Griot's Lament

Alex Munoz
While attending his last semester at the USC School of Cinema and Television Munoz directed his first film " RIOT" for Showtime ( Winner of the Audience Award at Geneva Film Festival) , which investigated the civil unrest following the Rodney King verdict. The film premiered at the FIRST AME Church in South Central and the screening was dramatically disrupted by a group of young black community activist who demanded that the entertainment industry do more to engage, train, and employ young people from disadvantaged communities. Munoz responded by forming FYI FILMS ( Films by Youth Inside) which empowers incarcerated youth via personal story telling and digital filmmaking. Munoz went on to direct LIVING THE LIFE, an independent feature film funded by Richard and Esther Shapiro. Following the completion of Living the Life, he went on to direct the award winning "DILEMMA" which was funded by BHERC and Sandra Evers Manly. The film focusses on an unlikely friendship between a Latino and Black youth while serving time at a youth correctional facility. "Lil Scrappy Boy" a short doc focussing on one of his FYI FILMS student and his decision to quit his gang in South Long Beach won Best Short Doc at the Urban World Film Festival. Another web series based on two Latino youth from East Los Angeles. "AYE FOO", is a cross between "Cheech and Chong" and "Beevis and Butthead" starring Johnny Ortiz, It won Best Comedy Webisode Series at UMFF in 2013. Munoz's is also shooting a sports documentary titled "A DREAM DEFERRED", which is organized around Derrick Rose and his Brother / Manager Reg Rose. He created a 15 minute short doc based on the first three days of filming and won BEST SPORTS DOC at Urban Media Makers Film Festival. His current web series, "Griot's Lament" investigates social and racial injustice and uses Michael Jackson song lyrics as dialogue. The series is co funded and produced by Sandra Evers Manly. The three webisodes he has completed have garnered over 15 Million views across multiple platforms. Griot's Lament won the Audience Award for Best Web Series at UMFF in October 2014 , and is nominated in the category of BEST DIRECTION at the upcoming TIVO Creative TV Awards. It was also recently nominated for a Golden Reel Award at the recent LAAPFF. Munoz also directed SPOUT, starring Rena Owen and Lobby Boy aka Tony Revolori from Grand Budapest Hotel. Spout is an off beat quirky vampire film which premiered at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and was well received in Germany after it screened at the Deutsche Kunst Akadamie last fall. Both Griots Lament and Spout are set to stream on Amazon this fall. Munoz is currently doing a final polish on his next feature length film "Make the Moon", which was developed at the Sundance Writer's Lab. The narrative is a suspense horror film, and is organized around the uncanny visits by the ghost of one of her identical twin sons. He is also in development on Versailles 73 which focusses on the incredible Versailles Fashion Show in 1973 during which Five American Fashion Designers blew away all the fashion critics by using all Black models recruited from the streets of NY while using Disco and R and B music. It is considered to be the major turning point for American Designers in the Fashion Industry.