Dito Montiel is a published writer, an actor, screenwriter, producer, musician, and director.
Talented and driven, Dito Montiel has turned his life around. His childhood took place in Astoria, Queens, one of the rougher of neighborhoods in Queens back in the 1980s.
Dito Montiel’s first published book, “A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints,” a memoir, depicts his younger years in Astoria, and how he left his friends and family to become someone. Dito first left to start a band with a friend. Some of you may know the hardcore band Major Conflict. He was also the lead singer in the band Gutterboy.
A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints was later adapted into a screenplay in 2006. The movie stars Shia LaBeouf, Channing Tatum, Robert Downey Jr., Dianne Wiest, and Melonie Diaz. The movie was Montiel’s first screenplay and first directed movie.
The movie really captures the 80’s, as does another one of his films I watched recently, Empire State.
Dito Montiel doesn’t have such a specific style as some other director’s in the industry today, but he does often use the same cast, and has some techniques that show through some of his movies. He often likes to have dialogue speak over a scene, not filming the speaker during the whole speech. He also has a lot of shots of cars or subways moving in a still shot, but has tracking shots of people walking, where the camera is following them as they go (they are always in the shot). He also has a very stylistic music composition, using Jonathan Elias for many of his movies (A Guide, The Son of No One, & Fighting)
Dito Montiel’s first film A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS is one of my favorite all time films, which is what got me into learning more about this writer/director. He is inspiring to me, as this movie (and the novel) is a memoir, and a true story about his life. The movie is very poignant, and resonates with me. I aspire to be a writer/director like Dito Montiel.
Not many people know of this director, he hasn’t made too many films. His filmography can be found at IMDB -> http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1996918/?ref_=tt_ov_dr
I encourage you to check out writer, director, producer, musician, and actor Dito Montiel.
Film Frenzies 
