Joel Potrykus | |
|---|---|
 Joel Potrykus at the 2012 Belfort Entrevues Film Festival | |
| Born | July 10, 1977 Ossineke, Michigan, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter |
| Website | www |
Joel Potrykus (born July 10, 1977) is an American film director and screenwriter. His feature film debut Ape won the Best New Director prize at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival, [1] while his follow-up feature Buzzard won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2014 Ljubljana International Film Festival. [2]
Potrykus was born and raised in Ossineke, Michigan, [3] then moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan to study film at Grand Valley State University. Later, he earned his MFA in screenwriting from Emerson College. [4]
A stint as a stand-up comedian in New York City led to the inspiration for his first feature film, Ape . [5] While spending a year as a temp at a Michigan mortgage company led to the inspiration of his second feature film, Buzzard . [6] The book Walden by Henry David Thoreau was the influence for Potrykus' 2016 feature The Alchemist Cookbook , which builds on his themes of slackers and loneliness. [7] [8] His fourth feature film Relaxer , is a modern interpretation of Luis Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel . [9] He's been the subject of retrospectives at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2015 [10] and at the 2016 Valdivia Film Festival. [11]
In 2024, his fifth feature film, Vulcanizadora , premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, taking home a Special Jury Prize for actor Joshua Burge. [12] Chase Hutchinson of Collider said of the film, "There is no film you’ll ever see like it as it patiently builds to a terrifying explosion and then keeps going from where most would stop, leaving us to pick up the pieces that are forever shattered." [13] The film had its International premiere at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival on July 19, 2024. [14]
He currently teaches filmmaking at Grand Valley State University. [15]
In 2016, Vimooz called Potrykus "The New King of Underground Cinema". [16] Vague Visages credits him as the originator of the new genre, "metal slackerism". [17] While Filmofilia called him, "indie cinema's patron saint of misfits". [18]
Potrykus has cited the following directors and films as having an influence on his work; Alan Clarke's Made in Britain , Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man!, Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver , Vincent Gallo's Buffalo ’66, Rick Alverson's The Comedy , Luis Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie , Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law, Sam Raimi's Evil Dead , F. W. Murnau's Faust and James Nguyen's Birdemic; [19] as well as the films of Michael Haneke, Kelly Reichardt, Jean-Luc Godard and Quentin Tarantino. [20] [21]