My name is Michael P. DiPaolo and I have been in the room with more murderers than most police ever will, videotaping over 2000 confessions during more than sixteen years at the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. Simultaneously, I have written, produced and directed feature-length dramas based on fictionalized variations of those confessions.
My features include BOUGHT & SOLD (1988)-Certificate of Merit-1988 Chicago Film Festival and REQUIEM FOR A WHORE (1989). My first 16mm feature, TRANSGRESSION (1994) was at the NY Underground Film Fest, the Chicago Underground Film Fest, Rome's FANTAFESTIVAL, Manchester's Kinofilm. In 2003 I finished my first DV feature DADDY, a zombie revenge drama which had a NYC theatrical premiere and wrote my first book which detailed the production of that film as well as pulling together over 20 years of low-budget filmmaking experience. It's entitled THE SIX DAY HORROR MOVIE, A NO-NONSENSE GUIDE TO NO-BUDGET FILMMAKING, is published by McFarland & Co. and is now available worldwide. In 2005 I completed production on MOTHER, a retelling of the Ed Gein story shot in B&W with no dialogue but plenty of sound including dissonant Russian choral music and described by a filmmaker friend as “a surrealist-documentary.” It was my personal version of commercial suicide, a concept I've faithfully followed ever since. In 2007 I finally completed my long gestating 16mm feature shot in 1997, SERPENT'S BREATH aka , a film-noir fugue of death and desire. After finishing MOTHER in 2005, I moved back to telling some of the more compelling stories I came across videotaping confessions at the Brooklyn DA's Office while attempting to retain many of the more compelling stylizations I picked up doing Horror Films. In 2011 I completed my first High Definition feature, I DON'T WANNA FEEL NOTHIN' NO MORE, that chronicles three generations of incest in one family and a few years later to continue my exploration of fucked up family dynamics, I returned to my hometown of Niagara Falls, NY in 2014 to produce my latest HD feature, THE FURIES INSIDE ME, a family revenge drama centering on a sexually abused young boy who discovers the truth of Confucius' maxim that he who sets out seeking revenge should dig two graves.
On the slightly more commercial front, in early 2000 I became involved with the light weight “Run & Gun” era of digital production, working as a Video Journalist for the New York Time's TV cable series, TRAUMA: LIFE IN THE ER, producing and directing AFTER THE SKY FELL, a documentary on the effects of September 11th on 5 NYC artists, producing and directing a documentary on DAVID SHEPHERD, IMPROV'S FORGOTTEN PROPHET, directed A MIME'S LIFE, a documentary, on America's foremost mime, Richmond Shepard, shot and directed a documentary on Performance Artist Elizabeth Streb as well as being DP on a documentary on Jazz great, Miles Davis. And I made it to Alaska as cameraman/editor on documentary about the pros and cons of oil exploration in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. In 2008, I completed COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY WITH HEALTH CARE WORKERS, a DVD for the Veteran's Administration, a corporate video that actually helps people, if you can believe that!
Born and raised in Niagara Falls, NY, I graduated from the University of Rochester with a B.A. in Fine Arts, studying with artist Lynda Benglis and later received an M.A. in Fine Arts, with a concentration in Video from Hunter College in NYC, studying with video art pioneer, Juan Downey. My first job out of school in 1977 was producing, shooting and editing a feature-length, shot on video, improvised movie called SOPHA by David Shepherd, "the guru of improv" and the Co-founder of COMPASS, the forerunner of SECOND CITY in Chicago. A long working relationship, that continues until today.
After a couple of years of free-lancing I began producing and directing fashion videos from 1977 to 1985, first at the A&S Department Stores, then later for such clients as Danskin. I also produced and directed numerous dance, music and short dramatic videos for such artists as musicians Bobby Previte and Anthony Coleman and choreographer Marilyn Klaus. In 1987, I produced and directed a hidden camera documentary that examined New York City's hustlers and homeless after midnight in WHERE NO SUN SHINES, which has been updated as CITY OF SIN, with footage from early 2000's Disney-like Times Square. And taking us up to yesterday...I just finished my fictionalized memoir of videotaping confessions for the DA's...which was the only way to tell the truth and nothing but the truth and is entitled REALITY IS MY NIGHTMARE...try and find it...if you can!
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Michael DiPaolo