Michael M. Bilandic is an American film director, writer and producer, best known for his gritty

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 ...

based microbudget comedies ''Hellaware'', ''Jobe'z World'' and ''Project Space 13 '' (2021). He is a frequent collaborator of the director Abel Ferrara and cinematographer

Sean Price Williams Sean Price Williams is an American cinematographer. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, he is based in New York. Career Williams is known for his textured, fluid camerawork (often handheld) and a heightened attention to available light. The ''New York ...

Early life

Michael M. Bilandic was born in 1978, in Chicago, Illinois to Heather Morgan and former mayor of Chicago and chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, Michael Anthony Bilandic. As a young man, Bilandic joined his grandfather on a fishing trip to northern

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. He viewed his grandfather as a nice man and the "alpha of the family". Bilandic moved from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

just several days before the September 11 attacks in 2001. The neighborhood stayed his place of residence for years and the backdrop for all of his films. In 2004 Bilandic worked as directing intern for

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

on his film ''

She Hate Me ''She Hate Me'' is a 2004 American independent comedy drama film directed by Spike Lee and starring Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Ellen Barkin, Monica Bellucci, Brian Dennehy, Woody Harrelson, Bai Ling, John Turturro, and Ossie Davis in his ...

''. In 2008, he began working with Abel Ferrara, first as his assistant on the documentary "

Chelsea on the Rocks ''Chelsea on the Rocks'' is a documentary film directed by Abel Ferrara about the Hotel Chelsea. It premiered out of competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. The film features Ferrara interviewing people who have and had lived at the hotel, ...

" then moving up to producing his films "Mulberry St." in 2010 and "The Projectionist'' in 2019.

Career

Bilandic wrote and directed his first feature film, ''Happy Life'' in 2011. The project was executive produced by Abel Ferrara and tells the story of a DJ running a failing record store specializing in

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

. The film features stars Tom McCaffrey and features Kate Lyn Sheil and Alex Ross Perry. ''Happy Life'' marks the first collaboration with Sean Price Williams, who has acted as cinematographer on all of Bilandic's work. ''Hellaware'', Bilandic's sophomore feature stars

Keith Poulson Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

and Sophia Takal as a New York art world hopeful who stumbles upon a group of teenage horrorcore rappers in rural Delaware and begins to photograph them, which leads to his own success. Several prominent independent filmmakers make cameos throughout the film, including Josh Safdie,

Eleonore Hendricks Eleonore Hendricks (born 1983) is an American actress, photographer and casting director based out of New York City. She has appeared in films such as ''A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints'' and '' Go Get Some Rosemary'', as well as films by the ...

and Robert Greene. The film was picked up by the Brooklyn based independent film distribution company

Factory 25 Factory 25 is a Brooklyn-based independent film distribution and production company, founded by Matt Grady in 2009. History Grady founded ''Factory 25'' in 2009 after leaving a position as director of production at Plexifilm. The name ''Factory 25 ...

. Bilandic's next film ''Jobe'z World'' and stars Jason Grisell as a rollerblading drug dealer who lives and works by night in Manhattan. The cast also features Theodore Bouloukos and

Owen Kline Owen Joseph Kline (born October 14, 1991) is an American filmmaker, actor and cartoonist, best known for his directorial debut ''Funny Pages'' (2022) and his performance as Frank Berkman in ''The Squid and the Whale'' (2005). Early life Owen Jo ...

. It film premiered at Manhattan theater

Cinema Village Cinema Village is a movie theater in Greenwich Village, New York. It is the oldest continuously operated cinema in Greenwich Village. It was opened in 1963, housed in a converted firehouse on 12th Street. Since the 1980s, It has been owned by Nic ...

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Bilandic wrote, directed and released Project Space 13. It functions as a loose sequel to 2013's Hellaware, following the further exploits of Keith Poulson's character. ''Jobe'z World'' stars Theodore Bouloukos and Jason Grisell return to round out the cast. It was released in 2021 on

Mubi (streaming service) Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusivel ...

. Bilandic has acted in films for

Dasha Nekrasova Daria "Dasha" Dmitrievna Nekrasova (; ; born February 19, 1991) is a Belarusian-American actress, filmmaker, and host of the ''Red Scare'' podcast with Anna Khachiyan. In 2018, she became known as "Sailor Socialism", after her interview with an ...

, Sebastian Sommer and Ricky D'Ambrose.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilandic, Michael M. Living people Film directors from New York City Film directors from Illinois Year of birth missing (living people) Film people from Chicago