Writer/director Alan Brown’s first film, O Beautiful, won the Future Filmmaker Award at the 2002 Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, and was an official selection of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. His feature debut, Book of Love, which stars Simon Baker and Frances O’Connor, was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. His second feature, Superheroes, starring Dash Mihok and Spencer Treat Clark, won numerous prizes, including the Feature Filmmaker’s Award at the 2007 Avignon/New York Film Festival, the Maverick Spirit Award (top prize) at the 2008 Cinequest Film Festival, Special Jury Mention at both the 2008 Austin Film Festival and the 2008 Ashland Independent Film Festival, and both the Narrative Feature and Best Film Awards at the 2008 Brooklyn International Film Festival. Alan’s fourth feature, Private Romeo, a contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, won a Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles, and was a Critic’s Pick of The New York Times. His most recent feature, Five Dances, was the Opening Night Film at Lincoln Center’s 2013 Dance On Camera Festival.

Alan is also the author of the acclaimed novel, Audrey Hepburn’s Neck, which won the Pacific Rim Book Prize, and has been translated into eight languages. He is the recipient of many writing and directing awards, including National Endowment for the Arts, Fulbright, and New York State Council for the Arts Fellowships, and numerous residency fellowships, including those to the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Edward Albee and Ucross Foundations. He spent eight years living in Japan, first as a Fulbright Journalist, and then creating radio programs for the BBC, and writing for numerous publications. A longtime contributing editor at Travel & Leisure magazine, Alan’s journalism assignments have taken him from the Antarctic to the Himalayas. His writing for Gourmet was nominated for a James Beard Award. He now lives in New York City.