Aaron Brookner (born December 22, 1981) is an American film director and scriptwriter. His debut feature film wa
''The Silver Goat''
(2011), the first feature film made for

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

exhibition. He produced the restoration of cult classic '' Burroughs: The Movie'', directed by

Howard Brookner Howard Brookner (April 30, 1954 – April 27, 1989) was an American film director. He produced and directed the documentary ''Burroughs: the Movie'' about William S. Burroughs (1983), ''Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars'' on theatre director Robe ...

, which was re-released by

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...

. His film ''

Uncle Howard ''Uncle Howard'' is a 2016 documentary film about filmmaker Howard Brookner directed by Aaron Brookner. Synopsis Director Howard Brookner died of AIDS in NYC in 1989 while in post-production on his breakthrough Hollywood movie. His body of work ha ...

'' was selected as part of the US Documentary Competition at the 2016

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Early life and career

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

, he studied film at the prestigious

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

. His uncle, the late

, directed '' Bloodhounds of Broadway'' with

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

and

Matt Dillon Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including an Oscar and Grammy nomination. Dillon made his feature film debut in '' Over the Edge'' (1979) and established himself as a te ...

. Visiting the set of that film was one of Aaron's early life memories and inspiration to become a filmmaker. Among his early work in filmmaking, he assisted the production of

Jim Jarmusch James Robert Jarmusch (; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including '' Stranger Than Paradise'' (1984), '' Down by Law'' ( ...

's ''

Coffee and Cigarettes ''Coffee and Cigarettes'' is the title of three short films and a 2003 feature-length anthology film by independent film director Jim Jarmusch. The feature film consists of 11 short stories which share coffee and cigarettes as a common thread ...

'' and ''

Personal Velocity ''Personal Velocity: Three Portraits'' is a 2002 American drama film written and directed by Rebecca Miller. It stars Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey, and Fairuza Balk as three women who escape from their afflicted lives as each struggle to flee from ...

'' by

Rebecca Miller Rebecca Augusta Miller, Lady Day-Lewis (born September 15, 1962) is an American filmmaker and novelist. She is known for her films '' Angela'', '' Personal Velocity: Three Portraits'', ''The Ballad of Jack and Rose'', ''The Private Lives of Pipp ...

. Before doing fiction films, he worked as a director of music videos such as Shake it for the band The Johns, I'm In Love With Your Knees, a collaboration between the singer/songwriter Austin Thomas, legendary guitarist

Lenny Kaye Lenny Kaye (''né'' Kusikoff; born December 27, 1946) is an American guitarist, composer, and writer who is best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group. Early life Kaye was born to Jewish parents in the Washington Heights area of upper Ma ...

of Patti Smith’s band, and acclaimed American novelist

Nick Tosches Nicholas P. Tosches (; October 23, 1949 – October 20, 2019) was an American journalist, novelist, biographer, and poet. His 1982 biography of Jerry Lee Lewis, '' Hellfire'', was praised by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as "the best rock and roll ...

. He was the director and cinematographer on a long feature documentary about

Budd Schulberg Budd Schulberg (born Seymour Wilson Schulberg, March 27, 1914 – August 5, 2009) was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his novels ''What Makes Sammy Run?'' and ''The Harder They Fall;'' ...

, the legendary Hollywood writer.

''The Silver Goat''

He shot his first long feature in 11 days with a microbudget and cast and crew as investors alongsid
Pinball London Ltd
the production company in London responsible for the film. The film was finished in April 2012 and released exclusively for iPad as the first film to be done exclusively for this platform. It was the 1st film released as an app in the UK, Europe and Latin America. The launch happened in London, UK, on May 10, 2012 on board of a routemaster bus. It was the 1st ever iPad premiere o

The Silver Goat has been downloaded in 22 countries to date, reaching #15 of the top 50 entertainment apps in the UK, and #13 in Czech Republic.

''Burroughs: The Movie''

In 2014 Brookner re-released Howard Brookner's '' Burroughs: the Movie'' about Beat icon

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

, following a long search to find a print of the film. In September 2015

announced that they would release the film on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time, arriving as part of their December 2015 slate.

''Uncle Howard''

'' is a feature documentary by Aaron Brookner. The documentary follows Aaron's search for and restoration of

's archives including Burroughs: The Movie and

Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars ''Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars'' is a 1985 documentary by Howard Brookner about Robert Wilson's ambitious attempt to stage an epic, twelve-hour, multinational opera for the 1984 Summer Olympics. Synopsis ''Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars'' ...

. Simultaneously the film tells Howard Brookner’s story from his early filmmaking career at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

, through his three completed features and up until his death in 1989. The film features contributions from numerous colleagues and friends of Howard’s and is executive produced by

. On 2 December 2015, the

announced the film as part of the US Documentary Competition category at the 2016 festival.

Awards

* NewNowNext MTV award for The John's Shake it * Audience Award Rochester Film festival for The Black Cowboys

References

External links

* * http://www.aaronbrookner.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Brookner, Aaron 1981 births Living people American male screenwriters People from Greenwich Village Vassar College alumni Film directors from New York City Screenwriters from New York (state)