Joel O. Shapiro
Joel O. Shapiro began making films at age eight, and hasn’t stopped yet. He attended Performing Arts High School, then later studied experimental film at San Francisco State University. After working in the industry and making numerous short films that have played in festivals around the world, Shapiro returned to film school at Columbia University where he graduated with a specialty in directing in 2005. His thesis film, The Visionary* *(Tesla) was the recipient of a 2004 Alfred P. Sloan Production Award, and the title earned Faculty Honors at the Columbia Film Festival. He is currently developing a feature version of the Nikola Tesla story. Joel O. Shapiro was awarded a Production grant at Columbia in 2004 for The Visionary* *(Tesla)