Jon Moritsugu

Quick Facts

Full Name	Jon Moritsugu
Date Of Birth	Feb 15, 1965(1965-02-15)
Age	59
Birthplace	Honolulu
Country	United States
Birth City	Hawaii
Horoscope	Aquarius

Jon Moritsugu Biography

Jon Moritsugu is one of the most popular and richest Filmmaker who was born on February 15, 1965 in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Jon Moritsugu (born February 15 1965) is an American filmmaker who is a cult underground. His films are satirical, protopunk dissections of popular genres, and formats, with shockingly garish and scabrous outcomes. The New York Times describes the films as “funny, anarchic, provocative and exhilarating”. Inspired by the nihilism of Jean-Luc Godard as well as Guy Debord, Moritsugu’s films are typically characterized in terms of its “lo-fi” aesthetic and were originally shot using 16mm film to create an intense, visceral look. He says that he tends to “pay(s) less attention to narrative flow and storyline and put(s) more emphasis on sight, sound and spectacle” in order to create a film that’s “like a live punk/hardcore show.” The films themselves are usually funny comedies with an actress co-writer, stylist and wife Amy Davis. The most well-known of them is his film of the same name, Mod Fuck Explosion The films of Moritsugu have been shown during Sundance, Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Rotterdam, Venice, New York Underground, Chicago Underground, MoMA, Guggenheim, Whitney and many other festivals and museums. In 2001, he was awarded an award for the Moving Image award from Creative Capital.

Following the completion of a European promotional tour as well as American appearances in support of Terminal USA, Moritsugu resumed post-production work on Mod Explosion. “A defiantly rough-hewn return to barely-aboveground roots despite some overlaps with Terminal USA,” the project was completed in 1994 and received the “Best Feature” Award at the New York Underground Film Festival. The film was screened on the film festival circuit and garnered a lot of attention in the press, with Moritsugu noting that “Mod Fuck blew-up in Germany, Scandinavia, and the Benelux countries–they really responded to the angst, death, and Amy as a hot blonde walking on raw meat.” In America the film premiered in several cities. It had a 13-week run with Los Angeles at the Laemmle Sunset 5 and sold-out runs in Seattle and Baltimore. Giant Robot said about the film: “Jon Moritsugu hit some weird epiphany during the making of this film, which was his first mass-watchable work. Jon’s wife Amy Davis plays a performance art girl who’s caught in a rumble between a small group of mods and a Japanese motorcycle gang. […] The performances are weird, intentionally screwed up, and dumb, but that’s part of the film’s brilliance. If you’re a fan of strange flicks, you’ll start remembering the lines and using them. […] Awesome soundtrack by Unrest and Karyo Tengoku”. The film was voted by people who read Wired for inclusion in the “Wildest Exploitation Movies,” being a part of the list along with Eraserhead, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Night of the Living Dead and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!.

Moritsugu’s next feature was 1997’s Fame Whore, which reprised sitcom mockery and absurdism in service of three parallel stories critiquing fame and featuring Amy Davis as a stoner, trust-fund brat. Produced again by Andrea Sperling, the 16mm movie was a recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Award. It received “Best Feature” and “Festival Choice” honors at the New York Underground Film Festival and the Los Angeles Times said of it, “Fame Whore is crude, edgy and energetic, and its stars throw themselves into their roles with welcome gusto.” The movie opened theatrically throughout the US and Europe, screening at Lincoln Center in NYC and running for 5 weeks in Los Angeles. Fame Whore was considered for an Academy Award in 1999, but it was rejected on a technicality because it had opened in Los Angeles in 16 mm, and at the time, all Academy Award considerations had to be shown in 35 mm.

In late 1999 Moritsugu started work on his next feature, Scumrock, produced once again by Andrea Sperling. He stated: “The original plan was for Scumrock to be a $2 million, 35mm picture. I thought it was totally do-able, what with the success of Fame Whore. This budget proved to be elusive so we cut it down to $50,000. And alas, we ended up shooting Scumrock for $5,000 using a $150 camcorder.” Starring Amy Davis (who also was co-writer and director of photography), James Duval (“Frank the Bunny” from Donnie Darko), and Kyp Malone (who would later join the band TV on the Radio), the movie was a deadpan comedy capturing the lives of fringe-art rebels dealing with the perils of turning 30 with little to show for their avant-gardness. After receiving a post-production grant from Creative Capital, the movie’s footage was decimated and completely degenerated, Moritsugu’s intent being to drag it into the gutter and destroy any sheen or aura of a “pristine digital look.” Scumrock was edited on a VHS cuts-only system and upon completion in 2002, it won the “Best Feature” Award at the Chicago Underground Film Festival, following that up with a “Best Feature” Award at the 2003 New York Underground Film Festival. It was selected by The Village Voice Film Critics Poll as “Best of 2003” and then opened theatrically in the US and Canada in 2004, receiving rave reviews from the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly and E!.

