L. Philippe Casseus

L. Philippe Casseus is a first generation, Haitian-American born, into a culturally diverse family in Brooklyn, New York.Philippe was introduced to the arts early on, being the descendant of musician, Frantz Casseus who toured globally with famed Spanish, classical guitarist Andres Segovia. As the story goes, Segovia named Casseus as the father ofCalypso music genre. Philippe's mother Joestte Casseus was a career clerical worker before realizing her dream to become a special needs children's teacher in her latter years. Philippe's estranged father (Roland Menuau)is a novelist, social issue speaker/writer and Haitian activist. Music and singing was a mainstay in the Casseus household and by high school Philippe had become a frontman for multiple rock bands writing his own music (poems) and touring locally. High school is also where Philippe caught the acting bug and participated in school plays: WEST SIDE STORY to GREASE. By college his designs on a career in entertainment focussed on writing/directing. Studying writing at Manhattan CityCollege and lighting technique at Center for Media Arts in New York. After coming up working in music video, commercials and independent films as a Key Grip, Philippe found a spot as a music video director (as CASSEUS) at Partizan Entertainment(Michel Gondry Co) soon after began writing and directing short films. The next step on the path was joining family members at the ground level and help build the foundation of the HOLLYSHORTS FILMFESTIVAL. As a hands on contributor and submissions judge. Now in year fifteen, HSFF is one of only a handful of Academy Award qualifying short films programs. Philippe is still active as a submissions judge and contributor. The big break came when Philippe's action screenplay FREELANCERS was produced staring ROBERT DENIRO, FOREST WHITAKER and CURTIS "50" JACKSON. Philippe is now based in Los Angeles where he continues to write, produce and direct.