Janicza Bravo studied directing and design for theatre at NYU. She is a writer and director based in Los Angeles. Gregory Go Boom, premiered at this year's 30th Sundance Film Festival. The film took home the Short Film Jury Award for U.S. Fiction. She is currently in post on a new short, Cat Watch Horn, which starts Gaby Hoffman and Megan Mullally.
The film was shot in a small town three hours driving distance from LA. The story is inspired by a real experience of the filmmaker, who saw a young man next table, self-consciously waiting for someone when she was out having dinner with her boyfriend. It turns out that the young man was going for a blind date, and it was not surprising that the girl whom he had been waiting for could not help looking shocked as she finally showed up. The girl apologized for being late and mentioned she couldn't stay long. Janicza immediately became sympathetic toward this young man and decided to tell a story about those who suffer, on a daily basis, at the receiving end of the shocked/discriminating look resulted from their "limitations".
Interesting Anecdote: the small town where the shooting took place is a popular site for porn films. The crew tried really hard to convince the local that they were not working on another porn.
