BACKFILMTV THEATRECOMMERCIALCASTING DIRECTORSAGENTS

Mathew will be casting and directing 3 upcoming films and he has previously cast One on One actors.

Study with Sundance-Tribeca Award-Winning Director and work on scenes from Matthew's upcoming film projects!

This class meets 3 times. Dates:
Thursday, February 18, 2010, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Thursday, February 25, 2010, 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Thursday, March 4, 2010, 3:00pm - 4:30pm

Cancel Deadline: 02/05/10

Fee: $210

This event is in the past.

WEEK ONE:  Auditioning On-Camera
Prior to class, Matthew will assign your audition scene from his past and current film projects. Each actor will privately audition for Matthew.  Then class will begin with Matthew’s critique and adjustments for each actor. Auditions will be put on tape and uploaded for the class to review.
 
WEEK TWO:  Rehearsing with your film Director
Matthew will apply his on-set rehearsal techniques with each actor.  Each actor will bring back their week # 1 scene and be put back on tape. 
 
At the end of class, each actor will be given their second scene from Matthew's film projects for week #3 to be fully memorized and will be given a scene partner.
 
WEEK THREE:  Observations and Adjustments
The final class will strictly consist of rehearsing each scene.  Matthew will observe, adjust and direct each actor.
 
The goal of the class is to get actors comfortable collaborating and rehearsing with a film director.  Students will learn artistic and technical tools they can apply to their future auditions and acting work.

Please keep March 11th as an emergency hold date.

Mr. Bonifacio's feature film directorial debut, Lbs., was nominated for the John Cassavetes Award at the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards. He also co-wrote and produced Lbs., which premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Alfred P. Sloan Award. Theatrically released in 2010 in seven cities, Lbs. had the #1 per-screen-average in the country its opening weekend.  Well-received by top critics and audiences alike, Lbs. was released on DVD earlier this year.
 
At the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival’s first annual Tropfest@Tribeca, co-jurors Matt Dillon and Naomi Watts awarded Mr. Bonifacio’s short, The Watering Hole, the Grand Jury Prize. Mr. Bonifacio directed, co-wrote and produced the film. The award jury also included Darren Aronofsky, Caroline Baron, Famke Janssen, Anthony LaPaglia and Charles Randolph.
 
Mr. Bonifacio directed and produced his second feature film, Amexicano, which made its world premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Amexicano, acquired by Maya Entertainment Group, was theatrically released in the fall of ‘08. The film received positive reviews in The New York Times, New York Daily News and Variety. Amexicano is available on DVD through Netflix and Amazon.
 
Short film credits include: From Woodside, Queens (Oscar®-qualifying Aspen Shortsfest 2004); Bagelized! (Oscar®-qualifying 2006 Palms Springs Shortsfest, Oscar®-qualifying Aspen Shortsfest 2005) and New Boobs which was one of six projects commissioned by Atom.com (formerly AtomFilms).  With over 1 million plays, New Boobs is the most viewed commissioned short by Atom.com of all time. Atom.com is a division of Viacom Inc.’s MTV Networks and a partner of Comedy Central.
 
Music video credits include:  Straight No Chaser’s Who Spiked The Eggnog? (Atlantic Records) and Lupe Fiasco - My Radio is Bigger Than Yours (Atlantic Records), a short comedy promoting music by Grammy®-Nominated Lupe Fiasco.
 
Mr. Bonifacio has directed and produced commercials for Major League Baseball/Verizon, DRI (starring Sugar Ray Leonard), Ad Council's Campaign For Freedom, HSBC, Vonage and others.  He directed, wrote and produced, Open Up, an Anti-Racism PSA, which won a Telly Award, Cine Golden Eagle Award and at the Intercom/Chicago International Film Festival he won a Special Achievement Award for Direction.
 
Mr. Bonifacio served on the award jury at the 2nd Annual Tropfest@Tribeca 2007 with Josh Lucas, Griffin Dunne, Rose Byrne, Tom McCarthy, Mary Harron and Bennett Miller.

