Adrian Esposito

Directing · Rochester, New York, USA

Adrian Esposito was born in Rochester, NY. He is of Lithuanian and Italian heritage and on the autism spectrum. Adrian discovered a love for film when he saw The Nutty Professor (1963) and later Dawn of the Dead (1979). This led him to take classes at Rochester’s Animation Workshop at Animatus Studio when he was twelve years old. In 2008, Adrian received his certificate in Radio and Television Broadcasting from Monroe #1 BOCES Eastern Monroe Career Center. Adrian's company Espocinema was formed in 2008 with the production of his first feature documentary Aging Trees of Knowledge. For that film and the documentaries that followed, Adrian learned to shoot interviews, edit, and distribute with a team of professionals. In 2013 Adrian wrote, produced and edited the narrative film Bury My Heart With Tonawanda, which was directed by Tonawanda Seneca Nation actor Gary Sundown. In 2016, Adrian was named "Filmmaker of the Year" at the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, and his film Diffability Hollywood won Best Documentary Feature at the same festival. His films have also won the Los Angeles Red Nation Film Festival Courage Award twice, and his film We Can Shine: From Institutions to Independence was named Best Documentary at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival. He is a spokesperson for self-advocates, helping the world accept people with disabilities as capable and thus seeing their disabilities as "diffabilities." Since 2016 Adrian moved away from doing historical and educational documentaries to more entertainment themed documentaries and narrative films. His narrative directorial debut was the horror film Clowns in the Woods. For Clowns in the Woods and then Special Needs Revolt, Adrian has gained attention for casting people with disabilities in prominent roles