Steven Cantor

Steven Cantor is an American film/television director and film/television producer.^[1] Seven of his films have been nominated for Emmy Awards, with one winning, and he was nominated for an Academy Award for his first film. Notable works include the films Tent City, USA,^[2] Unraveled, No One Dies in Lily Dale,^[3] Reporter with Nicholas Kristof, I Am an Animal, What Remains, loudQUIETloud: A Film about Pixies, ^[4] American Masters: Willie Nelson, ^[5] Devil's Playground, and Blood Ties.

Cantor also directed and executive produced the HBO series Family Bonds, and has executive produced numerous other television series through his Stick Figure Productions banner.^[6]

Bio

Cantor graduated from the USC School of Cinema-Television. He is the founder of NY based Stick Figure Productions, which he ran for 12 years, prior to selling it in 2013 to Ora, the digital network owned by Carlos Slim Helu.

Film

Blood Ties: The Life and Work of Sally Mann (1994) Director/Producer: Nominated for a 1994 Academy Award in the category of Best Short Subject Documentary;^[7] examines renowned photographer Sally Mann's pictures of her children.

Devil's Playground (2002) Producer: Nominated for an Emmy;^[8] explores the supposed tradition in Amish culture called Rumspringa; the film follows several Amish teenagers who leave their communities to explore the non-Amish world (widely but erroneously believed a normative practice among the Amish). At some point they must decide whether to commit to the strict rules of the Amish Church, or leave their families behind to join "English" society. The film spawned a reality series, "Amish in the City", which Cantor's Stick Figure banner executive produced, as well as a non-fiction book Rumspringa by Tom Shachtman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007).

"American Masters: Willie Nelson: Still is Still Moving" (2004) – An inside look at an American icon as he deals with two families, his relations and his nearly lifelong bandmates.

What Remains (2005) Director/Producer: Studies a further project of Mann’s, a provocative photo series exploring the way in which nature assimilates the body once life has left it, directly confronting American attitudes towards death. The film screened first at The Sundance Film Festival in 2006 before premiering on HBO.^[9]

loudQUIETloud (2006) Director/Producer: Follows the ups and downs of alternative music group The Pixies in their unexpected reformation and the reunion tour.

"I Am an Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA" (2007) Producer: A candid and introspective look at the extreme beliefs and motives of Ingrid Newkirk, the British-born co-founder and driving force behind People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the world's largest animal-rights organization.

"Reporter" (2009) Producer: Follows journalist Nicholas Kristof to the Democratic Republic of Congo to investigate the growing humanitarian crisis.

No One Dies in Lily Dale (2011) Producer: Explores the idyllic community of Lily Dale, a small town boasting the world's largest concentration of mediums (people who claim to communicate with spirits of the deceased).^[10]

Unraveled (2011) Producer: Scrutinizes prominent lawyer Marc Dreier's financial crimes, and depicts his struggle to come to terms with the aftermath of his actions.

"Tent City, U.S.A." (2012) Producer/Director – A look at a homeless community in Nashville, Tennessee.

Television

Family Bonds (2004) Director, Executive Producer: explores the lives of the Evangelistas, a family of bail bondsmen and bounty hunters in Long Island.^[11]

#1 Single (2006) Executive Producer: documents the dating life of singer Lisa Loeb.^[12]

Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane (2007–2008) Executive Producer: Documents the life and Baby Phat fashion empire of former model Kimora Lee Simmons.^[13]

"Amish: Out of Order" (2012) Executive Producer: Documents Mose Gingerich, an Ex-Amish man living in Missouri, and the group of Ex-Amish youths he guides and helps to adapt to English society.

"American Gypsies" (2012) Executive Producer: An unprecedented look into the clandestine world of gypsies, through the eyes of one of the most powerful families in New York, the Johns Family.

Other work

Cantor has directed commercials for such clients as Porsche, NFL/United Way, Dasani, and David Barton Gym.

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Steven Cantor.

• Steven Cantor at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography at Stick Figure Productions
• Ginia Bellafante's review of What Remains: The Life and Work of Sally Mann in The New York Times
• Interview with Steven Cantor on HBO