Alpesh Patel (born February 1972) is an

Indian-American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

filmmaker and producer.

Background

Patel was born in India. At a very young age, he loved to go to

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

with his father. He emigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of 7 in 1979. He continues to be fascinated by movies. After graduating from

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

's film program, Patel worked for Cerebellum Corporation shooting and directing

Standard Deviants ''Standard Deviants'' is a series of educational videos produced in the United States dealing with educational subjects such as math, science, automobile repair, politics, English, social studies, foreign language, and SAT Test Prep created for elem ...

videos. He later moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where he runs VisionStorm Entertainment as a vehicle to make his films.

Career

In 2003, Patel wrote, directed, and produced the feature film, ''Graduation Night'', as a

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

. The film played at several notable film festivals under the titles ''Party On'' and ''Truth or Dare'', and it is now in distribution in the US as ''Graduation Night''. The film stars

Adrian R'Mante Adrian R'Mante is an American actor and acting coach best known for his role as Esteban Julio Ricardo Montoya de la Rosa Ramírez in the Disney Channel Original Series, ''The Suite Life of Zack & Cody''. He was born in Tampa, Florida, United St ...

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Kevin Alejandro Kevin Michael Alejandro (born April 7, 1976) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his roles as Nate Moretta in the crime drama ''Southland'', Forklift Mike in '' Parenthood,'' Jesús Velázquez in the supernatural thriller ''T ...

, and ''Playboy'' Playmate

Irina Voronina Irina Vadimovna Voronina (russian: Ирина Вадимовна Воронина; born December 19, 1977) is a Russian stand-up comedian, actress, and model. As a model, she was also the Playboy Playmate for January 2001. Biography Voronina ...

. His 2006 screenplay for ''Blind Ambition'' was produced and won several awards in the festival circuit. The film stars Vanessa Angel,

Christopher Atkins Christopher Atkins Bomann (born February 21, 1961) is an American actor and businessman, perhaps best known for his debut in the 1980 film '' The Blue Lagoon'' and playing Peter Richards in ''Dallas'' (1983–1984). Early life Christopher Atki ...

, and

screen star

Gulshan Grover Gulshan Grover (born 21 September 1955) is an Indian actor and producer who has appeared in over 100 films. He is popularly known as the "Bad Man" of Bollywood because of his ability to create an impact with his negative roles in films. Early ...

. In 2007, Patel's

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

''Touch Wood'' went into production as a comical

behind-the-scenes In film, cinema, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a type of documentary film that features the Filmmaking#Production, production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the E ...

look at the

adult film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, sex films, and 18+ films are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include eroticall ...

industry told in mock documentary style. ''Touch Wood'' was Patel's second feature film as a director and stars

Gerry Bednob Gerry Bednob (born May 18, 1950) is a Trinidadian and Tobagonian-American-Canadian actor and comedian of Bengali Indo-Trinidadian descent. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Toronto, and worked as a high sch ...

and Tony Sano. He has also worked in

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film which increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The film edit ...

for TV shows, including ''

The 5th Wheel ''The 5th Wheel'' was an American dating Reality television, reality series that aired in Broadcast syndication, syndication from 2001 to 2004. The show was initially hosted by comedian Aisha Tyler, but when Tyler left after completing the first ...

'', '' Ghost Hunters'', ''

Southern Steel Southern Steel are a New Zealand netball team based in Invercargill. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 they have represented Netball South in the ANZ Premiership. Netball South is the governing body that re ...

'', ''

Dirty Jobs ''Dirty Jobs'' is an American television series that originally aired on the Discovery Channel in which host Mike Rowe is shown performing difficult, strange, disgusting, or messy occupational duties alongside the job's current employees. The sh ...

'', '' Bounty Girls: Miami'', ''

Ghost Hunters International ''Ghost Hunters International'' (abbreviated as ''GHI'') is a spin-off series of '' Ghost Hunters'' that aired on Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi). The series premiered on January 9, 2008, and ended on April 4, 2012. Like its parent series, ''GHI'' was ...

'', ''

Unsolved Mysteries ''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television show, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Karl ...

'', ''

BattleBots ''BattleBots'' (logo: Bꓭ)In season 10, the 2020-2021 TV season, the show introduced the "Bꓭ" logo is an American robot combat television series. The show was an adaptation of the British show '' Robot Wars'', in which competitors design and o ...

'', '' Penn & Teller: Bullshit!'', and ''

The Ultimate Fighter ''The Ultimate Fighter'' is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Pilgrim Media Group currently airing on ESPN+. It previously aired for fourteen s ...

''.

Partial filmography

*''English Grammar: The Standard Deviants'' (1999) (V) (director) *''Graduation Night'' (aka ''Truth and Dare'', ''Party On'') (2003) (director & writer) *''Blind Ambition'' (2008) (written by) *''Touch Wood'' (2009) (director & writer) *''Devil's Door'' (2014) (producer & director)

Awards and nominations

* 2001, Audience Award, ''Party On'',

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...

* 2008, IFFF 'Spirit' Award, ''Blind Ambition'', International Family Film Festival * 2008, Festival Prize, ''Blind Ambition'',

Long Island International Film Expo The Long Island International Film Expo, founded in 1997 by Nassau County Film Office Director, Debra Markowitz. The festival generally receives between 400 and 450 submissions every year In 2009, 170 films from 23 countries were screened at the ...

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Alpesh 1972 births Living people American film directors of Indian descent American screenwriters of Indian descent Indian emigrants to the United States Penn State College of Arts and Architecture alumni