J.P. Schmidt

Joshua Phillip Schmidt is an American filmmaker born and raised in Mount Airy, Maryland. He attended Frederick Community College and, with the absence of a film program, built his own, taking classes such as digital photography, fundamentals of design, and creative writing alongside the requisite courses for Television Production Certification. During his time there, he also took many theater courses, taking jobs such as Stage Manager, Assistant Director, Costume Designer, and Sound Designer. After receiving the Certification, he chose to use his college funds toward film equipment rather than enrolling in a four-year institute, teaching himself through DVD commentaries and text books. He has worked on several short films, and often writes and directs them using his own equipment. He is a big supporter of Digital cinema, and credits it for breathing air into the film industry by giving your average consumer the chance to make films inexpensively. A common theme in his work is death, which stems from his past of losing a great deal of friends and family. The internet is another theme he has a certain fascination with, particularly the dehumanizing nature of it. His biggest influences are Hsiao-hsien Hou, Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, John Cassavetes, Jean-Luc Godard, Hirokazu Koreeda, and Andrei Tarkovsky. As an artist, he draws influence from Jack White.