Bryan Poyser

Bryan Poyser was born in Austin, TX. He lived in several states, including Washington, New York, Connecticut and Colorado before returning to the Lone Star State to attend film school. Poyser graduated from the University of Texas in 1996, where he co-founded the Cinematexas International Short Film Festival. He began his career writing and directing short films, including "Jesus of Judson" (1996) and "Pleasureland" (2001). Shot in black-and-white, "Pleasureland" told the story of a female video store clerk and a male customer obsessed with renting adult movies. After almost 10 years of working in the film industry, Poyser wrote and directed "Dear Pillow," his first full-length feature, in 2004. The film centered on a bored suburban 17-year-old (Rusty Kelley) who befriends his neighbor, an older man who also happens to write for an adult magazine called Dear Pillow. His provocative feature debut earned Poyser comparisons to Larry Clark and Todd Solondz, both of whom made dark, thought provoking, and socially conscious films. "Dear Pillow" premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival and made the rounds at more than 30 U.S. and European festivals.Poyser made his producing debut in "The Cassidy Kids" (2006), a drama thriller starring Kadeem Hardison and Judah Friedlander. He returned to the world of short films with "Grammy's" (2007) and "The Crane House" (2009), before working on his next feature. In 2010, Poyser wrote and directed "Lovers of Hate," a hilarious tale of sibling rivalry that followed two brothers - disheveled loser Rudy (Chris Doubek) and successful novelist Paul (Alex Karpovsky). While Paul and his lover Diana (Heather Kafka) - Rudy's ex-wife - spend a weekend in his mountain cabin, his sad-sack brother spies on them and attempts to wreck their romantic retreat. The film received positive reviews from critics after it screened at the Sundance Film Festival. It was a bittersweet time for the filmmaker, whose father passed away in November 2009, just a week after learning "Lovers of Hate" was accepted to screen at Sundance. For this piece of work, Poyser received a John Cassavetes Award nomination at the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards.