James Camali is an accomplished filmmaker born and raised in New Jersey, and now a Brooklyn native. James’s first foray into filmmaking was when he was ten years old after his close friend, Dom, hijacked his father’s MiniDV camcorder. That summer they went on to produce a series of blockbuster heist movies aptly titled THE HEIST 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Filmmaking became a way for them to escape the banality of suburban life.
Coming out of high school, James was first an architecture student at Roger Williams University, but after a year he transferred to the School of Visual Arts to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a filmmaker. In his third year of film school, he directed and co-produced the made-for-tv movie, A FATAL OBSESSION, with help from his close friend and collaborator, Ronnee Swenton, as well as producer Richard Switzer. At only 22 years old, the feat made James the youngest American to direct a television movie.
Since then, his thesis film, GARY, became an award-winning short and he EP’ed the award-winning feature film THE LENNON REPORT. His most recent feature film, THE MENTAL STATE, has been a long-time passion project and hopes to secure distribution for 2021.
Director Statement
Sometimes a man believes the world is his kingdom. That man is just plain stupid.
Comedy FESTIVAL 