Adam Leon is an American film director and writer working in New York City. His first feature film, '' Gimme the Loot'', won the Grand Jury Prize at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

and premiered internationally at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

(Un Certain Regard) in 2012. Leon’s second feature, ''

Tramps A tramp is a long-term homeless person who travels from place to place as a vagrant, traditionally walking all year round. Etymology Tramp is derived from a Middle English verb meaning to "walk with heavy footsteps" (''cf.'' modern English ''t ...

'', premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016, where

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

acquired worldwide rights. His newest film, '' Italian Studies'', stars

Vanessa Kirby Vanessa Nuala Kirby (born 18 April 1988) is an English actress. She has received several accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. Born in London to urologist Roger Ki ...

. Leon's films have received critical acclaim.

Biography

Born and raised in Manhattan, Leon attended

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Hunter is publicly funded, and there i ...

and graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. He worked as a production assistant and as a coordinator at various film festivals. During this time, he directed several shorts and music videos, including co-directing and co-writing the short film Killer, which premiered at the New Directors/New Films festival in 2009. The short featured the debut of Ty Hickson who would later co-star in Gimme the Loot.

''Gimme the Loot''

Leon’s debut feature follows the story of two graffiti writers from the Bronx who, over the course of two summer days, attempt to tag the famed Mets Home Run Apple in a bid for glory and revenge on a rival crew. The film received positive reviews, scoring 92% based on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes with Roger Ebert calling it, “A remarkably natural and unaffected film about friendship” and other notable positive reviews coming from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Sun-Times. Upon its 2013 theatrical release, the movie was officially “presented” by Oscar-winning filmmaker

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film ''Caged Heat'', before ...

''Tramps''

Leon's second feature film, ''Tramps'', premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016, where Netflix acquired worldwide rights. ''Tramps'' stars

Callum Turner Callum Robilliard Turner (born 15 February 1990) is a British actor and model. He is known for his roles as Theseus Scamander in '' Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'' and '' Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'', Bill Rohan in ...

and

Grace Van Patten Grace Van Patten (born November 21, 1996) is an American actress. She has appeared in two films distributed by Netflix: ''Tramps'' (2016) and ''The Meyerowitz Stories'' (2017), and in Hulu's miniseries ''Nine Perfect Strangers'' (2021) and ''Tell ...

and features

Mike Birbiglia Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

in a supporting role. It has received critical praise, holding a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of September 2017.

Selected awards and honors

*2012 SXSW Grand Jury Award (won) *2012 Cannes Film Festival Camera D’or (nominated) *2013 Independent Spirit Awards Someone to Watch (won) *2013 Independent Spirit Awards Best First Film (nominated) *2013 Gotham Awards Best First Feature (nominated)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Adam Film directors from New York City People from Manhattan University of Pennsylvania alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Hunter College High School alumni