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MENTORS
Our mentors are seasoned filmmakers that are paired with the winners of The Six Feet Apart Experiment. Each mentor will provide mentorship throughout the project’s development, production, and post-production.
Adil & Bilall
Partnered With: Love You Anyways by Anna Matz
About
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are Moroccan-born Belgian directors who are known for their gritty, electrifying, and distinctive style of filmmaking. The duo is made their stateside film directorial debut with the highly anticipated Bad Boys For Life, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, which Sony released on January 17, 2020. The film re-unites Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, 25 years after the first iconic film was released, and pits them and their newly created elite team against a vicious leader of a Miami drug cartel. While paying homage to the original films and playing off the classic dynamic of Smith and Lawrence’s characters “Mike” and “Marcus,” Adil and Bilall bring their own fresh perspective and unique style to the film, which results in a kinetic and raw energy throughout. The film broke numerous box office records and thus far, has grossed almost 400 million dollars worldwide, making it the highest grossing film in the franchise.
The duo first gained the attention of Hollywood with their film Black, a Romeo & Juliet-type drama set in the world of organized crime in Belgium, which won the Discovery section of the 2015 Toronto Film Festival, where it premiered. As Moroccans based in Belgian, and as Muslim filmmakers, Adil and Bilall have used their platform to shed light on the negative image that immigrants in Belgium have and to give a voice to those who don’t have one. Some of their previous directing work includes the film GANGSTA (for which they are currently developing the sequel), the pilot and establishing episodes of the FX series Snowfall about the crack epidemic, and their first short film Broeders.
Jim Byrkit
Partnered With: Smile or Hug by Chelsea Javier & Paul Sprangers
About
Jim Byrkit’s directorial debut feature Coherence, which he wrote and produced, became an international cult favorite, garnering multiple awards and a rabid fan base among independent filmmakers. In contrast to his low budget expertise, he’s served as a writer and designer on a number of high profile Hollywood projects including the Academy Award-winning animated feature Rango and the original Pirates of The Caribbean trilogy. Jim is passionate about bringing new voices to the forefront of filmmaking and expanding access to the medium for anyone with a passion for storytelling.
Brad Silberling
Partnered With: 25 Cents Per Minute by Tyler Burke
About
Director/Producer/Writer Brad Silberling’s work has traversed features and television throughout his career. His most recent film is the suspense drama An Ordinary Man starring Ben Kingsley. His prior features include City of Angels starring Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage, Moonlight Mile, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon; Lemony Snickett’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, starring Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep; 10 Items of Less starring Morgan Freeman, Land of The Lost starring Will Ferrell, as well as his debut film, the family classic Casper, produced by Steven Spielberg. In television, his growing stable of hit series include the critically acclaimed comedy Jane The Virgin as well as the period drama Reign, contemporary reboots Dynasty and Charmed, and the new Disney Plus series Diary of A Future President. He is a graduate of the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television where he earned his masters degree in production, following his bachelor’s degree in English from UC Santa Barbara.
Nzingha Stewart
Partnered With: Never Better by Julianne Fox
About
Nzingha Stewart attended NYU’s Gallatin School and upon graduation went on to shoot over a hundred music videos for artists like Common, Eve, Jay-Z, and 50 Cent breaking down barriers for women of color in the music video world along the way.
An equally in-demand commercial director, Nzingha has also filmed clips for ESPN, McDonalds, and Coors Light among others.
She broke into the world of film as an Executive Producer on the groundbreaking Lionsgate film, For Colored Girls, and has recently directed episodes of Little Fires Everywhere, Black Monday, Greys Anatomy, A Million Little Things, Good Girls, Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder as well as the feature film Tall Girl for Netflix.
She has also proven herself as a writer having written With This Ring and The Tenth Date (Lifetime/ A+E Networks) which she also directed. Both movies were ratings hits for the network and With This Ring went on to be nominated for three NAACP awards and won the Women In Film award for Best Television Movie.
Next up on the directing front is the feature film Life In Motion (New Line) a biopic about powerhouse prima ballerina Misty Copeland.
Cathy Yan
Partnered With: The Moon and Back by Leah Bleich
About
Cathy Yan’s first feature, Dead Pigs, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and won the Special Jury Prize for ensemble acting. It continued to win awards at festivals around the world. She recently directed the critically acclaimed Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), making her the first Asian woman to direct a superhero film and only the second female director ever. She is next set to co-write and direct Sour Hearts for A24. She recently started a media and entertainment company, Rewild, with producing partner Ash Sarohia.