Dylan Verrechia

Dylan Riis Verrechia is an award-winning Auteur/Director. He was born in Paris, France, and grew up in Saint Barthélemy, French Antilles. His father is from France of Italian-Irish descent, and his mother is from Denmark of Sephardic Spanish-Nigerian descent. Due to a fall at a young age, he was bedridden for many years, and was homeschooled until he could walk again. Mentored by Jean Rouch at la Cinémathèque Française, Verrechia received his diploma in Cinema Studies, Theater, Photography, and Philosophy at Nanterre Université, Paris X. He later graduated with honors in Film and Television from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. His short film "The Laughter of God" about an Algerian journalist received Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Runner Up Director at the IFCT Film Festival. His feature documentary about Muslim street children in Bangalore, India, "Kids of the Majestic" screened at the Egyptian Theater in LA and at the Tribeca Film Center, received the Artivist Award for Best Feature in the Children's Advocacy Category at the Artivist Film Festival Raising Awareness for Humanity, Animals and the Environment, endorsed by the United Nations, and the Directing and Writing Insight Awards of Recognition at the National Association of Film and Digital Media Artists. He also won the MarCom Awards for Best Commercial in Television and in Animation. Verrechia co-founded Troopers Films (2004 Brooklyn International Film Festival Winner "Arakimentari" about photographer Nobuyoshi Araki), and 25th Frame (2009 Milano International Film Festival Winner "Picture Me" about female adolescents' exploitation in the fashion industry). Over a period of twenty years, Verrechia directed the "Tijuana Makes Me Happy Trilogy", a series of three feature films: 1) "Tijuana Makes Me Happy" about the US consumerism model of life in a child's life on the Mexican border received the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Slamdance Film Festival, and Indie Max Award at the San Antonio Film Festival. 2) "Tierra Madre" about a same sex couple of sexual workers raising their children received the Special Mention for Best Feature Film at the Morelia International Film Festival, the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Reeling Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival, the Diversity Award for Best Feature Film at the Barcelona International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, the Outstanding Achievement in Foreign Feature Award at the Williamsburg International Film Festival, the Jury Award for Best Feature Film at the Cinesul Ibero-Americano Film Festival, the Golden Palm Award at the Mexico International Film Festival, the Honorable Mention Prize at the New Jersey International Film Festival, and the Silver Lei Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the Honolulu International Film Festival. 3) "La Pura Vida", about middle class family abuse, and men's cycle of abuse, is the third movie in the trilogy, and is in post-production. His films are marked by his strong empathy for the characters, parent-children relationship, and an individual's psychological exploration. Verrechia has collaborated with such filmmakers as Ted Hope, Harvey Weinstein, Kimberley Peirce, Todd Solondz, Morgan Spurlock, Samuel Pollard, Spike Lee, Richard Kroehling, Bob Coen, Mark Daniels, Pete Chatmon, Andi Baiz, and Harold Crooks, for clients such as the Weinstein Company, New Line Cinema, Canal +, Netflix, Good Machine, Killer Films, Funny or Die, Panamax, MGM, PBS, HBO, Greenpeace, Time Warner, ARTE, the CBC, L'Oréal, Condé Nast, Teen Vogue, Radical Media, Playboy TV, Notorious, Sony Music, MTV and VH1. He has filmed across the USA, the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Siberia, Japan, India, the United Arab Emirates, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, the Canary Islands, Haiti, Saint Barthélemy, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Mexico. Verrechia speaks English, French, and Spanish.