Not for Nothing, his third feature film, starring Thomas Ian Nicholas, Dominic Fumusa, Andrea Martin, Mike Starr, Dominik Garcia-Lordio, and Federico Castelluccio is currently in post production .
 
Upcoming feature films include: Scrap, Bloom, Brickhead (Khandi Alexander of HBO’s Treme attached) and Luka By The Sea.
 
Matthew Bonifacio was born, raised and resides in Brooklyn, New York.
 
 

After each of Matthew’s classes he has always brought in selected One On One members to audition for his projects...  Many have been cast!

SELECT ACTORS WHO HAVE BEEN DIRECTED BY, COACHED BY or STUDIED WITH MATTHEW INCLUDE:
Douglas Taurel (Nurse Jackie, Blue Bloods)
Nadia Gan (What Maisie Knew)
Jingchu Zhang (Rush Hour 3)
J. Elaine Marcos (Broadway's Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Morning Glory)
Lake Bell (What Happens in Vegas)
Gleendilys Inoa (Don’t Let Me Drown – Sundance Film Festival)
Miriam Shor (Swingtown, CBS TV)
Michael Aronov (Without a Trace)
Manny Perez (Pride and Glory)
Frances Turner (Two Dollar Beer, 20th Century Fox TV)
Sharon Angela  (The Sopranos)
Kelsey Fowler (Broadway’s Mary Poppins)
Richie Pecci (Todd Solondz’ Life During Wartime – Telluride, Venice, Toronto, New York Film Festivals )

Selected critic quotes on Matthew's first feature film, LBS:
"Credit must be given to Bonifacio for his nuanced direction and the very real performances he elicits from his actors...equally important, in less skillful hands, "Lbs." might have been nothing more than a dramatization of self-help rehab cant rather than a sad and haunting story." - Simi Horwitz, BACK STAGE

"Kudos to Matthew Bonifacio for crafting an inspirational, humorous portrait of an individual grappling with an addiction that, unlike heroin or alcohol, has rarely been addressed in film." -Andrew Grant, TIMEOUT NEW YORK

Selected critic quotes on Matthew's second feature film, AMEXICANO:

"Realistic performances and genuine emotions make Matthew Bonifacio’s quiet charmer AMEXICANO much more than just another preachy treatise on illegal immigration."
- Laura Kern, NEW YORK TIMES
 
"Matthew Bonifacio, whose work has played the city’s film festivals, does the kind of thing filmmakers like Edward Burns always hoped to do but never quite accomplished."
- Joe Neumaier, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
 
"Constantly unpredictable yet totally organic" "Indeed all the thesping is excellent" "(a pitch-perfect Raul Castillo)"
- Ronnie Scheib, VARIETY

 
Matthew is also our in-house Acting Coach!

Have an audition that you're not sure about? Need to brush up before you're put on camera? Need help with a scene or monologue?

Private Acting Coach/Teacher & Award-Winning Filmmaker Matthew Bonifacio will help you master the audition by working closely with you on your scene or monologue. He really focuses on the actor's individual needs so they are able to showcase their best work.

"I highly recommend him to any actor.  He was very easy going, but very specific.  He knows how to direct actors and how to give them technical notes without stifling them.  I felt very relaxed and like I really worked!  By the end of the session I felt I had achieved certain goals I came in with and left with a feeling of wanting to work with him again.  The whole process was very collaborative.  He's a great person to coach with!"
- One on One member Jennifer Capriccio

Jack Haley
After taking a class with Award Winning Director Matthew Bonifacio, Jack was called in and CAST in MIGRAINE the film he's shooting now!

Michael Santora
Since starting to work with Matthew Bonifacio, both on monologues and TV/Film sides, Michael has gotten several callbacks and landed an agent.

John Austin Wiggins
After submitting to a casting notice on One-on-One's website, John was called in to audition for Matthew Bonifacio's film, NOT FOR NOTHING, and subsequently BOOKED THE ROLE!

Douglas Taurel
Douglas booked a featured role in Nurse Jackie after a private coaching session with Matthew Bonifacio.

Tara Westwood
MATTHEW BONIFACIO cast TARA as the lead in his short film after meeting her in a Direct from Sundance Class at One on One.