Neighbors: Mitchell Zemil

From the first time he picked up his parents’ camcorder as a child, it was apparent that Mitchell Zemil had an interest in filmmaking.

“I’ve always been interested in creative things,” says Zemil. “I like to draw and play piano and guitar. I’ve always had an interest in film, but I didn’t start to take it seriously until my sophomore year of high school.”

After taking a few classes about film and 3D animation, Zemil began creating his own movies.

Today, the 19-year-old Sarasota native is studying film at New York University, where he recently completed his freshman year. The young film smith already has an impressive résumé, after his short film, “Dick Watson and the Case of the Missing Relative,” earned him the distinction of Promising Young Filmmaker at last year’s Sarasota Film Festival.

The movie is a locally shot, film-noir parody that follows hard-boiled detective Dick Watson through his crime-solving adventures.

“The film has kind of a ridiculous, Mel Brooks sense of humor,” said Zemil. “Almost everything I do has a touch of comedy in it.”

The project, which Zemil refers to as his “first serious attempt at a movie,” began two years ago, when he and a few friends were inspired to make their own movie. The group spent afternoons after school filming downtown and in friends’ houses, and when all was said and done, the group submitted the film to the Sarasota Film Festival.

“We were talking about how cool it would be to win,” remembers Zemil. “But we knew there were some other really good films, and we didn’t think our screwball comedy would win. When they said our name, it was a big surprise.”

As he heads into his sophomore year at NYU, Zemil is excited for the opportunity to work on 20 short films throughout the semester. He hopes to eventually produce a feature-length movie, but he says he’ll be happy to be involved with movies in any capacity. Whether he’s an independent filmmaker or working on the production end of the industry, Zemil just loves making movies.

“It’s a lot of hard work, and it can be rigorous,” he says. “But, when you’re finished and you get to screen your film in front of an audience, that’s the exciting part.”

Outstanding films
“I’ve never been able to list my top favorite films, so I’ll pick five movies that I think are outstanding,” says Mitchell Zemil.

1. ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
“This really pushed the envelope for what a film can be. Stanley Kubrick’s movies were all masterpieces.”

2. ‘Pulp Fiction’
“I like Tarantino’s tongue-in-cheek humor, and I really like the way he puts his stamp on it.”

3. ‘The Godfather’
“It has good environment and realism, and they portray the family really well.”

4. ‘Mean Streets’
“It has a really classic tone and acting, and it’s not your typical gangster film.”

5. ‘Princess Mononoke’
“A lot of Japanese animation is simplistic, but this is the opposite. It’s really impressive, and the animation is breathtaking.”