MUSE TV recently talked with the directors of the Bite Size Holiday short film, Science Fair Santa Chris Modoono and Gil Zabarsky. Science Fair Santa a little girl uses the school science fair to convince her classmates of Santa’s existence.
Chris Modoono is an award-winning writer & director residing in Los Angeles, and occasionally New York. TENURED, the feature film he co-wrote and directed for Fox Digital Studio, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and won the audience award at the Maui Film Festival. IT’S A HIT! – (Abby Elliott, Tim Matheson) a TV pilot he co-created and directed for The Orchard, won the Virgin Produced award at SeriesFest Season 2. He’s written for Fox, Disney, and CryptTV. He’s directed commercial campaigns for Amazon, AT&T, Proctor & Gamble, Nationwide, Nickelodeon, Technicolor, and many other happy customers. Chris teaches at Stonestreet Studios exclusive Tisch Drama immersive program for New York University, at New York Film Academy – Burbank, and in the professional program at UCLA. At a towering 6 feet 5 inches, he possesses the unique competitive advantage of being able to spot colleagues in a crowded area quickly.
Gil Zabarsky is an actor, writer, and filmmaker based in New York City, where he graduated with honors from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. At NYU, Gil studied at both the Atlantic Acting School and Stonestreet Studios, and worked for Simon and Goodman Picture Company as a translator and editor on “Strangers No More,” which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short in 2011. Gil starred alongside Rachel Dratch in “Teacher of The Year,” a short film he co-wrote with Chris Modoono, which premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival and became the feature length film TENURED with Fox Digital Studio. Gil was able to star in it again, this time alongside Kate Flannery. It premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, and is now available on Amazon. Gil co-wrote and starred in a pilot titled “It’s a Hit!” produced by The Orchard and also starring Abby Elliot, Tim Matheson, and Tyler Hilton. Premiering at SeriesFest in 2016, it won the Virgin Produced Award. His work has been featured on Netflix, Amazon, Funny or Die, and United Airlines. He is currently writing this bio. And also shopping his comedy feature “Tuesdays with Satan” (what it sounds like). Gil has been described as “fine” to work with.
Gil is the son of Argentine and Russian immigrants. He moved to the United States when he was four years old and became a citizen at 20.
You can see more of the Bite Size Holiday shorts and interviews with the directors by clicking here.
