Filmmaker Profile: Nic Inglese
Nic Inglese
Nic is a writer, director, and actor born and raised in Queens, New York. He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU Tisch, and received his BFA in Film from SUNY Purchase.
As an actor, he has appeared in feature films like Babes (SXSW, 2024) and After Class (Tribeca Film Festival, 2019), as well as TV series such as Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, GIRLS5EVA, and Succession.
Nic is looking forward to watching the New York Mets win the 2024 World Series.
This Q&A is part of the Bushwick Film Fest Filmmaker Q&A series
What inspired you to create this film, and how did the initial idea come to you?
All Boys is a proof-of-concept short based on the feature screenplay I wrote for my MFA thesis at NYU Tisch. Funding a debut feature film is tough, so we decided to take a key scene from the screenplay and adapt it into a short film. The Telephone game in the short is the basis for everything that will follow in the full-length feature.
What was the biggest inspiration behind this film?
This short film is a love letter to my high school years. It is loosely based on my experiences attending an all boys Catholic high school in Manhattan, which is where we were fortunate enough to shoot the film.
Nicole DiMarco, who plays Miss Gallo, was my high school drama teacher and in fact first encouraged me to pursue directing when I was her student. This collaboration marked an amazing full circle moment for the both of us.
Each of these characters is inspired by the classmates and teachers with whom I spent my most formative years. I really loved my high school experience, and I wanted to capture the specificity of that time on film.
What was your favorite part of making your film? Memories from the process?
The entire three-day shoot felt like a dream come true — because it was.
After months of pre-production, arriving on set and seeing the screenplay come to life thanks to our wonderful cast and crew was an incredibly cathartic and emotional experience.
From the very first rehearsal, it was clear our casting director SJ Allocco had assembled the perfect cast for our film. The actors clicked right away, and it was a joy watching them collaborate and interact with one another.
One of my favorite moments in the film is when Father Frank asks one of the boys why he’s changed his name to “O.D.” This wasn’t scripted, and actually came out of a moment in between takes when Dan Butler asked Nicholas Victor Matos to explain the meaning of his character’s name. We quickly devised an interaction between the two characters, which eventually grew to include the entire cast.
Why is filmmaking important to you? Why is it important to the world?
I probably first fell in love with filmmaking because of its ability to connect me to my family and friends. Sharing favorite movie moments with the people closest to me is honestly something of a love language.
What truly changed my life was when I started having those same shared experiences with complete strangers. There’s nothing quite like laughing and crying together in a theater. I hope audiences will continue to support their local theaters and film festivals and the independent films they showcase.
Nic Inglese's Q&A is part of the Bushwick Film Festival Filmmaker Q&A series.
