Sam Raimi

The name sounds familiar… Perhaps it’s only because I developed an interest in Spider-Man a few years back (and excitedly attended the opening of the feature film). But there’s no way I could’ve told you who was in charge of weaving that web… Until now.

Born in Michigan in 1959, typical nerd Sam Raimi grew up to become arguably one of the most creative directors in Hollywood, earning his fame through acclaimed cult classic film, The Evil Dead (1982).

His fathers’ hobby of piecing short home movies together (into a coherent whole) jump started Sam’s journey with film: “Sometimes, when he [dad] got the reels back and cut them together, they’d be out of order, so I’d see the birthday cake being blown out, then I’d see a shot of my house and the first kid arriving for the party. And I thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s manipulating time!’ Not only could he capture reality, but he could manipulate the sequence of events, the order in which the time flow ran. I realized I had to explore this; it was unbelievable to me.” (phillyBurbs)

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Steven Soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh is an independent film icon for his making of sex, lies, and videotape which aired with great acclaim at Sundance and Cannes, also landing him an Oscar nomination for best screenplay in 1989. But like all other filmmakers struggling to make it in the new Hollywood tidal wave, Soderbergh’s persistence and vision granted him the entry to what would become an extremely successful career, both in the mainstream and off beat markets.

Steven Soderbergh was born in Atlanta Georgia, January 14^th, 1963. During his early childhood his family moved to Louisiana where Steven’s father was the dean of education at a local university. Steven began making short films at the age of 15 when he enrolled in a high school class on animation. His first break into professional film work came when the rock group Yes asked him to film a full length of their concert footage which he called Yes: 2012 live. He won a Grammy Nomination for his work, which propelled him to film Winston in 1987, as short subject film that was expanded to make his legendary sex, lies and videotape two years later. (more…)