Dean Israelite

Following in the footsteps of Wayne Kramer, Neill Blomkamp and his own cousin Jonathan Liebesman, Dean Israelite was one of several South African writers/directors who crossed over to Hollywood in the 21st century, scoring a hit with found-footage time-travel thriller "Project Almanac" (2014). Born in Johannesburg in 1984, Israelite studied Dramatic Art at the University of Witwatersrand before moving to Australia where he graduated from Curtin University with a degree in Film and Television. Israelite then landed a place at the American Film Institute Conservatory where he honed his craft with short films such as "Magician" (2006), the story of a man who must rediscover the magic of his childhood to save his young daughter, "The Department of Nothing" (2007), the tale of a lonely 11-year-old boy who finds comfort in his grandmother's storytelling, and "Acholiland" (2009), a drama based on four UN workers caught up in the crossfire of a Northern Ugandan war. After serving as story editor on Australian comedy "Bitter Art" (2009) and war movie "The Precipice" (2013), an assistant on global invasion epic "Battle: Los Angeles" (2011) and executive producer on indie romantic comedy "The Middle Distance" (2014), Israelite made his feature-length directorial debut with "Project Almanac" (2014). A found-footage sci-fi thriller in which a group of teens construct a time machine that inadvertently puts their lives in danger, the film opened to mixed reviews but earned back its modest $12 million budget in its first week of release.