MATURING YOUTH

Divoni Simon was birthed out of Hempstead, Long Island. Another brick in the wall of average suburbanites, he discovered solace from the crushing indifference of the world surrounding him through the films of Stanley Kubrick, Max Ophüls, Akira Kurosawa, John Ford, and many other directors. Inspired to become a filmmaker, he dedicated himself to learning the rules so that he might break them more fully and artistically. It can be said, Divoni, attended the “Quintin Tarantino Film School”, meaning, all his studies consisted of a rigorous diet of classical films and book research that took place inside the comfortability of his home; free tuition, included. During his senior year of high school, he turned his attention to screenwriting, hand-scribing his first feature-length screenplay during slow class periods. He still writes to this day. In order to fund his directing debut short film, MATURING YOUTH, he took on a series of laborious and temporary side-jobs, with the help of donations from his family. As a writer/director, his goal is to engage a thought-provoking conversation about intellectual and philosophical material that will render his audience emotionally vulnerable.