Frank Pavich

Filmmaker Frank Pavich directed his first documentary when he was twenty-two years old, but one of his greatest accomplishments was helming a documentary about one of the biggest movies that was never made, Alejandro Jodorowsky's "Dune." Pavich's "Jodorowsky's Dune," an exploration of the cult director's failed epic adaptation of the famed sci-fi novel which was supposed to co-star Mick Jagger and Orson Welles, earned rave reviews. Pavich, who is of Croatian descent, first made his mark with the documentary "NYHC" (1999) about the 1980s New York hardcore punk scene. Pavich also co-produced Charles Busch's campy comedy "Die Mommy Die!" (2003), a spoof of old melodramatic noir thrillers like "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962) "Die Mommy Die!" was nominated for a special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003. In between his own film projects, Pavich worked as a production manager on a number of television shows, including "Paranormal State" (A&E 2007-2011) and the reality dating competition "Room Raiders" (MTV 2004 -), but all of this was a preamble to the cinematic-history documentary "Jodorowsky's Dune" (2013). Alejandro Jodorowsky was the cult director of the trippy Western allegory "El Topo" (1970), which had been the first film to develop a following from midnight screenings. Pavich was fascinated by Jodorowsky's epic vision of the famous Frank Herbert science fiction novel Dune, which many considered un-filmable. Jodorowsky's version was going to be thirteen hours long, with Mick Jagger, Orson Welles and Salvador Dali attached to star. The project eventually fell apart, and until Pavich's documentary nearly 40 years later, it remained a little-known "what if?" for cult cinema fans. "Jodorowsky's Dune" received strong reviews when it premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, was an official selection at eight film festivals, including Telluride and the AFI Fest, and it also won eight festival awards. With "Jodorowsky's Dune," Pavich established himself as an inventive documentary filmmaker, and the world was reintroduced to Jodorowsky's wild filmmaking talents.