Safdie brothers

The film won the John Cassavetes Award at the 26th Independent Spirit Awards.

Their first full-length documentary film, Lenny Cooke, follows the life of Lenny Cooke, a once phenom high school basketball player, from adolescence to manhood.

The film had its world premiere at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.

It also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, and the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Joshua Safdie (born April 3, 1984) and Benjamin Safdie (born February 24, 1986) are independent American filmmakers and actors based in New York City, who frequently collaborate on their films.

Josh and Benny Safdie graduated from Boston University College of Communication in 2007 and 2008, respectively.

They claim "turmoil of their youth", as children of divorced parents, became an inspiration for later work.

Famed Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie is their great uncle; his son, playwright Oren Safdie, is their second cousin.

The brothers grew up as fans of basketball and the New York Knicks.

The duo try to watch every game together.

Basketball is prominently featured in Lenny Cooke and Uncut Gems.

In 2007, Josh Safdie was hired by Andy Spade and Anthony Sperduti to create a short film featuring Kate Spade Handbags.

He devised a concise story about the adventures of a kleptomaniac woman.

Eleonore Hendricks, who co-wrote the screenplay, portrayed the lead role.

The project eventually turned into a feature film.

The film, titled The Pleasure of Being Robbed, had its world premiere at the 2008 South by Southwest.

It also screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, along with a short film The Acquaintances of a Lonely John directed by Benny Safdie.

They have also frequently collaborated with Ronald Bronstein, who has co-written and edited all of their narrative features beginning with the 2009 film Daddy Longlegs.

Other recurring collaborators include composer Oneohtrix Point Never, cinematographer Sean Price Williams, and production designer Sam Lisenco.

The Safdie brothers were raised in New York, the children of Amy and Alberto Safdie.

They spent their childhood living between their father in Queens and their mother and stepfather in Manhattan.

The Safdie brothers are Jewish.

Their father, who is a Sephardic Jew of Syrian-Jewish descent, was raised in France and in Italy.

Their mother is an Ashkenazi Jew of Russian-Jewish descent.

They began making films at a young age, inspired by their film-enthusiast father, Alberto.

They graduated from Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School in Manhattan.

At Boston University, they co-founded the creative collective Red Bucket Films with Alex Kalman, Sam Lisenco, Brett Jutkiewicz, and Zachary Treitz.

Their second feature film, Daddy Longlegs, had its world premiere under the title Go Get Some Rosemary in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Starring Ronald Bronstein, it was inspired by the filmmakers' younger years living with their father, Alberto.

Bronstein won the Breakthrough Actor Award at the Gotham Independent Film Awards 2010.

The film premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

In 2014, the Safdie Brothers produced Heaven Knows What under their Elara Pictures banner.

The film centers around the real-life stories written in a book titled Mad Love in New York City by lead actress Arielle Holmes.

They are best known for writing and directing the crime thriller films Good Time (2017), starring Robert Pattinson, and Uncut Gems (2019), starring Adam Sandler.

In addition to writing and directing, both Josh and Benny serve in a variety of key positions including acting, editing, shooting, mixing sound, and producing their films.

The Safdies directed the 2017 crime film Good Time, starring Robert Pattinson and Benny Safdie as siblings.

The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.

The Safdies directed Uncut Gems, starring Adam Sandler, with Martin Scorsese serving as an executive producer.

The film was inspired by their father's time working in the Manhattan Diamond District.

It had its world premiere at the 2019 Telluride Film Festival.