Dustin Guy Defa

{{Infobox person

| name = Dustin Guy Defa

| image =VIS - Vienna Independent Shorts 2014 Stadtkino Künstlerhaus Dustin Guy Defa.jpg

| caption =

| birth_place = Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.

| occupation = Director, Screenwriter, Actor

| years_active = 2008–present

}}

Dustin Guy Defa is an American independent filmmaker and actor. He is best known for directing the feature films Bad Fever and Person to Person and writing the screenplay for The Mountain.{{Cite web |title=Dustin Guy Defa's Top 10 |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/top-10-lists/317-dustin-guy-defas-top-10 |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=The Criterion Collection |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Kohn |first=Eric |date=2017-01-20 |title=Tragedy, Neurosis, Sundance: The Long, Strange Journey of 'Person to Person' Director Dustin Guy Defa |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2017/01/person-to-person-director-dustin-guy-defa-michael-cera-interview-sundance-2017-1201770611/ |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=IndieWire |language=en}}

Early life

Dustin Guy Defa was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1978.{{Cite web|url=https://www.viennale.at/en/guest/dustin-defa|title=Dustin Guy Defa | Viennale|website=www.viennale.at}}

Career

Defa wrote and directed his first feature film Bad Fever in 2011. It starred Kentucker Audley and Eleonore Hendricks and focused on the story of a socially inept wannabe stand-up comic who becomes infatuated with a drifter he meets outside of a gas station.{{Cite web|url=https://filmmakermagazine.com/21153-dustin-guy-defas-bad-fever/|title=DUSTIN GUY DEFA'S "BAD FEVER" | Filmmaker Magazine|first=Brandon|last=Harris|date=March 11, 2011}} The film premiered at South by Southwest to positive reviews, commending the film's pared-down naturalism and the direction of the actors.

The New Yorker's Richard Brody praised the film, saying "Defa exerts delicate control over his incendiary material and evokes emotional terrors with a sympathetic directness; his raw-toned drama is quietly hectic and brutally poignant."{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/bad-fever|title=Bad Fever|magazine=The New Yorker}}

Defa then made two short films, Person to Person and Family Nightmare which both premiered at the Sundance Film Festival

In 2015, the Film Society of Lincoln Center programmed a retrospective of his short work.{{Cite web|url=https://investors.vimeo.com/news-releases/news-release-details/vimeo-rings-new-year-january-staff-pick-premieres-slate |title=Vimeo Rings in the New Year with January Staff Pick Premieres Slate|date=4 January 2017 |access-date=February 12, 2023|website=Vimeo|language=en}}

Defa wrote a screenplay for a feature-length version of Person to Person. The film follows a series of characters living in New York City as they navigate a myriad of complex human relationships. He cast actors including Abbi Jacobson, Michael Cera, Tavi Gevinson, Philip Baker Hall and director Josh Safdie to fill in the ensemble cast. The film premiered in the NEXT Section at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and later had a full theatrical run.

In 2018, Defa co-wrote the subversive 1950's period film The Mountain with director Rick Alverson and Colm O'Leary.

In 2023, he directed a film The Adults, which was screened in Encounter at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival, for its world premiere on 18 February 2023.{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2023/01/berlin-film-festival-competition-lineup-1235237036/ |title= Berlin Film Festival: Sean Penn, Philippe Garrel, Margarethe Von Trotta & Christian Petzold In Competition – Full List |first= Zac |last= Ntim|website= Deadline Hollywood |date=23 January 2023 |access-date=February 12, 2023|language=en}}

Acting

Defa acted in the feature films Computer Chess, Summer of Blood, Swim Little Fish Swim, and the TV show Easy.{{Cite news |last=Catsoulis |first=Jeannette |date=2012-02-03 |title=Striving for Comedy, a Loner Shuffles Toward Tragedy |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/movies/bad-fever-directed-by-dustin-guy-defa.html |access-date=2022-10-25 |issn=0362-4331}}

He did the voiceover for the short film Family Tree.{{Citation |title=Easy |date=2016-09-22 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5562056/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2 |type=Comedy |publisher=Sparrow Grass |access-date=2022-10-25}}{{Cite web |last=Lavallée |first=Eric |date=2014-07-17 |title=Dustin Guy Defa, Janicza Bravo, Bernardo Britto & Sean Porter Among Filmmaker Magazine's 2014 Top 25 New Faces |url=https://www.ioncinema.com/news/dustin-guy-defa-janicza-bravo-bernardo-britto-sean-porter-among-filmmaker-magazines-2014-top-25-new-faces |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=IONCINEMA.com |language=en-US}}

Starting in 2015, Defa began to portray the character of Aziz on The Show About the Show.

Filmography

2011 - Family Nightmare; short film
2012 - Bad Fever
2013 - The Sixth Year; segment director
2013 - Declaration of War; short film
2013 - Lydia Hoffman Lydia Hofman; short film
2014 - Person to Person; short film
2015 - Review; short film
2015 - God Is an Artist; short film
2016 - Dramatic Relationships; short film
2017 - Person to Person
2021 - Editing; short film
2023 - The Adults (director)

References

External links

{{IMDb name|1037451}}

Category:1978 births

Category:Filmmakers from Utah

Category:Living people