Zachary Mortensen (born October 5, 1972) is an American film producer, writer and founder of the production company Ghost Robot.

Biography

Zachary Mortensen is the founder and CEO of Ghost Robot, a production and management company in New York City. In 2006 Mortensen produced the feature films ''

Choking Man ''Choking Man'' is a 2006 drama film, written and directed by Steve Barron. The film stars Octavio Gómez Berríos and Eugenia Yuan. Synopsis ''Choking Man'' is an intense blend of psychological drama and magical realism that encapsulates the ...

'' by iconoclastic music video director Steve Barron, which premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

and ''Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox'', a film about E. H. Bronner by director Sara Lamm, which premiered at the

Mill Valley Film Festival The Mill Valley Film Festival is an annual American film festival founded in 1977. History In October 1977, Mark Fishkin, Rita Cahill and Lois Cole organized a three-day film festival. It featured three film tributes, Francis Ford Coppola's ''T ...

. "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox" was released in theaters in the summer of 2007 by Balcony Releasing. Mortensen's feature film ''Road'' by director Leslie McCleave premiered at the

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

in 2005 where it was awarded outstanding performance for the two leads,

Catherine Kellner Catherine Kellner (born October 2, 1970) is an American character actress, perhaps best known for appearing in Daft Punk's music-video for their song Da Funk. Early life and education Kellner was born in Manhattan, New York. Her mother was a ...

and Ebon Moss-Bachrach and was released theatrically in 2006 by 7th Art Releasing. In 2001, Mortensen produced the feature documentary ''

Hell House Hell houses are haunted attractions typically run by evangelical Protestant churches or parachurch organizations, designed to act as moral instruction. They depict acts which the organizers deem sinful and their consequences, including the torm ...

'' by director George Ratliff which premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

and was released theatrically in fall 2002. Mortensen produced the award winning documentary features ''Breath Control: The History of the Human Beat Box'' and ''The Federation of Black Cowboys''. He also produced the theatrical documentary '' Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator'' directed by

Helen Stickler Helen Stickler (born 1968) is an American designer and filmmaker, who wrote, directed and produced '' Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator'' (2003) and '' Andre the Giant Has a Posse'' (1995). In 2019, she helped to found a progressive news aggregato ...

. Mortensen produced ''The New Arrival'' by

Amy Talkington Amy Virginia Talkington (born 1969) is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, and author. Background Talkington was born in Dallas, Texas. Her father, Clement Talkington, is a surgeon; her mother, Virginia Savage McAlester, is an architectural ...

, which was the first motion picture using 360-degree video technology. The movie was a collaboration between Intel Corporation,

Atom Films Atom.com (formerly AtomFilms) was a broadband entertainment network offering original short subject Film, movies, animations, and series by independent creators. The company was founded in 1998 in Seattle by Mika Salmi. Sequoia Capital, led by Mic ...

, and BeHere, the company behind the revolutionary technology, and it premiered at the market 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 ...

in 2000. The following year, Mortensen produced the first commercially released Music video created entirely with Machinima software. That video was ''In the Waiting Line'' by the band

Zero 7 Zero 7 are an English musical duo consisting of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. They began as studio engineers and in 1997 formed the group Zero 7. Their debut album, '' Simple Things'', was released in 2001 in which their song " Destiny" stayed ...

, directed by Tommy Pallotta. In 1997–98, Mortensen was the Director of Production at Caipirinha Productions, where he supervised the post-production and distribution of the critically acclaimed documentary feature '' Modulations''. Mortensen is the writer and creator of the scifi comic series ''The Gatecrashers'' which was drawn by Sutu the artist behind the award-winning web series '' Nawlz''. The Gatecrashers first book ''A Night of Gatecrashing'' was named to ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

s best Comics and Graphic Novels of 2014. Mortensen continues to produce feature films, commercials, music videos, and television.

Selected filmography

*''

Creative Control (film) ''Creative Control'' is a 2015 American science fiction drama film, directed by Benjamin Dickinson from a screenplay written by Micah Bloomberg and Dickinson. It stars Dickinson, Nora Zehetner, Dan Gill, Alexia Rasmussen, Gavin McInnes and Reggie ...

'' (2016) producer *''Thanksgiving'' (2014) producer *''Unity of All Things'' (2013) producer *'' Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives'' (2013) producer *''First Winter'' (2012) producer *''Love Letter'' (2011) executive producer *''Against The Current'' (2008) co-executive producer *''Cropsey'' (2008) producer *''Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox'' (2006) producer *''

'' (2006) producer *''Road'' (2005) producer *''Phileine zegt sorry'' (2003) line producer *''In the Waiting Line'' (2003) producer *''The Federation of Black Cowboys'' (2003) producer *'' Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator'' (2002) producer *'' Breath Control: The History of the Human Beat Box'' (2002) producer *''Destiny'' (2002) (V) producer *''Trappedinfreedom'' (2002) producer *''Hell House'' (2001) producer *''The New Arrival'' (2000) producer *''Second Skins (1998) producer *''March 29, 1979'' (1997) producer *''Highball'' (1997) line producer *''Vertical City'' (1996) line producer *'' America's Most Wanted'' producer, 4 episodes *''

Bittersweet Motel ''Bittersweet Motel'' is a 2000 documentary about the rock band Phish. The film was directed by Todd Phillips and covers the band's summer and fall 1997 tours, plus footage from their 1998 summer tour of Europe. The documentary ends with The Grea ...

'' (2000) production manager: "The Great Went" *'' Modulations'' (1998) post-production supervisor *''Wrestling With Alligators'' (1998) production manager *''

Scrapple Scrapple, also known by the Pennsylvania Dutch name ''Pannhaas'' ("pan tenderloin" in English), is traditionally a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and wheat flour, often buckwheat flour, and spices. The mush is forme ...

'' (1998) production manager *''Ties to Rachel'' (1997) unit manager

References

External links

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Ghost Robot Production CompanyThe Gatecrashers UniverseVillage Voice Best of 2014 Comics & Graphic NovelsBleeding Cool Spotlight on Indie Comics Top 15 of 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortensen, Zachary Film producers from Wisconsin Living people Tisch School of the Arts alumni 1972 births