Janek Ambros (born April 19, 1988) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter based in

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' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He is also the founder of Assembly Line Entertainment, an American film production company. Ambros is widely known for directing award winning documentary films like ''

Imminent Threat Hugo Grotius, the 17th century jurist and father of public international law, stated in his 1625 magnum opus ''The Law of War and Peace'' that "Most Men assign three Just Causes of War, Defence, the Recovery of what's our own, and Punishment." O ...

'', ''

Mondo Hollywoodland ''Mondo Hollywoodland'' is a 2019 American comedy/sci fi film directed by Janek Ambros and starring Chris Blim, Alex Loynaz and Alyssa Sabo. Oscar nominated actor/activist James Cromwell is an executive producer and presenter on the film. The fil ...

'' and '' Ukrainians in Exile''.

Biography

Early life and education

Ambros was born in 1988, in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a town and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

. He attended

The Albany Academy The Albany Academy is an independent college preparatory day school for boys in Albany, New York, USA, enrolling students from Preschool (age 3) to Grade 12. It was established in 1813 by a charter signed by Mayor Philip Schuyler Van Rensselae ...

where he completed his early education in 2006. He received his bachelor's degree in Economics from

Siena College Siena College is an American private Franciscan college in Loudonville, New York. Siena was founded by the Order of Friars Minor in 1937. The college was named after Bernardino of Siena, a 15th-century Italian Franciscan friar and preacher. St ...

in 2010. Later, he attended

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, t ...

where he earned his

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

degree in 2012.

Career

After graduating from

, Ambros founded his film production company, Assembly Line Entertainment in 2011, in Los Angeles, California. He co-produced

Asa Butterfield Asa Bopp Farr Butterfield (; born Asa Maxwell Thornton Farr Butterfield on 1 April 1997) is an English actor. He has received nominations for three British Independent Film Awards, two Critics' Choice Awards, two Saturn Awards, and three Young ...

and

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor and film director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three off-Broadway plays, and a doc ...

starrer drama film ''

Ten Thousand Saints ''Ten Thousand Saints'' is a 2015 American drama film written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. It is based on the novel of the same name by Eleanor Henderson. The film stars Asa Butterfield as Jude Keffy-Horn, the protagon ...

'' in 2015. The film had its world premiere at the

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 ...

on January 23, 2015. In September 2015, Ambros collaborated with

James Cromwell James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include ''Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), ''L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), ''The Queen'' ...

for his directorial debut, ''

''. He also wrote and produced the film. ''Imminent Threat'' is a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about the

War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

's impact on

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

in the United States. In 2017, Ambros produced and directed a French

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, ''Le Quinze Mai à Paris (May 15th in Paris)''. The film received positive response and was nominated for awards at several film festivals around the world. Later that year, he produced '' Valley of Bones'' featuring

Autumn Reeser Autumn Reeser (born September 21, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Taylor Townsend on the Fox series ''The O.C.'', Lizzie Grant on HBO's ''Entourage'', Katie Andrews on ABC's ''No Ordinary Family'', and Leslie Bellcamp ...

and

Rhys Coiro John Rhys Coiro (born March 12, 1979) is an American film, television, and stage actor. He began acting on Broadway but is best known for on-screen roles such as Billy Walsh on the television series ''Entourage''. Early life Born in Santo Stefa ...

. In 2019, Ambros collaborated with James Cromwell for the second time and directed ''

'', a comedy/sci fi film. The film was released theatrically and on VOD in 2021. The film won the ''Jury Prize for Creative Vision'' at the Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival. Later in 2019, Ambros co-produced ''

Human Capital Human capital is a concept used by social scientists to designate personal attributes considered useful in the production process. It encompasses employee knowledge, skills, know-how, good health, and education. Human capital has a substantial ...

'', an American-Italian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Marc Meyers Marc Meyers is an American feature film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his fourth feature film ''My Friend Dahmer'' and the previous '' How He Fell in Love''. His first feature film was ''Approaching Union Square''. Based on h ...

and starring

Liev Schreiber Isaac Liev Schreiber (; born October 4, 1967) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and narrator. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s after appearing in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywoo ...

. In 2022, Ambros executive produced ''

Monica Monica may refer to: People *Monica (actress) (born 1987), Indian film actress *Monica (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Monica (singer) (born 1980), American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, ...

''. The film was premiered at the

79th Venice International Film Festival The 79th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 31 August to 10 September 2022. Juries Main Competition (Venezia 79) * Julianne Moore, American actress and author (Jury President) * Mariano Cohn, Argentine director, screenw ...

and was nominated for the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

. In October 2022, Ambros directed '' Ukrainians in Exile'', a war documentary film shot in the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

city of Przemysl. The film was executive produced by two time

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

winner

Janusz Kaminski Janusz () is a masculine Polish given name. It is also the shortened form of January and Januarius. People * Janusz Akermann (born 1957), Polish painter *Janusz Bardach, Polish gulag survivor and physician * Janusz Bielański, Roman Catholic pr ...

. The film premiered at the

Morelia International Film Festival The Morelia International Film Festival (''Spanish'': ''Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia''; FICM) was founded in 2003 in the city of Morelia, Michoacán, México. It is an annual event that takes place during the second week of October. F ...

on 23 October 2022. ''Ukrainians in Exile'' was awarded with the ''Best Documentary Award'' at the 76th Salerno Film Festival in December 2022. In 2023, Ambros was awarded the Filmmaker Auteur Award at the

Roots of Europe Roots of Europe (full name: Roots of Europe – Language, Culture, and Migrations) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Copenhagen, focusing on prehistoric Europe. It is headed by Birgit Anette Olsen (2008-2013 by Jens Elme ...

film festival for his various films. Previous receipts include

Krzysztof Zanussi Krzysztof Pius Zanussi (born 17 June 1939) is a Polish film and theatre director, producer and screenwriter. He is a professor of European film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland where he conducts a summer workshop. He is ...

, Inma Shara and painter-sculptor Antonio López. https://variety.com/2023/film/global/janek-ambros-roots-of-europe-1235596354/ Ambros collaborated with his frequent creative partner James Cromwell for ''Nixon's Nixon'', an adaptation of Russell Lees' play. The film is scheduled to be released in 2024.

Filmography

Source

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambros, Janek 1988 births Living people American male screenwriters People from Morristown, New Jersey Film directors from New Jersey Screenwriters from New Jersey