Sean Hartofilis

Sean's mother Mary, one of ten Walls children from County Derry in the north of Ireland, moved to New York City when she was 18 years old to work as a maid on Park Avenue. She met George Hartofilis, a son of Greek immigrants, waiting tables at a local diner. Sean Hartofilis was born at Nyack Hospital on July 9, 1981 and raised on Long Island with his brothers Nick, Chris, and Mike. Sean attended Saint Anthony's High School then Princeton University, where he majored in Politics, became an All-American and National Champion lacrosse player, studied filmmaking under Sue Friedrich and Keith Sanborn, and met Liza Hillenbrand, who would become his wife. After graduating in 2003, Sean moved to Los Angeles, where he assisted film director Renny Harlin then film producer Tom Sternberg while coaching Loyola High School varsity boys lacrosse and playing professionally for the Los Angeles Riptide. He continued to make films, and his first feature script Beach Pillows was optioned by Iron Films and subsequently Reason Pictures. When the option on Beach Pillows expired, Sean moved home to New York, cast stars Geoffrey Arend, Vincent Kartheiser, Annette O'Toole, and Richard Schiff, launched Walls Farms Pictures, and produced the film. He directed and edited Beach Pillows in 2013, securing a soundtrack from popular rock bands Deer Tick and The Deadly Syndrome. After winning Amsterdam Film Festival's Van Gogh World Cinema Screenwriting Award and premiering at the Lighthouse International Film Festival, Beach Pillows was distributed by Gravitas Ventures in January 2014 and subsequently on Blu-ray and DVD by Films Around the World. Sean's second feature film Covadonga, which he wrote, directed, edited, stars in, and for which he wrote and performed an original soundtrack, screened at festivals in Spain, Ireland, England, the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, Anthology Film Archives, and The Museum of the Moving Image. It won awards along the way including Best Film, Best Narrative, Best Score, Best Actor, and Best Director and is now available worldwide. He has also written, directed, produced, and edited assorted projects for brands and networks including Macy's, Pfizer, The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Greenlight Energy, Howl Alert, J. Walter Thompson, Porter Novelli, The Huffington Post, Good Magazine, MTV, VH1, The History Channel, William Hill Sportsbook, and Caesars Entertainment. Sean is an American and Irish citizen and lives in Connecticut with his wife Liza and their children Sloan, Roan, and Francis Finn.