Pierre Stefanos

Cinema

Director, Producer, Writer, Editor

New York, NY

Working On: Bedfellows DVD, “Fest Selects: Best Gay Shorts, VOL. 1” ON 5/17

Representation

  • Bedfellows Sales Agent: Network Ireland Television, Dublin.
  • Union Status
  • Non-Union

Projects

Biography  

Mr. Stefanos, a graduate of Columbia University and a native New Yorker, has established himself as a writer, director, editor, and producer during an eight-year span in the film and television business. He has been a writer for more than half of his life, first as a music critic and opinions columnist for the Columbia Daily Spectator and the vaunted independent music review site, InkblotMagazine.com.

After several years working with Fortune 100 clients for companies like AT&T; and PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mr. Stefanos re-focused his attention on the creative arts. He learned the ins-and-outs of film production, going on to become an assistant director and production manager for many award-winning NY-based independent films. He also became a well-respected script reader/analyst for the award-winning independent film production company, Open City Films/Blow Up Pictures.

Mr. Stefanos’ most significant contributions have been in post-production: earning a 2006 Business Emmy nomination as a team member for the segment” Crude Awakening” featured on the PBS investigative news series, “Now;” assisting acclaimed documentary editor Nancy Baker on the 2007 Academy-Award nominated film “Rehearsing A Dream;” and editing for the 2008 Emmy-winning episode of Bravo’s “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List” for Outstanding Reality Non-Competition Series. Mr. Stefanos also worked as an assistant editor on the 2011 Academy Award-nominated documentary short, “Killing In The Name.”

In 2009, Mr. Stefanos won 1st Place in the 6th Annual NYC Midnight Screenwriter’s Challenge, for his short script, Chapter 5. Following up that win, he wrote the first three drafts of another short, Bedfellows, in only 24 hours for the contest’s final round. Earning comparisons to narrative features including “Magnolia” and “Little Children,” in September 2009, Mr. Stefanos produced and directed “Bedfellows,” a 15-minute H.D. short, which became his first professionally shot narrative project in both roles.

“Bedfellows” had its world premiere in April 2010 at the Sarasota Film Festival and has gone on to win six Audience Award prizes for short films – from the largest LGBT festival on the East Coast in the U.S., the 2010 Philadelphia QFest, the inaugural 2010 Anaheim International Film Festival, the 10th Annual Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival, a 1st Runner-Up placement for Best Gay Short at the 2010 Hamburg International Queer Film Festival in Germany, as well as the 1st Runner-Up slot for the 2010 Golden Space Needle Audience Award for Best Short Film at the prestigious, Oscar-qualifying Seattle International Film Festival. “Bedfellows” was the highest-rated Live-Action Short Film by the audience at SIFF 2010 and the only American film among the top 5.

“Bedfellows” has concurrently won 17 Jury Prizes internationally, including the “Best Short Film” Jury Prize from the 2011 Palm Beach International Film Festival, the 2011 Monaco Charity Film Festival, and the 2010 Serile Filmului Gay International Film Festival in Romania, as well as the “Alternative Spirit Award 1st Prize” from the Oscar-qualifying 2010 Rhode Island International Film Festival and the “Best Short Film” Honorable Mention from the 2010 Mezipatra Czech Queer Film Festival in Prague.

“Bedfellows” has also won the “Best Gay/Lesbian Film.” Audience Choice prizes at the 2011 NYC Downtown Short Film Festival, the “Best LGBT Film” award at the 30th Annual Breckenridge Festival of Film, the “Best Dramatic Men’s Short” from the 2011 Fort Worth International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, and was nominated for seven awards (and won 4) from the 2010 Long Island International Film Expo. The cinematography of DP Clayton Combe, the original score of composer Ron Passaro, the lead performance by actor Paul Caiola, and the writing and directing of Mr. Stefanos were all recognized with awards at LIIFE 2010. Mr. Passaro has won additional accolades for his score from the 2011 Park City Film Music Festival and the 2011 Garden State Film Festival, while Mr. Combe received an additional Honorable Mention for his cinematography from the 2010 HDFest.

“Bedfellows” is an Official Selection at 100+ film festivals in over 20 countries on six continents, including ones in the U.S., Canada, UK, Brazil, France, Spain, Germany, Norway, Finland, Israel, Hong Kong, and Australia, among other countries. “Bedfellows” was the sole U.S. narrative short selected amongst 40 shorts to screen in competition at the 2010 Tirana International Film Festival in Albania, the sole U.S. gay narrative short out of 25 selected for the 25th Annual BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, 1 of only 20 short films chosen to screen in competition at the 2011 Margaret River Short Film Fest in Australia, 1 of only seven short films selected to play at the 2010 Out In Africa International LGBT Film Festival in South Africa, and was short-listed amongst only 30 films for the 2010 Iris Prize in the U.K., the most lucrative award for all LGBT short films in the world.

On May 17, 2011, “Bedfellows” became available for purchase on DVD as part of the First Run Features gay shorts compilation feature, “Fest Selects: Best Gay Shorts, Vol. 1.” The DVD can be found at Amazon.com, Best Buy, TLA Video, and other online retailers, as well as for rental on NetFlix home-viewing in the U.S. and Canada.

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Favorite movies

  • Kubrick is my ideal, so I guess you could say I aim high:~)
  • Anything by Killer Films (no kissing up here, I own Hedwig, Velvet Goldmine, Series 7, Boys Don’t Cry, This American Life, etc. etc. etc. – even the soundtracks!)
  • The top three films are True Romance, Memento, and Donnie Darko – so anything by those writers/directors.
  • A wide spectrum of tastes from Rear Window to The Matrix to Sicko

Favorite TV-shows

  • Usually buzzy shows like Mad Men, Vampire Diaries, Grey’s, and most of the Showtime/HBO lineup – don’t get to watch good enough 1/2 hour comedies though.

Favorite music

  • Used to be a music critic, so I tend to look to indie music and abroad – lived in the U.K., so I’m a big Britpop and electro fan. But I dig Top 40 as well as 80’s cheese.

Bedfellows IMDB Page
“Bedfellows” on Facebook
“Bedfellows” on DVD at Amazon.com

Social

Timeline

  • Brighton, 2013

Brighton Pierre Stefanos - 1

The short drama is about “a man’s journey to the southern coast of England becomes complicated when a tourist’s dangerous promise changes both of their lives.” IMDB

  • Fest Selects: Best Gay Shorts, Vol. 1 (segment “Bedfellows”), 2011

“Eight gay shorts culled from top film festivals” IMDB

  • Bedfellows (Short), 2010

Bedfellows Pierre Stefanos - 2

“The film ‘Bedfellows,’ told in the style of an old children’s fairy tale but set against the modern-day backdrop of New York City, follows the adventure of 20-something Bobby as he returns to the gay bar where he got his heartbroken for the first time.” IMDB

  • Bedfellows Soundtrack (Short), 2010

IMDB