Michael Dominic (born June 18, 1970) is an American

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and photojournalist who grew up in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He is best known for his documentary '' Sunshine Hotel'', which won three awards for best documentary.

Early life

Dominic was born in Washington D.C., the son of Stephanie and Joseph Dominic. In 1971 his family moved to the Riverdale section of the Bronx, New York. He studied film at School of Visual Arts in New York City from 1990 to 1993.

Career

Dominic has made several films, most notably the feature-length documentaries ''Sunshine Hotel'' and ''Clean Hands'', and the narrative short "Tulips for Daisy". ''Sunshine Hotel'', a documentary about one of the last

flophouse A flophouse (American English) or dosshouse (British English) is a place that offers very low-cost lodging, providing space to sleep and minimal amenities. Characteristics Historically, flophouses, or British "doss-houses", have been used for ...

s on New York City's

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. ...

, won three best documentary awards and was nominated for another dozen or so. After its festival run of almost 30 film festivals it aired on the

Sundance Channel Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly known as Sundance Channel (United States). * Sundance Channel (Canada) * Sundance Channel (Netherlands) * Sundance Channel (Europe) Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly kno ...

from 2002 to 2004. "Tulips for Daisy", a

narrative film Narrative film, fictional film or fiction film is a motion picture that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. Commercial narrative films with running times of over an hour are often referred to as feature films, or feature ...

set in Amsterdam, was also nominated for several awards, most notably in the Akira Kurosawa Memorial Short Film Competition. As a photojournalist Dominic has traveled to places including Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. His photography has appeared in dozens of outlets including ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

'', ''Tribune De Geneve'', '' France-Amérique'', ''

The New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in t ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', ''

The New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'', ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'', '' Redbook'', ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

, '' Le Parisien'', ''Bilan'', ''Chåtelaine'', and ''

L'actualité ''L'actualité'' is a Canadian French-language news and general interest magazine published in Montreal by Rogers Communications until 2016, then by Mishmash (XPND Capital). The magazine has over a million readers, according to Canada's Print Measu ...

''. In July 2012 Dominic was recognized as a finalist for

The New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

2012 fellowship. In January 2019 Dominic completed the feature documentary ''Clean Hands'', about the Lopez family surviving against the backdrop of

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

’s largest garbage dump, La Chureca in

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicar ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

. The film debuted at the 29th Annual

Cinequest The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is an annual independent film festival held each March in San Jose, California and Redwood City, California. The international festival combines the cinematic arts with Silicon Valley’s innovation. It is ...

Film Festival April 9, 2019, where it won Best Documentary Feature. It went on to win a total of 11 awards.

Filmography as director

* ''Soup & the Dead'' (1994) * ''Sunshine Hotel'' (2001) * ''Tulips for Daisy'' (2006) * ''Clean Hands'' (2019)

References

External links

Official website

''Clean Hands''

''Sunshine Hotel''

"Tulips for Daisy"
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dominic, Michael Living people Artists from New York City American filmmakers 1970 births