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Joe Stankus

Directing

Biography

Joe Stankus is a Brooklyn based writer/director. He enjoys working in both narrative and documentary filmmaking but is especially fond of the blurry area in between.

Known For

Imaginary Friend
4.0

Helen, a lonely and isolated woman, is given the opportunity to connect with people from her past using a new augmented reality device.

Imaginary Friend

2019
What I See When I Look
N/A

Interwoven fragments of one day in the filmmaker's childhood.

What I See When I Look

2021
The Chore
N/A

Ashley Connor and Joe Stankus’s latest quotidian miniature follows two brothers going grocery shopping together, musing on the products they come across, reminiscing about the past, and, finally, comparing notes on snickerdoodle recipes. - NYFF

The Chore

2018
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N/A

The word “personal” doesn’t begin to describe the profound intimacy of this unconventional family portrait, constructed with delicacy and humor by married filmmakers Ashley Connor and Joe Stankus. Neither can that description reveal the artful and intelligent self-awareness of their approach: It Goes That Quick is neither confessional nor exposé but rather something singular and rich—a timeless mosaic of American life, filmed over the course of eight years within one extended Northeastern network of aunts and uncles, parents and grandparents, adults and newborns in which everyone plays a dramatic role that’s no less constructed for being real. By the end of this fleet, loving feature, you feel like a member of the family.

It Goes That Quick

2026
The Backseat
7.0

Two octogenarians become tasked with driving their grown child to work.

The Backseat

2017
Trooper
N/A

When an ex-cop's deathbed confession hints at a terrible crime, a dutiful daughter is forced to confront the differences between the stories we tell ourselves and the truth.

Trooper

2022
Marquee
N/A

Joe Stankus’s MARQUEE (2012) is a lyrical black-and-white visit with now-retired longtime IFC Center usher Larry Alaimo as he changes the letters on the theater’s iconic marquee and reminisces about a life at the movies.

Marquee

2013
Theo Anthony Makes a Stool
N/A

A documentary filmmaker talks us through the steps of his latest project — a wooden stool.

Theo Anthony Makes a Stool

2022
The Layover
N/A

After being delayed a day, a flight attendant hurries home to commemorate a meaningful anniversary.

The Layover

2017
Good News
N/A

Novelist Evan is excited to share the news that he’s been accepted to a prestigious summer writers’ colony with his husband and their friends over an intimate dinner party. But the big reveal doesn’t go as planned in this finely calibrated domestic-drama-in-miniature.

Good News

2019
I've never been a Fisherman
N/A

Street photographer Jay Giampietro details his clandestine process of capturing the odd fringes of New York City on Instagram, in this short documentary piece by Joe Stankus. Not content with showing how Giampietro sneaks his snaps, Stankus also delves into the ethics of photographing strangers − sometimes during intimate moments − in a time of mass surveillance.

I've never been a Fisherman

2019