Moritsugu started pre-production right away in 1992 for the Mod Fuck Explosion in which she featured Amy Davis. The low-budget take on the teen flick loosely focused on an unloved girl’s search in search of a leather coat as the battle between bikers and mods is looming. The film, which was directed by Henry S. Rosenthal and co-produced by Andrea Sperling, was shot by Todd Verow in 16mm. It was an eerie sequence that was set in a the meat garden, which was shot in Rosenthal’s home and included 800 pounds uncooked decaying beef. After the film was completed and beginning the process of post-production, in 1993 Moritsugu was informed that he was awarded the grant from ITVS to produce the first PBS television program. He explained: “I completed (the script) in just 42 minutes… then then it received the green light. Then, right after I shot Mod Fuck Explosion I was awarded $360,000 to film Terminal USA.

Jon Moritsugu Net Worth

Jon Moritsugu is one of the richest Filmmaker from United States. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Jon Moritsugu 's net worth $5 Million. (Last Update: December 11, 2023)

Moritsugu began filmmaking at his high school years in early 1980s . He then enrolled at Brown University, where he learned about critical theory and semiotics. His classmates comprised the director Todd Haynes, producer Christine Vachon and the studio’s head producer Nina Jacobson. Moritsugu’s senior thesis, Der Elvis, was named by The Village Voice critic J. Hoberman “one of the top 50 films of the eighties.” The New York Times described the film as “a 23-minute jolt of highly controlled chaos.” When he graduated in 1987, the filmmaker began work on his debut feature, My Degeneration, but an accident at work where one of his arms was sucked into the conveyor belt and then almost severed delayed the film. After a long hospital stay and rehabilitation after which he was able to start the film again that he viewed as a kind that was “physical therapy.” My Degeneration, a story of an all-girl band that plays music to promote the beef industry featured his soon-to-be partner Amy Davis. It was screened at a variety of film festivals, including Sundance which was which is where Roger Ebert walked out after seven minutes. Rolling Stone named it one of the “25 Greatest Punk Rock Movies of All Time” and declared: “Underground filmmaker/art terrorist Jon Moritsugu reimagines a rise-and-fall showbiz narrative as a scuzzy, 16mm skullfuck opus set in a lo- fi punk world…This movie feels like punk rock: dirty, angry, righteous, handmade, exhilirating.” The film was released theatrically for self-release following which Moritsugu relocating into his home on the West Coast in 1990.

Moving to San Francisco, Moritsugu completed Hippy Porn in 1991, an 16mm black and white feature that lasted for 10 days. Reminiscent of Jim Jarmusch’s early work and a series of bored students in an art school that is pretentious perfectly capturing the widespread frustration of artists who want to be. A top label indie Matador Records was to release the film’s soundtrack, however after several and long delays, Moritsugu decided to end the agreement. The head of the label, Gerard Cosloy, “Jon Moritsugu set the Hippy Porn contract on fire and tore the CD negatives apart with his teeth (we didn’t have the guts to tell him the test pressings arrived that day).” Hippy Porn was released theatrically in America and quickly gained acclaim. It was picked up to be released for European production, the film was a huge success throughout France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and France it was played continuously in Paris for over a calendar year in The Action Christine Cinema.

Moritsugu also fronted (1997–98) a punk band with Andy Matinog and Mike Masatsugu called No-No Boy after the novel by John Okada and is currently in a lo-fi indie garage rock band with Amy Davis called Low on High.

Height, Weight & Body Measurements

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Who is Jon Moritsugu Dating?

According to our records, Jon Moritsugu married to Amy Davis. As of December 1, 2023, Jon Moritsugu’s is not dating anyone.

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In 2015, Anthology Film Archives of New York City completed a two-year restoration project of Moritsugu’s 1987 senior thesis film, Der Elvis. With support from the National Film Preservation Foundation and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the movie was digitally scanned, remastered, reprinted in 16mm and described as, “one of the most impressive and precocious student films ever made.”

Facts & Trivia

Jon Ranked on the list of most popular Filmmaker. Also ranked in the elit list of famous people born in United States. Jon Moritsugu celebrates birthday on February 15 of every year.

In August 2017, Moritsugu wrapped principal photography for his eighth feature, Numbskull Revolution. Shot in New Mexico, the movie aims to “satirize and deconstruct the high art scene in an eyeball-scorching onslaught of mind- blowing narrative madness and honey-laced pathos”.” It stars James Duval as artist “Futurecide” and Amy Davis as twin sisters.