Duane Graves is an American film director, writer, producer, cinematographer and editor who has produced a body of work spanning multiple genres.[1] In 2023, Deadline Hollywood announced he was named one of Coverfly's best up and coming screenwriters.[2] His career began with the documentary Up Syndrome, which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2001.[3] A portrait of his childhood friend born with Down syndrome,[4]Up Syndrome won numerous awards, including the National Media Award from the National Down Syndrome Congress in 2002,[5] and the Grand Prize at the 2006 Movies Askew Film Festival hosted by Clerks (film) director Kevin Smith.[6] He formed Greeks Films with film school peer, actor and filmmaking partner Justin Meeks in 2001.[7]
Duane Graves
Duane Graves at the 2019 Victoria TX Indie Film Festival.
In 2011, Graves and partner Meeks were two of 26 Austin filmmakers selected - including Jay Duplass, Bob Byington, Ben Steinbauer, David Zellner and others - to remake Richard Linklater's acclaimed 1991 debut feature Slacker (film).[12] Graves and Meeks' segment in the Slacker 2011 anthology was photographed in the same location and with the same actress some twenty years after the original.[13]
Graves then served as editor[17] for the award-winning[18] short film Black Metal, written and directed by Kat Candler.[19]Black Metal, about a husband, father and musician struggling with the guilt and blame of a tragic and senseless murder, premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival,[20] as well as the 2013 SXSW Film Festival.[21]
Most recently, Graves and Meeks served as executive producers of Dane Sears's The Hopewell Haunting, a period ghost story released in 2023 by MPI Media Group/Dark Sky Films.[26][27]
^White, Peter (December 8, 2023). "Coverfly Releases List Of Lists To Highlight Up and Coming Screenwriting Talent". Deadline.
^Hundley, Jessica (January 27, 2001). "PARK CITY 2001: Slamdance Movin' On Up; Alternafests Form United Front". IndieWire.
^ abMartinez, Kiko (May 1, 2020). "Lifelong Friendship: Local filmmaker Duane Graves Looks Back 20 Years on His Directorial Debut Up Syndrome". San Antonio Current.
^"National Down Syndrome Congress Award Recipients" (PDF). National Down Syndrome Congress.
^Smith, Kevin (December 1, 2010). My Boring-Ass Life (Revised Edition): The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith. Titan Books (US, CA). ISBN 9781848569409 – via Google Books.
^ ab"About Duane Graves and Justin Meeks". Greeks Films Official Site.
^Anderson, Joe (25 April 2008). "The Wild Man of the Navidad". Variety.
^"The Wild Man of the Navidad | 2008 Tribeca Festival". 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.
^ abcO'Connell, Joe (September 19, 2008). "Beware: Bigfoot Ahead". The Austin Chronicle.
^Gingold, Michael (15 November 2021). "TEXAS TERROR "THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD" RETURNS ON DVD; NEW TRAILER & ART". Rue Morgue.
^ abGoldberg, Matt (3 May 2011). "23 Austin Filmmakers to Remake Richard Linklater's SLACKER in Honor of Film's 20th Anniversary". Collider.
^Kernion, Jette (23 August 2011). "Slacker 2011: Duane Graves Swelters at the G/M Steakhouse". Slackerwood.
^O'Connell, Joe (October 8, 2013). "A 'Texas Chain Saw' Pedigree". The Austin Chronicle.
^Barton, Steve (August 3, 2012). "Fantasia 2012: Trailer for Original Texas Chain Saw Massacre Producer's New Urban Massacre Flick Boneboys". Dread Central.
^Turek, Ryan (August 9, 2013). "Phase 4 Takes On the Butcher Boys". ComingSoon.net.
^Mitchell, Corey (December 5, 2012). "BLACK METAL Accepted to Sundance!!". Metalsucks.
^Whittaker, Richard (June 9, 2013). "Black Celebration for Kat Candler". The Austin Chronicle.
^Whittaker, Richard (May 19, 2020). "Now Streaming In Austin: "Black Metal"". The Austin Chronicle.
^"Black Metal SXSW Schedule". 2013 SXSW Film Festival. March 9, 2013.
^O'Connell, Joe (December 7, 2012). "Two Gorehounds Go West". The Austin Chronicle.
^Whittaker, Richard (March 25, 2016). "DVDanger: Kill or Be Killed". The Austin Chronicle.
^"Today at the Dallas International Film Festival (4/11/15)". dmagazine.com. April 11, 2015.
^Miska, Brad (November 20, 2015). "'Kill or Be Killed' Poster Hopes to Outrun the Devil (Exclusive)". Bloody Disgusting.
^"THE HOPEWELL HAUNTING Comes To VOD/Digital On June 13th". Horror Society. May 23, 2023.
^ abGingold, Michael (June 5, 2023). "EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS AND COMMENTS, PLUS TRAILER: SOUTHERN GHOST STORY "THE HOPEWELL HAUNTING," COMING NEXT WEEK". Rue Morgue.
^"UP SYNDROME by Duane Graves @ Brooklyn Film Festival". 2001 Brooklyn Film Festival.
^Baumgarten, Marjorie (March 19, 2002). "Movie Review: Up Syndrome". The Austin Chronicle.