"An essential element of any art is risk. If you don’t take a risk then how are you going to make something really beautiful, that hasn’t been seen before." – Francis Ford Coppola

Joseph Fusco is a Writer-Director living and working in New York City. 

Photo: Matthew Flannery

For as far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a movie director. From my early memory of the opening shot to Star Wars when I was 5 years old, flickering images in front of me and the mechanical sound of the projector behind me, have inspired my imagination. Growing up obsessed with movies, drumming, and painting, I gloriously misspent my youth developing those disciplines.

I attended the famed Drama Department of the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and graduated with a BFA in film production from Syracuse University's School of Visual and Performing Arts. 

In 2016 I wrote, produced, directed, edited, and narrated the documentary, "Finish Line: The Rise and Demise of Off-Track Betting." It played at several festivals and won 5 awards.

Prior to that, in 2010, I wrote and directed my first feature film, "Chloe, A to Z," starring Natasha Warner and Angel Dillemuth, which premiered as an Official Selection of the New Filmmakers Showcase.