Naje Lataillade

Naje Lataillade was raised in San Ysidro, California, a few kilometers away from the Mexican border. As a teenager his goal was to make it to the NFL and become a star wide receiver. Naje lettered in his first year at UCLA but soon found himself disconnected with sports and more interested in academics. He quit the team abruptly in the middle of his sophomore year to focus on scholastics, double majoring in Economics and Political Science. In 1998 Naje started making experimental films with a digital 8 camera he received as a birthday present. He ended up shooting a few shorts that went on to win awards at film festivals. In 2003 he received a fellowship award to study cinematography at the Filmakademie in Baden-Wuerttemburg, Germany. Lataillade took a break from filmmaking in 2009 to get his master's degree in science education. He would teach 7th and 8th grade science for the next five years at Manhattan's School of the Future, a public school in New York City. He returned to filmmaking in 2014.