston (also known as IFFBoston or IFFB) was created in 2003 by the non-profit organization the Independent F ...
, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Short Film, and was also featured on
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
s Screening Room series. Tyburski's debut feature film, ''The Sound of Silence'', starring
Peter Sarsgaard John Peter Sarsgaard (; born March 7, 1971) is an American actor. He studied at the Actors Studio, before rising to prominence playing atypical and sometimes villainous roles in film and television. He made his film debut with '' Dead Man W ...
and
Rashida Jones Rashida Leah Jones ( ; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is best known for her roles as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series ''Boston Public'' (2000–2002), Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Offic ...
, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in U.S. Dramatic Competition. The film was acquired for international distribution by Sony Pictures Worldwide and by
IFC Films Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York City, New York. It is an offshoot of IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC, owned by AMC Networks. It mainly distributes independent fil ...
in the United States. ''The Sound of Silence'' received the
SFFILM SFFILM, formerly known as The San Francisco Film Society, is a nonprofit arts organization located in San Francisco, California, that presents year-round programs and events in film exhibition, media education, and filmmaker services. The San Fra ...
Dolby Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (Dolby Labs or simply Dolby) is a British-American technology corporation specializing in audio noise reduction, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and high-dynamic-range television (HDR) imaging. Dolby li ...
Fellowship, which allowed the film to be finished in the high-dynamic-range format of
Dolby Vision Dolby Vision is a set of technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories for high dynamic range (HDR) video. It covers content creation, distribution, and playback. It includes dynamic metadata that define the aspect ratio and adjust the picture ...
, and the immersive sound of
Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels as well as free-moving sound objects, interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horiz ...
. It was the first time the Dolby Institute Fellowship was given to a film at the script stage, before filming commenced. While making the film, Tyburski was also named a Feature Film Fellow by the
Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by actor Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and compo ...
, after attending the Film Music and Sound Design Lab at
Skywalker Sound Skywalker Sound is the American sound effects, sound editing, sound design, sound mixing and music recording division of Lucasfilm. Founded in 1975, the company's main facilities are located at George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch in Lucas Valley, nea ...
. In development, the project was selected for the
Independent Filmmaker Project The Gotham Film & Media Institute (also simply the Gotham), formerly known as the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), is a membership-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to independent film. It offers programs that assist independent fi ...
's Emerging Storyteller's Program, and the Screenwriting Lab at the Hampton’s International Film Festival, where it received support from the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is an American philanthropic nonprofit organization. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan Jr., president and chief executive officer of General Motors. The Sloan Foundation makes grants to support origina ...
. The script was also the recipient of the "High Scribe Award" at the Sun Valley Film Festival Screenwriters Lab, hosted by
Mark Duplass Mark David Duplass (born December 7, 1976) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and musician. With his brother Jay Duplass, he started the film production company Duplass Brothers Productions in 1996, for which they wrote and directed ''The ...
. Tyburski's second feature, ''Turn Me On'', a dystopian romance starring
Bel Powley Isobel Dorothy Powley Booth (born 7 March 1992) is an English actress. Born and raised in London, Powley was educated at Holland Park School. She began acting as a teenager on television, starring on the CBBC action television series ''M.I. Hig ...
and Nick Robinson, premiered at the
72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival The 72nd San Sebastián International Film Festival took place from 20 to 28 September 2024 in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. Background A restored 4K version of Montxo Armendariz's film ''Tasio'' (which premiered at the 1984 San Sebastián ...
in the New Directors section. The film is being distributed in North America by
Vertical Entertainment Vertical (formerly Vertical Entertainment) is an American independent film distribution company founded by producers Rich Goldberg and Mitch Budin in 2012. Vertical releases films across all mediums, including theatrical, video on demand, physica ...
.


Filmography

Feature films * ''
The Sound of Silence "The Sound of Silence" (originally "The Sounds of Silence") is a song by the American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon. The duo's studio audition of the song led to a record deal with Columbia Records, and the original ac ...
'' (2019) * '' Turn Me On'' (2024) Short films * "Angelfish" (2011) * "Palimpsest" (2013) * "Brooklyn Farmer" (2013) * "Actor Seeks Role" (2015)


References


External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyburski, Michael 1984 births Living people Film directors from Vermont American male screenwriters