The Ghost of Summers Past

Director’s bio:

A.J. Ciccotelli (Director) was born in Bangkok, Thailand, raised in Queens, New York, and is now a New Jersey resident. He has been creative since he could walk. He fell in love with cinema during childhood after seeing Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie. He soon discovered slasher films and then the art house movie. He enrolled as a theater major at Hillcrest High School under the guidance of Jessica Rothman in New York City and fell in love with the stage as a teenager as well.

Since graduating high school, he received a B.A. in theatre at SUNY Empire State College, M.F.A. in playwriting at the Actors Studio Drama School at The New School for Social Research under the guidance of Romulus Linney, an M.A. in directing at Roosevelt University in Chicago under many incredible professors and his mentor Jerry Profit and a M.F.A. in screenwriting at The David Lynch Graduate School of Cinematic Arts at Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa with professors and leaders like Anya Leta, Antonia Ellis, Amine Kouider, Neil Stevens and most of all the leadership of Dorothy Rompalske and Erika Richards who has brought him to a deeper more profound way of living life and creating art.

His feature film Ripples of Water won the audience award for Best Feature Film at qFLIX Philadelphia film festival, a silver award at Philadelphia International Film Festival and Market and nominated for best feature at Block Island Film Festival.. Ripples was also a finalist at OUT Kansas City and a semi-finalist at Shanghai Film Festival. It is an official selection for My True Colors Film Festival in Brooklyn, New York City , Depth of Field Festival in Rehoboth Beach, DE, and received a Cornet selection for Queen Palm Film Festival in California. His short films The Dance, I.W.S.K., 5:25 to 5:45 (or something like that) has won a slew of awards on the film festival circut. His recent short The Devil’s Playground won best short film (thriller) at Block Island Film Festival, an award-winning film from Show Low Film Festival, and won best NJ short horror film from Jersey Shore Film Festival right out of the gate. His second feature Fabulous Seven Forever won best feature at Qflix film festival in Asbury Park, best feature comedy at Atlantic City Cinefest amongst many awards through the festival circuit.