Sam Borowski

Born and raised in Staten Island, New York, Sam Borowski was destined to be a filmmaker. Indeed, he grew up just a stone's throw from the house that served as the Corleone Home in the Academy-Award winning film, "The Godfather." During his time at the newspaper, Sam won two national writing awards. After selling his first option in 1999 and attending the Cannes Film Festival, Borowski realized his destiny by producing nine films - six features and three shorts - with another feature on the way. Among them, he directed and produced the much-anticipated feature film, "Night Club (2011)," which was Academy-Award Winner Ernie Borgnine's final theatrical feature and also starred Natasha Lyonne, Paull Sorvino and Academy-Award Nominee Sally Kellerman. "Night Club," also won a whopping 16 awards over 8 film festivals. Before that, Borowski wrote, produced and directed, "The Mandala Maker", a short for Academy-Award consideration in 2010 that got considerable Oscar buzz and went on to qualify for the Oscars in the Live-Action Short category. To date, it garnered seven awards over eight festivals, including three in the prestigious Accolade competition (for Direction, Short Film and Lead Actress). It also played in the prestigious Film Columbia Festival, in a block alongside 2010 Academy-Award Best Picture nominees, "Prescious" and "Up In The Air." One of the features he produced, Rex (2008), experienced quite a bit of success on the festival circuit, winning numerous awards and honors. As the producer of Rex, Borowski was awarded the Audience Choice Award in both the SINY Film Festival in Staten Island, and the 25th Long Island Film Festival in 2008. In addition, Rex was nominated for Best Picture in both of those festivals, as well as several other awards. It also captured Breakout Performance for Acting (Robin Anne Phipps) in the Long Island Film Festival and Best Actress (Robin Anne Phipps) and Best Actor (Eric Rosenberg) honors in the 2008 Queens International Film Festival, and played in the 2009 Traildance Film Festival in Oklahoma. Interestingly enough, Borowski was responsible for casting Rex, and handpicked both Phipps and Rosenberg, who each won acting awards. He also selected all of the music, which included that of Empire City Motorcade, and used his style and sensibility while sitting in editing every day as the Post-Production Supervisor. Borowski also served as a Second-Unit Director on Rex, directing several key scenes including the climactic and shocking ending. Borowski cut his teeth writing and producing the feature-length documentary, "Creature Feature: 50 Years of the Gill-Man", which features Academy-Award Winner Benicio Del Toro and is narrated by A-lister Keith David. The film, tells the story of the era surrounding the creation and distribution of the innovative horror film, Creature From the Black Lagoon, and its impact on the genre. In addition, Borowski has also worked as a script doctor for both studios and independent film companies. He previously lived in London, England for three years, but resides once again in Staten Island, New York. Most recently, he produced a feature film, "A Place For Heroes," in Iowa in summer 2012 starring Paul Sorvino, Academy-Award Nominee Sally Kellerman, Bill Sorvino and Samantha Tuffarelli. And, he also produced and directed another short for Academy-Award Consideration, "Maniac," starring Bill Sorvino in 2013.