IT CAN’T BE TRUE – DIRECTED BY BRIAN GONZALEZ

Brian Gonzalez began his film career as a sophomore in high school as an active member of the SAYSi Media Arts program in San Antonio, Texas. With roots in video art, he photographed a myriad of student works and grew primarily as a cinematographer while teaching junior high students graphic design, principles of filmmaking, editing and film literacy. In 2004, he received a spot at the Austin Film Festival for Best Youth Film as well as the CineFestival for Best Experimental Film with films influenced by Cassavetes. In 2005, at age seventeen, he shot his feature film as Director of Photography, La Tragedia de Macario, which gathered acclaim at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, SXSW Film Festival and more. That fall he began attending the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City. His first freshman film Positive, won the FYI (Film Your Issue) Film Festival with Oscar Winner George Clooney as the president of the jury and was awarded at the UN by Ellen Burstyn. The film was later featured on mtvU, PBS online and IFC’s Media Labs. The following summer he shot his second feature film, Clemente while directing shorts based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez short stories. Gonzalez continued to teach junior high students videoblogging at the School of the Future in Manhattan and a few months later started mentoring high school students at SAYSi in San Antonio to have the opportunity to create “Built Ford Tough,” a sociopolitical video sculpture which showed in their largest show for Contemporary Arts Month in Texas. In his thesis year at SVA, Gonzalez took influence from light installation artist Olafur Eliasson, sculptor and performance artist Zhang Huan and installation artist Rebecca Horn, to achieve entirely new aesthetics in the films he photographed, which earned him Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography at SVA’s Dusty Film Festival; awarded by Oscar-winner Robert Elswit, ASC.

Since graduating with honors from SVA in 2009, Gonzalez has worked predominantly as an Assistant Camera for various features, shorts with award-winning filmmakers like Michael Cuesta as well as music videos and commercials for companies such as ESPN and Maybelline. At the same time he began doing promotional video work with Atlantic Records, filming recording artists like Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Halestorm and more. In November 2009 however, Gonzalez took time off to embrace a month-long artist residency at the Robert Wilson Watermill Center in Southampton where he collaborated with a creative team on Harbor, a large-scale video art piece inspired by Butoh dancing; attendants at the opening included singer Rufus Wainwright and funders included art patron Isabella Rossellini, writer Jonathan Safron Foer, David Bowie and more. For three years Gonzalez has also been a camera operator at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week and in the beginning of 2010 he began directing fashion-inspired video pieces, including one for New York designers A La Disposition. This past March Gonzalez completed a series of highly conceptual non-fiction films produced by Atlantic Records for British band, Fanfarlo, which documents eight tumultuous days in Austin during SXSW music festival. He is currently directing more music videos for Atlantic while developing his own high-concept video art fusing light installation, performance and fashion.

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Robin Laverne Wilson is Dragonfly.  Featured in It Cant’s Be True, by directed Brian Gonzalez, her past and present repertoire spans filmmaking, theater, dance, radio, photography, spoken word, performance art, arts education, and activism. As Sister Dragonfly, she is a disciple and tenor in Rev. Billy’s Church of Life After Shopping Gospel Choir. Robin is a Magna Cum Laude Rutgers-Newark Scholar. She hails from Converse, Texas, home of the Mighty Judson Rockets.

“Life’s a banquet and most poor suckers are starving.”

-Auntie Mame

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Real Sprague is a Brooklyn based director/cinematographer and a School of Visual Arts Alum. Sprague’s credits include his work on In Bloom, Other People, Dot, Shelter, The Maple Leaf, Things to Do on a Rainy Day, Unfolding Animals, Slasher, and Marina. He has worked professionally on numerous film, commercial, television, and music video sets.

Amit Gajwani

http://www.amitgajwani.com/

Amit Gajwani was born in Bombay, India. At the age of 12, he moved to the United States. The influence of two such very different cultures culminated in a love of travel that has taken him around the world. This extends to his styling, which possesses a depth and sophistication that transcends the ordinary and brings together disparate elements that complement each other fluidly. His keen interest in the fashions of different cultures is evident in his work. After assisting established stylists, he began styling on his own and now has a client list that ranges from editorials to advertising to celebrities.

Jessica Kelleher

http://Jessicakelleher.squarespace.com/

Jessica became interested in makeup through her love of film. Upon graduating high school she started taking classes learning makeup and special fx.  With her knowledge of sculpting and molding, she went on to work at a medical prosthetics firm where she made custom life-like prostheses for amputees.  She then moved on to pursue a career in film and television, and left the firm in 2007 to begin freelancing.  Jessica quickly began working on music videos, commercials, film and television.  She now freelances as a makeup and special effects artist.